Emma Stone, Brad Pitt, and the real names of Hollywood stars
It's not news to any of us that celebrities sometimes choose to be known professionally by a different name. Oscar winner Emma Stone is the latest star to reveal that she's very rarely known by her stage name when she's around friends.
The Poor Things star is far from alone when it comes to celebrities who changed their names when they became famous. Some of the most popular actors in the world were born with completely different monikers, making the change for a variety of reasons.
Here are some of the most famous Hollywood actors who you know by a name very different to the one they're called when they go for a Sunday roast with the family. That's what celebs eat when they're not on the red carpet, right?
Emma Stone
Emma Stone is currently on the awards circuit yet again after her second Oscar win, this time promoting her Emmy-nominated show The Curse with co-star Nathan Fielder. During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Fielder pointed out that he always refers to Stone by her birth name, Emily, and finds it weird when people use her stage name.
Stone explained: "It’s just because my name was taken [by another actress in SAG]. Then I freaked out a couple of years ago. For some reason, I was like: 'I can’t do it anymore. Just call me Emily'. Nathan calls me Em, which is easier."
As for what we should call her going forward, Stone said "you can say anything". But she said she wouldn't correct fans who called her Emily, saying she "would like to be Emily".
Reese Witherspoon
One of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood — and now a super-producer to boot — Reese Witherspoon's stage name is actually made up entirely of surnames. Reese is her mother's maiden name. So now you know enough information about her to access her online banking app, probably.
Her full name is Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon, but she legally changed her name many years ago, according to Vogue.
Brad Pitt
It's surprisingly common for people to choose to go by their middle name rather than their first name, so plenty of celebrities also do something similar. That's true for one of Hollywood's most famous heart-throbs, Brad Pitt.
The star was born William Bradley Pitt in Oklahoma, but chose to simplify his name when he moved to LA to pursue acting. He also shortened Bradley in order to sound more modern. Even then, he seemed to know he was en route to "cool guy" status.
Jamie Foxx
Comedy star and Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx has a more unconventional origin story for his stage name than most. He was born Eric Marlon Bishop, but chose to change it up when he began performing stand-up comedy — after a girlfriend dared him to go up on stage — in the 1980s.
Foxx noticed that female comedians were often called on first, so chose an androgynous first name and added his new surname as a tribute to pioneering Black comedian Redd Foxx. When Foxx began acting in the 1990s, his new stage name stuck.
Lady Gaga
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta is a wonderful name, but it's also a bit lengthy to fit on an album cover. So when Lady Gaga was cultivating the identity that would catapult her to superstardom, she looked to some of the greatest musical heroes.
In Gaga's case, that was Queen. Her stage name comes from the British group's 1984 single Radio Ga Ga. She said that music producer Rob Fusari used to call her Gaga when she came into the studio because she reminded him of the song.
In a 2010 interview with Flybe Magazine, she said: "I decided that I'd been playing under my real name for so long I wanted a new way to reinvent myself. So I said, what about Lady Gaga, because Gaga is sort of crazy and Lady has such connotations."
Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman was born as Neta-Lee Hershlag in Jerusalem. When she made her movie debut as a child in the hitman thriller Léon: The Professional, she decided to use her paternal grandmother's maiden name professionally.
Actually, her parents weren't sure about whether she should do Léon because of the explicit sexual and violent elements in the script. Fortunately for all of us, they relented and Portman's amazing Hollywood career was born.
Joaquin Phoenix
Joker actor Joaquin Phoenix was born as Joaquin Rafael Bottom, but his entire family chose to ditch that name and chose to be known as Phoenix — with its connotations of rebirth — instead, after leaving the religious cult Children of God.
Phoenix was also known as "Leaf" instead of Joaquin in his teenage years after spending a lot of time in nature and wanting a natural-themed name like his siblings River — star of Stand By Me — and Rain.
Whoopi Goldberg
Rather than simply choose a middle name for professional reasons, Whoopi Goldberg chose to get inventive with her own acting moniker. She was born Caryn Elaine Johnson, but chose to be known as Whoopi. She says the name came from the fact she didn't close the door when she was gassy, so got the name "whoopee cushion". Her words, not ours.
She was been less clear about the origins of her stage surname, but said in a 2011 interview with The Jewish Chronicle: "My mother did not name me Whoopi, but Goldberg is my name, it's part of my family, part of my heritage. Just like being Black."
Jason Sudeikis
Jason Sudeikis, who has recently charmed audiences as the title character in Ted Lasso, is another star who is known by his middle name. The actor was named Daniel Jason Sudeikis when he was born in Virginia, but started going by Jason even within his own family.
Sudeikis told Today that the fact he was named after his dad caused problems in the house. He said: "My mom decided to call me Jason so we knew which one she was yelling at."
Tina Fey
Tina Fey didn't choose her stage name just to make it in Hollywood. In fact, in a 2007 interview with The Quad, she confirmed that she'd been known as Tina since she was in elementary school. Fey's birth name was Elizabeth Stamatina Fey, with Tina a shortened take on her middle name.
Surprisingly, Fey has been known by her real first name to a lot of people as one of her most famous roles was as Liz Lemon in the sitcom she created: 30 Rock.
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