Nicolas Cage is a stage name, albeit one only slightly removed from his birth name. Originally Nicolas Coppola, Cage is part of the artistic dynasty of that name. His father August was the dean of the School of Creative Arts at San Francisco State University, and not encouraging of his son’s early acting ambitions. Cage told David Sheff for Playboy that when he was late coming home from an audition for a high school play, his father said, “Nicolas, you are never going to be an actor, so don’t even bother to try.” Cage said it was the one time he stood up to his father, whom he maintained a troubled relationship with into adulthood.
He blamed some of the tension between them on the fact that during an argument with August, his mother, Joy Vogelsang, once said untruly that Cage wasn’t August’s son. According to People, Vogelsang was a former dancer, so she brought her own artistry to the Coppola clan. But throughout Cage’s childhood, she experienced mental illness severe enough to require institutionalization and shock treatment (she was ultimately diagnosed with schizophrenia, according to GQ). Cage described her to Sheff as having “episodes of poetry” where she would speak in beautiful but unsettling terms, and other episodes where she lost memories.
August remained married to Vogelsang for 16 years, but her struggles impacted their union, and they divorced when Cage was 12. For his part, Cage told Sheff that it was difficult to see his mother like that. Nevertheless, he had a “scientific curiosity” about her illness and considered her pivotal to his creative development.
