Nicolas Kim Coppola or commonly known by millions of his fans as Nicolas Cage is an actor, director and producer based in America and is considered one of the finest actors of all time. Born in California and raised in a Catholic Family, he delivered some of the biggest hits of all times like Raising Arizona in the year 1987, the Rock in 1996, Face Off in 1997 and many other hits throughout the years. One of Hollywood’s highest paid actors Nicolas Cage has delivered cult films like 8mm, Raising Arizona and blockbusters like National Treasure and Ghost Rider alike.
He has often received good reviews by international and well known critics like Roger Ebert who stood beside Cage in reviewing the film Knowing. Acted in more than 60 films Cage has a long list of films like- Con Air in the year 1997, Gone in 60 seconds in the year 2000, Adaptation in the year 2002, the highly successful National Treasure series began in the year 2004, then came the offbeat film Lord of War in 2005, after that the highly successful Ghost Rider series came into existence in the year 2007, Kick Ass happened then in the year 2010 and lastly the final installment of Ghost Rider which is a successful one.
Personal Life
Cage’s father, August Floyd Coppola, was a literature professor and his mother, Joy Vogelsang was a choreographer and dancer but his parents divorced in 1976. Nicolas Cage was born in the year January 7th, 1964 and his schooling was done in the Beverly Hills School which even today proudly claims many of its alumni to have become entertainers of the highest level. Though he is the nephew of legendary director Francis Ford Coppola, Nicolas Cage has created an own niche for himself through his acting.
Married for three times, Cage’s three wives are-Patricia Arquette (she is a lead singer in a band named Eyes of Nocturn) to whom the actor was married from April 8, 1995 and divorced on May 18, 2001. Then came along songwriter/singer Lisa Marie Presley who was the daughter of Elvis Presley and this marriage lasted for a very short duration from 10th August, 2002 to 25th November 2002. The last marriage of the actor was with Alice Kim (she is a waitress at a Los Angeles based restaurant and pub) who also happens to be Cage’s current wife. Nicolas has two sons till date, Weston Coppola Cage from his first wife Patricia Arquette who was born on December 26, 1990 and more recently Kal-El born on 3rd October, 2005 (after the original birth name of Superman) with wife Alice Kim.
Often described as one living life beyond his means, Nicolas Cage once had huge castles and beautiful multimillion dollar homes to his credit. But everything does not go according planned and recently the actor is facing cases regarding paying of taxes and other monetary issues. Cage bought a property on the Paradise Islands, Bahamas and in the year 2006, the actor bought a stunning 40 acre island located in the Exuma archipelago which is located southeast of a place called Nassau. the actor also owned the posh castle of Schloss Neidstein in Germany between the years 2006 and 2009. He also owned the Midford Castle in Somerset, England. But in the coming years the actor was trapped in a huge financial crisis during which the actor bought and sold many homes, castles and manors. Nicolas Cage was also arrested once for domestic violence for which he was held in police custody until a bail of $11,000 freed him.
Professional Life
Cage’s first role as an actor was a small role in the film Fast Times at Ridgemont High with actor Sean Penn. Nicolas Cage has appeared in a large number of mainstream and offbeat movies and over the years he has become a household name. Most of Nicolas’s successful films are action films like the highly successful National Treasure where he plays the role of an eccentric and mad historian who goes on to find the treasure that was hidden by America’s Founding Fathers. Also the highly successful ($208 million in a weekend all over the world) Ghost Rider saw him playing the role of Marvel Comics’ superhero.
Though the actor has tried many offbeat roles many of which suit him, it was always the action films that fetched him more money. Some of the actors’ alternate roles are- his performance in Leaving Las Vegas in which he played a suicidal alcoholic also won him an Academy Award, he also learnt to play Mandolin from the beginning for his film Captain Corelli's Mandolin and though his portrayal of his roles in the films The Weather Man and Lord of War. He made his directorial debut with Sonny. Lastly he is the only actor to have created a new acting method called the Nouveau Shamanic and plans to write about it one day.