Nicolas Cage

Nominated for Adaptation, Nicolas Cage has been there and done it all. He was earlier nominated for and won the Best Actor for Leaving Las Vegas.

The son of a Comparative Literature professor August Coppola (a brother of director Coppola and dancer/choreographer Joy Vogelsang), Cage changed his name early in his career to make his own reputation, succeeding brilliantly with a host of classic, quirky roles by the late 1980s.

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Initially studying theatre at Beverly Hills High (though he dropped out at 17), he secured a bit part in Fast Timesat Ridgemont High most of which was cut, dashing his hopes and leading to a job selling popcorn at the Fairfax Theater, thinking that would be the only route to a movie career.

But a job reading lines with auditioners for uncle Francis's Rumble Fish landed him a role in that film, followed by the punk-rocker in Valley Girl which was released first and truly launched his career. His one-time passion for method acting reached a personal limit when he smashed a street-vendor's remote-control car to achieve the sense of rage needed for his gangster character in The Cotton Club.