More Nicolas Cage Bios & Profiles
The most recent Nicolas Cage biography is published on the main page.
Biography #2 (for The Weather Man)
Academy Award winner Nicolas Cage, one of the most versatile actors of our time, is equally well known for his poignant portrayals in both drama and comedy. His memorable performance as an alcoholic drinking himself to death in the MGM drama Leaving Las Vegas, directed by Mike Figgis, earned him an Academy Award. He also received a Golden Globe and Best Actor awards from the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the Chicago Film Critics and the National Board of Review. Cage further solidified his leading man status when he received Academy Award, Golden Globe, Screen Actor's Guild, and BAFTA nominations for his dual roles of twin brothers Charlie and Donald Kaufman in Spike Jonze's quirky comedy Adaptation, which co-starred Meryl Streep and Chris Cooper.Recently, Cage completed production in Australia on Ghost Rider for Sony Pictures Entertainment. The film is scheduled for release in August 2006.
Cage is currently filming the independent film The Wicker Man in Vancouver, a mystery/ thriller directed by Neil LaBute.
Next, Cage will begin filming Paramount Pictures' untitled World Trade Center project for director Oliver Stone. Following this, Cage will begin production on Next, a sci-fi thriller directed by Lee Tamahori and co-produced by Revolution Studios and Cage's Saturn Productions.
Cage can currently be seen in Lord of War, a drama/thriller co-produced by Saturn Films, Cage's production company. Andrew Niccol wrote and directed the film. Last year, Cage starred in producer Jerry Bruckheimer's worldwide hit, Disney's action/adventure National Treasure, directed by Jon Turteltaub, and in 2003, he starred in the Warner Bros. film Matchstick Men.
At the end of 2002, Cage released his feature film directorial debut, Sonny. Cage cast an impressive group of actors, including Golden Globe winner James Franco, Mena Suvari, Brenda Blethyn and Harry Dean Stanton. The film was accepted into the 2002 Deauville Film Festival. Gold Circle Films, Vortex Pictures and Cage's Saturn Productions produced the picture.
Cage's production company, Saturn Films, produced the 2002 Universal Pictures film The Life of David Gale and, in 2000, the critically acclaimed Lions Gate film, Shadow of the Vampire.
Cage's many other films include Windtalkers, Captain Correlli's Mandolin, The Family Man, Gone in 60 Seconds, Bringing out the Dead, Eight Millimeter, Snake Eyes, City of Angels, Face Off, Con-Air, The Rock, Guarding Tess, Red Rock West, It Could Happen to You, Kiss of Death, Honeymoon in Vegas, Valley Girl, Cotton Club, Racing with the Moon, The Boy in Blue, Peggy Sue Got Married, Joel and Ethan Coen's Raising Arizona, Vampire's Kiss, and Fire Birds. It was Cage's portrayal of a tormented Vietnam vet in Birdy that first established him as a serious actor. Directed by Alan Parker, Birdy won the jury prize at Cannes. Cage then received a Golden Globe nomination as Best Actor for his role as Cher's lover in Moonstruck. David Lynch's Wild at Heart, starring Cage and Laura Dern, won the Palm d'Or at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival.
Some of Cage's other honors include a Golden Globe nomination for his role in Honeymoon in Vegas, the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from the Montreal World Film Festival, and the first ever Distinguished Decade in Film Award at ShoWest.
Cage was raised in Long Beach, California and lived there until his family moved to San Francisco when he was 12. Cage began acting at age 15 when he enrolled in San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre where he appeared in the school's production of Golden Boy. He later moved to Los Angeles, and while still a high school student landed a role in the television film The Best of Times. He made his feature film debut in Rumble Fish. Cage currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife, Alice Cage.
Bio courtesy Paramount for "The Weather Man" (18-Dec-2005)
Biography #3 (for Matchstick Men)
One of the most versatile and popular actors of his generation, Nicolas Cage recently earned his second Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and his fourth Golden Globe nomination for his role in the acclaimed Spike Jonze comedy Adaptation.Cage won the 1995 Best Actor Oscar for his riveting performance as a suicidal alcoholic in Leaving Las Vegas, a role that also earned him a Golden Globe and Best Actor honors from the New York Film Critics Circle, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, the Chicago Film Critics Association, the National Board of Review, the National Society of Film Critics and the Screen Actors Guild, as well as nominations from BAFTA and the Independent Spirit Awards.
Born in Long Beach, California, Cage moved to San Francisco as a teen and enrolled in a summer acting class at the American Conservatory Theatre. After returning to Los Angeles, he attended Beverly Hills High School, during which he made his professional acting debut in the 1981 telefilm The Best of Times before getting his start on the big screen in a pair of acclaimed teenage comedies - a small role in Fast Times at Ridgemont High and a starring role in the hit romantic comedy Valley Girl. That same year he played the supporting part of Smoky, Matt Dillon's lieutenant, in Francis Ford Coppola's Rumble Fish, followed by larger roles in Richard Benjamin's romantic drama Racing With the Moon and Coppola's 1984 gangster epic The Cotton Club.
Cage's portrayal of a tortured Vietnam vet in Birdy established his place as one of the industry's new dramatic talents. Directed by Alan Parker, Birdy won the Jury Prize at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival. Cage next reunited with Coppola on the Oscar-nominated comedy Peggy Sue Got Married, then went on to earn his first Golden Globe Award as Best Actor for his turn as Cher's lover in Norman Jewison's Oscar-winning comedy, Moonstruck.
He played opposite Holly Hunter in the Coen Brothers' cult favorite Raising Arizona, then opposite Laura Dern in David Lynch's bizarre thriller, Wild at Heart (winner of the 1990 Cannes Film Festival's Palm d'Or). He earned another Golden Globe nomination for his next role in Andrew Bergman's 1992 comedy, Honeymoon in Vegas, co-starring Sarah Jessica Parker and James Caan.
More recently, Cage has collaborated with one of Hollywood's most successful producers, Jerry Bruckheimer, on such action hits as Gone in Sixty Seconds, Con Air and The Rock. He has also worked with such acclaimed directors as John Woo (Windtalkers, Face/Off), John Madden (Captain Correlli's Mandolin), Brett Ratner (The Family Man), Joel Schumacher (Eight Millimeter), John Dahl (Red Rock West), Barbet Schroeder (Kiss of Death), Brian De Palma (Snake Eyes), Brad Silberling (City of Angels) and Martin Scorsese (Bringing Out the Dead). Among his additional motion picture credits are Guarding Tess, Fire Birds, The Boy in Blue, It Could Happen to You and Vampire's Kiss (a role which brought Cage his first Independent Spirit Award nomination).
In addition to his onscreen contributions, Cage produced the spooky period drama Shadow of the Vampire, starring John Malkovich and Willem Dafoe, and the recent legal drama The Life of David Gale, directed by Alan Parker and starring Kevin Spacey, Kate Winslet and Laura Linney. He recently stepped behind the camera to direct his first feature, the romantic drama Sonny, starring James Franco, Mena Suvari, Brenda Blethyn and Harry Dean Stanton. The film had its world premiere at the 2002 Deauville Film Festival in France.
Cage's other industry honors include the first Distinguished Decade in Film Award from NATO/ShoWest, the 16th American Cinematheque Award at the 2001 Moving Picture Ball, the Tribute to Independent Spirit Award at the 1995 Sundance Film Festival and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the 1996 Montreal World Film Festival. His hand and footprints have been added to the world-famous collection at Mann's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.
Bio courtesy Warner Bros. for "Matchstick Men" (02-Dec-2003)