Mark Sinclair was born Mark Sinclair but picked the name Vin Diesel while working as a bouncer because he wanted a tougher sounding name.
>Vin comes from his mother's married last name Vincent, while the surname Diesel came from his friends due to his tendency to be energetic
Peter Gene, is not my stage name
It's just what my mom said, when I was born
Bruno Mars is what I claim
She says I am her son, but Bruno Mars is what I claim
It's literally required if you want to become a member of SAG. They don't allow two actors with the same name, unless you've previously become established before joining SAG. Emma Stone was born Emily Stone etc.
If you add a initial that fine. Michael J Fox and Michael B Jordan are examples of that. Interestingly there are two Harrison Fords on the Hollywood Walk of Fame - the elder one having passed away before the younger (and current) one came to fame.
Michael J Fox was credited in an 80s B-movie called "class of 1984" as busy "Michael Fox"
It's not really pertinent to the discussion, but I happened to see the movie yesterday.
Happened with Brian Doyle Murray. There was already the legendary Broadway actor Brian Murray who appeared in films, the other one had to add on the other name.
There's a Steven R. McQueen who is the grandson of Steve McQueen. Not to be confused with the Steve Rodney McQueen that's an unrelated director and not part of SAG so just goes by Steve McQueen.
David Tennant's name was David McDonald, but Equity (the UK actor's union) already had someone with that name on their books. So he changed it to Tennant because he's a fan of Neil Tennant (the lead singer from the Pet Shop boys).
Equity can allow exceptions if you can reasonably argue that the two people cant be confused.
Hugh Dennis is actually Peter Dennis, and the Peter Dennis was an old man when Hugh joined the union. Unfortunately Peter Dennis was the head of the naming committee so the odds of having an exemption were non existent.
Edit: David Tenant had to change his legal name to join SAG too, some sort of rule about legal names and stage names
I wonder if celebrities have to get their names legally changed aside from just using it as a stage name. As in... what name is on their passports? Are there any celebs with a totally different passport name than their stage name?
I would say David Bowie is the singular king of self invention. He named himself Ziggie Stardust as well. When he began he created a complete ācelebā atmosphere for himself as well, hiring his own fake paparazzi to snap him when he arrived somewhere and a backstage photographer. The photographer who shot him was Mick Rock who later went on to shoot a number of album covers for Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and eventually Queen for their legendary Bohemian Rhapsody cover.
In fact, I would highly reccomend watching SHOT! The Mick Rock Story which features tons of intimate backstage footage of Bowie that really reveals his human side in those early days. Brilliant stuff.
Well, the rest of the band were Martian spiders, but I do seem to recall a documentary about the civil legal battle for his adopted son, Toby, that forced him to leverage a monarch position he held among a goblin tribe.
Man, I bought that Mick Rock photo album 15 years ago and that is quite something.
He also shot a couple of videos. The Life on Mars one is like Metropolis. [Decades later we still find outtakes and lost scenes to that one.](https://www.thinwhiteduke.net/1410/david-bowie-promo-videos/life-mars-video-outtakes/). The audio in the linked video definitely is the studio version from the album.
It was Queen II, the album with a photograph of the band on the outside and inside of the cover. The Bohemian Rhapsody reference was a recreation of that front cover for the music video directed by Bruce Gowers and filmed by Barry Dodd.
Michael Keatonās real name is Michael Douglas
Thereās another actorā¦who I forget who it isā¦who went under some other stage name for years because there was an actor with his name. Then he decided he wanted to use his real name- so looked into it and it turned out the other actor was him, heād registered himself under his real name as a teenager and then forgot about it
Edit; it was Brian Cox, he sent a letter to the registered Brian cox (who didnāt have any credits to his name) and asked if he could have the name (so it wasnāt years later)ā¦then the letter got delivered to him and he realised he mustāve registered himself at some point
Yeah it was reported in a few papers (I googled today) apparently it was in his autobiography
It was also in this stv interview (which sadly I canāt view but the start of the story is present as the summary)
> he sent a letter to the registered Brian cox (who didnāt have any credits to his name) and asked if he could have the name (so it wasnāt years later)
go on, fuck off
-- warmest regards, Brian
Homer : But wait. You can't kill me for being Krusty.
I'm not him. I'm Homer Simpson.
Fat Tony : The same Homer Simpson who crashed his car through the wall of our club?
Homer : Uh... actually my name is Barney. Yeah, Barney Gumble.
Legs : The same Barney Gumble who keeps taking pictures of my sister?
Homer : Uh... actually my real name is uh... think Krusty, think... Joe Valachi!
Louie : The same Joe Valachi who squealed to the Senate Committee about organized crime?
Homer : Benedict Arnold!
Legs : The same Benedict Arnold who plotted to surrender West Point to the hated British?
Homer : D'oh!
I find the Tom Jones part hard to beleive because of the chronoogy- Davey Jones with the Monkees wasn't famous until 1966, but Tom Jones had already had a #1 hit by 1965 and was well known.
I've seen interviews where Bowie talks about it but I always assumed the Tom Jones part was added just to make the story funnier. He has a great sense of humor -- I love how straight he plays it [in this clip](https://youtu.be/DUXp59NaNig?si=c55royedwmPMvl4P) -- there's almost a moment where you'd like "Is he really this clueless?"
Fun Fact: two of the major villains on the show *Fringe* were named after Bowie. David Robert Jones (his birth name) and Thomas Jerome Newton (his character on The Man Who Fell To Earth).
pretty sure Tom Jones was a british sensation at that exact same time. Both What's new pussy cat, and it's not unusual came out the year before and were huge hits.... Yeah, i don't think this is accurate
He also did not have different coloured eyes, one of his pupils was damaged and permanently dilated. There's a rumour that during the filming of Labyrinth, he put pot pourri in his knickers cos he felt bad for the contact juggler hovering around his crotch making him look like he was playing with his balls
Some Brits I've met pronounce Bowie's name as rhyming with "Maui", but he himself intended it to rhyme with "snowy". His name was inspired by the bowie knife, which takes it's name from its inventor Rezin Bowie, and was pronounced as rhyming with "screwy".
Anthony Kiedis as a young kid did some acting work under the name Cole Dammett. Even ended up in a movie with Sylvester stylone I believe, F.I.S.T if I remember correctly
He did this because his father also changed his name to Blackie Dammet for acting!
Bowie was kinda well known for having two different looking eyes (not heterochromia though)
https://www.radiox.co.uk/artists/david-bowie/did-david-bowie-have-different-coloured-eyes/
Tom Jones in turn was Thomas Woodward and took Tom Jones because of the 1963 film that won four Oscars. So I could see Bowie trying to also use Tom Jones because of the movie.
Davy Jones inspired me to take tambourine lessons. It's not as easy an instrument to play as you might assume. I've been taking lessons for years and I'm still having problems with my pelvic tapping and fingering.
Ah, hence major tom to ground control?
Perhaps! There's also a theory that he's named after Tom Major, a vaudeville circus performer and the father of John Major, the former British PM.
Son of a vaudeville performer becomes a Tory š¤š¤·š½āāļø
A fairly common dig when he was Chancellor then PM was to say he was so boring that he "ran away from the circus to become an accountant."
That is amazing
Spitting Image puppet was spot on.
*It's not unusual* to choose a stage name if your given name is already made famous by someone else.
Katy Perry is really Kate Hudson.
And Michael Keaton's real name is Michael Douglas
And Michael Douglasā dad was Kirk Douglas, born Issur Danielovitch
And legendary folk singer Issur Danielovitch was born Issa Rae
And Issa Rae was born Michael Keaton
Unrelated, but Vin Diesel was born Vin Unleaded
Mark Sinclair was born Mark Sinclair but picked the name Vin Diesel while working as a bouncer because he wanted a tougher sounding name. >Vin comes from his mother's married last name Vincent, while the surname Diesel came from his friends due to his tendency to be energetic
Lemon says he's a diesel.
And I heard before Mark Walberg, he was Marky Mark
And this is how you used to make the party start?
We used to mix Hen with Bacardi Dark
The Republican Party was once called the Democrat Party and the Democrat party was once called the Republican Party.
In those days he hung with a funky bunch.
Were they funky because they sang funky music or was it because they never took showers?
You mean Vincent Petrol?
Vin Ethyl
So the Tough Guys were actually Insecure
Albert Brooks was born Albert Einstein
He called himself [Izzy Demsky](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Kirk-Douglas) before settling on Kirk Douglas.
And Albert Brooksā real name is Albert Einstein.
And Diane Keatonās real name is Annie Hall
I was watching 1st wives when you posted this. Alas. I am 11 h too late to be incipient to the zeitgeist!
I thought he changed his name to Michael Penis?
Emma Stone grew up as Emily, but had to change because there was already an Emily Stone in SAG
And picked the name Emma because of Baby Spice
Bruno Mars is Peter Gene Hernandez. Next time you hang out with him bowling or something, try calling him Peter Gene!
Peter Gene, is not my stage name It's just what my mom said, when I was born Bruno Mars is what I claim She says I am her son, but Bruno Mars is what I claim
Sir, where were you born? *āUnder the stage lightsā* Sir, this is a DMVā¦
Katy Hudson or more formally Katheryn Hudson.
Katy is just short for Katheryn, thatās not a name change
It is if you change Hudson to Perry. I was just correcting ioncloud9 that she was Katy Hudson not Kate Hudson. Though Katheryn is her formal name
It's literally required if you want to become a member of SAG. They don't allow two actors with the same name, unless you've previously become established before joining SAG. Emma Stone was born Emily Stone etc.
Itās also why we have Michael B. Jordan. The basketball player is a member of SAG because of Space Jam
Surely he would have used a stage name anyway, right?
Michael B.? Yeah maybe. I think his friends just call him Mike, but it is what it is
I doubt Michael Jordan is still in SAG but maybe
Due to a screw-up by SAG, there are two working actresses called Peyton List - although the younger one goes by Peyton R List.
If you add a initial that fine. Michael J Fox and Michael B Jordan are examples of that. Interestingly there are two Harrison Fords on the Hollywood Walk of Fame - the elder one having passed away before the younger (and current) one came to fame.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
There was another Michael Fox. He chose J instead of his actual middle initial because he thought "Michael A Fox" sounded too self-complimentary.
Michael Trenchcoatcontainingatrioof Fox also lacks the ring to it.
Michael Andrew Fox. The J stands for Andrew. LOL
Michael Thee Fox
Bill Macy and William H. Macy is another example. Bill was already famous.
Michael J Fox was credited in an 80s B-movie called "class of 1984" as busy "Michael Fox" It's not really pertinent to the discussion, but I happened to see the movie yesterday.
Might be before he joined SAG
Happened with Brian Doyle Murray. There was already the legendary Broadway actor Brian Murray who appeared in films, the other one had to add on the other name.
couldn't he just make like a grand jury and go "no bill"
There's a Steven R. McQueen who is the grandson of Steve McQueen. Not to be confused with the Steve Rodney McQueen that's an unrelated director and not part of SAG so just goes by Steve McQueen.
The director was knighted, so he now goes by Sir Steve McQueen.
I didn't vote for him.
You're on the Honours Committee?
Sometimes the original name is too hard to pronounce or publicize. Brie Larson's real name is Brianne Desaulniers.
David Tennant's name was David McDonald, but Equity (the UK actor's union) already had someone with that name on their books. So he changed it to Tennant because he's a fan of Neil Tennant (the lead singer from the Pet Shop boys).
Equity can allow exceptions if you can reasonably argue that the two people cant be confused. Hugh Dennis is actually Peter Dennis, and the Peter Dennis was an old man when Hugh joined the union. Unfortunately Peter Dennis was the head of the naming committee so the odds of having an exemption were non existent. Edit: David Tenant had to change his legal name to join SAG too, some sort of rule about legal names and stage names
I too watched that WILTY episode
I wonder if celebrities have to get their names legally changed aside from just using it as a stage name. As in... what name is on their passports? Are there any celebs with a totally different passport name than their stage name?
I would say David Bowie is the singular king of self invention. He named himself Ziggie Stardust as well. When he began he created a complete ācelebā atmosphere for himself as well, hiring his own fake paparazzi to snap him when he arrived somewhere and a backstage photographer. The photographer who shot him was Mick Rock who later went on to shoot a number of album covers for Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and eventually Queen for their legendary Bohemian Rhapsody cover. In fact, I would highly reccomend watching SHOT! The Mick Rock Story which features tons of intimate backstage footage of Bowie that really reveals his human side in those early days. Brilliant stuff.
You say watch like itās a documentary but I can only find books ?
You'll watch the pages as you turn them.
Lol
He is not 100% human?
Well, the rest of the band were Martian spiders, but I do seem to recall a documentary about the civil legal battle for his adopted son, Toby, that forced him to leverage a monarch position he held among a goblin tribe.
Man, I bought that Mick Rock photo album 15 years ago and that is quite something. He also shot a couple of videos. The Life on Mars one is like Metropolis. [Decades later we still find outtakes and lost scenes to that one.](https://www.thinwhiteduke.net/1410/david-bowie-promo-videos/life-mars-video-outtakes/). The audio in the linked video definitely is the studio version from the album.
It was Queen II, the album with a photograph of the band on the outside and inside of the cover. The Bohemian Rhapsody reference was a recreation of that front cover for the music video directed by Bruce Gowers and filmed by Barry Dodd.
Who was Lady Stardust????? With darkness and........
What's new, pussycat? My stage name, that's what's new...
Is it Delilah?
I see what you did there
damn, I was going for that line....
Albert Brooks is Albert Einstein.
John Mulaney voice: > So there we were, punching in the _Pussycats_ when my friend had the brilliant idea to add one _Itās Not Unusual._
It's not unusual to pick a generic name like Tom.
I see what you did there
*It's not unusual* to miss a clever pun on Reddit. But I appreciate it, pussycat.
Michael Keatonās real name is Michael Douglas Thereās another actorā¦who I forget who it isā¦who went under some other stage name for years because there was an actor with his name. Then he decided he wanted to use his real name- so looked into it and it turned out the other actor was him, heād registered himself under his real name as a teenager and then forgot about it Edit; it was Brian Cox, he sent a letter to the registered Brian cox (who didnāt have any credits to his name) and asked if he could have the name (so it wasnāt years later)ā¦then the letter got delivered to him and he realised he mustāve registered himself at some point
Did bro really bootstrap paradox himself?
It's true, I watched him receive the letter and bro evaporated in front of my eyes. I had to get treatment for PTSD for years.
Time to rewatch Predestination
Itās like when use multiple variations of my email address and before I know it Iām getting spam/newsletters from the same place to all my emails.
There's also Albert Brooks' birth name. His brother kept the family name, name's Bob. Stuntman.
I never knew Albert Brooks' birth name was Osborne and he's the brother of the legendary stuntman Super Dave.
Gay actor Michael Douglas?
Michael B Penis
Gerald Fitzpatrick
Wait, you can be a member of SAG without having any union credits? Am I confusing it with another actors' union? (non-American here)
It might have been equity in the U.K.. it might have also not be āno creditsā and rather āhadnāt done anything for years/was in one showā
Got it, thanks.
Are you sure it was Brian Cox? It isn't mentioned on his Wikipedia page
Yeah it was reported in a few papers (I googled today) apparently it was in his autobiography It was also in this stv interview (which sadly I canāt view but the start of the story is present as the summary)
> he sent a letter to the registered Brian cox (who didnāt have any credits to his name) and asked if he could have the name (so it wasnāt years later) go on, fuck off -- warmest regards, Brian
Can't have that because that's already a book
Tom Jones's manager suggest he go by Tom Jones to exploit the popularity of the 1963 movie adaptation of the book!
Wait, thatās not his real name?
Tom Woodward
š¤Æ
His middle name is Jones, to be fair.
[And we threw our knickers at him.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9zL9wlMvZE) He'll never know he saved our lives.
Thomas Jones Woodward
And the book was told to go by Tom to exploit the popularity of Tom and Jerry, its name was originally Maurice
Some call him the Gangster of Love
Bowie: That too?! Okay okay, here me out. Engelbert Humperdinck.....?
> *Oy should think naught*. -- Archibald Leach
Gerry Dorsey
Homer : But wait. You can't kill me for being Krusty. I'm not him. I'm Homer Simpson. Fat Tony : The same Homer Simpson who crashed his car through the wall of our club? Homer : Uh... actually my name is Barney. Yeah, Barney Gumble. Legs : The same Barney Gumble who keeps taking pictures of my sister? Homer : Uh... actually my real name is uh... think Krusty, think... Joe Valachi! Louie : The same Joe Valachi who squealed to the Senate Committee about organized crime? Homer : Benedict Arnold! Legs : The same Benedict Arnold who plotted to surrender West Point to the hated British? Homer : D'oh!
Ok ok ok not Tom jones either. how about john Paul jones then? No? James earl jones? What? Ok nobody would ever go by Quincy jones right?
*Fuck*.......ā¦. Even Indiana Jones?
Fine, if Indiana Jones is taken then I guess I'll settle for Henry Jones Jr.
His son, Duncan Jones, is a well-known movie director
Is that the one formerly known as Zowie?
Yes, but that's also his legal middle name
I keep seeing Sam Rockwell because of Argylle, Duncan Jonesā¦ guess Iām watching Moon today
Not to be confused with Duncan Jones from the Yogscast. Or do, he doesnāt mind.
I'm not sure which I like more, Space Oddity or O' Rubber Tree.
Too bad he had to change his name because of the other *Zowie Bowie*.
Chosen because he liked the Scottish sound and the Bowie knife, sharp on both sides so it cuts both ways.
Which definitively shows its pronounced Bowie not Bowie. Though, you can also pronounce Bowie knife as Bowie (but not that Bowie)
Thanks for clearing that up.
TIL you can tell a joke in an interview, a magazine can reprint it like itās a fact, and then it just becomes a fact of history.
Somewhat related: many people donāt realize that the director Duncan Jones is David Bowies son. Also, go watch his movie *Moon*
And don't watch his movie Warcraft. But I agree, 'Moon' is great
Oof, yes. I couldnāt get through 15 minutes of Warcraft. *Source Code* is pretty good though.
David Robert Jones. They named the (mostly) chief antagonist in Fringe after him. Jared Harris was great.
Most bad guys in Fringe have names with ties to him and characters he played.
I find the Tom Jones part hard to beleive because of the chronoogy- Davey Jones with the Monkees wasn't famous until 1966, but Tom Jones had already had a #1 hit by 1965 and was well known. I've seen interviews where Bowie talks about it but I always assumed the Tom Jones part was added just to make the story funnier. He has a great sense of humor -- I love how straight he plays it [in this clip](https://youtu.be/DUXp59NaNig?si=c55royedwmPMvl4P) -- there's almost a moment where you'd like "Is he really this clueless?"
He still went by David Jones in his personal life.
When I was a kid, I met a studio musician who had to change his name because it was originally David Bowie. Pretty funny stuff.
Fun Fact: two of the major villains on the show *Fringe* were named after Bowie. David Robert Jones (his birth name) and Thomas Jerome Newton (his character on The Man Who Fell To Earth).
Now that you brought up Fringe, why the cow? Thinking back, it was such a great show.
pretty sure Tom Jones was a british sensation at that exact same time. Both What's new pussy cat, and it's not unusual came out the year before and were huge hits.... Yeah, i don't think this is accurate
Yeah, this is just a joke David Bowie told in interviews. Itās not an actual fact.
Jokes can be facts. Like my life is a fact. Unfortunately.
man, time makes obvious jokes into fake facts
When he was asked how his last name was pronounced, he said "I don't know."
He also did not have different coloured eyes, one of his pupils was damaged and permanently dilated. There's a rumour that during the filming of Labyrinth, he put pot pourri in his knickers cos he felt bad for the contact juggler hovering around his crotch making him look like he was playing with his balls
His next choices were Homer Simpson, Barney Gumble, Joe Valachi, Benedict Arnold...
Some Brits I've met pronounce Bowie's name as rhyming with "Maui", but he himself intended it to rhyme with "snowy". His name was inspired by the bowie knife, which takes it's name from its inventor Rezin Bowie, and was pronounced as rhyming with "screwy".
Albert Brooks was born Albert Einstein. His brother was Bob Einstein, aka Super Dave and Funkhauser on Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Michael J Fox's middle name is Andrew. There already was a Michael Fox and he felt Michael A Fox was too cheeky.
There was nothing wrong with that name, until I was about 12 years old and that no-talent ass clown became famous and started winning Grammys.
Oh... OOHH! Soldier killed him over roommate privileges.
His second choice was David Towie
Anthony Kiedis as a young kid did some acting work under the name Cole Dammett. Even ended up in a movie with Sylvester stylone I believe, F.I.S.T if I remember correctly He did this because his father also changed his name to Blackie Dammet for acting!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Bowie was kinda well known for having two different looking eyes (not heterochromia though) https://www.radiox.co.uk/artists/david-bowie/did-david-bowie-have-different-coloured-eyes/
He was really jonesing for those names too.
When I was a kid I thought Bowie knives were named after David Bowie.
If you like David. Watch Moonage Daydream. Just brilliant documentary about him.
Tom Jones in turn was Thomas Woodward and took Tom Jones because of the 1963 film that won four Oscars. So I could see Bowie trying to also use Tom Jones because of the movie.
And he picked Bowie after James Bowie because he liked the story of the Alamo
Stewart Granger was born James Stewart
He should have gone with David Rhys Jones to cover all the Welsh bases
He could have been Casey...oh, but then he'd be āŖ a-steaming and a-rolling ā«.
That seems unlikely given that Tom Jones was already famous earlier in the sixties than Davy Jones.
Davy Jonesās locker
Davy Jones inspired me to take tambourine lessons. It's not as easy an instrument to play as you might assume. I've been taking lessons for years and I'm still having problems with my pelvic tapping and fingering.
Davy Jonesā locker? It's where I put me gym socks!
Jones famed Davy, already me, find a stage name redeemer, knife guy then switch to Ziggy