It’s not uncommon for celebrities to use stage names in Hollywood, but some stars’ actual monikers may surprise you.
Take Ashton Kutcher , for example. While accepting the Ultimate Choice honor at the 2013 Teen Choice Awards, the That’s ’70s Show alum turned entrepreneur admitted that he was actually named Chris
“In Hollywood, there’s a lot of insider secrets to keeping your career going and I feel like a fraud,” he said at the time. “My name in fact is not even Ashton — Ashton is my middle name. My first name’s Chris and it always has been. It got changed when I was about 19 and became an actor.”
He added, “There are some really amazing things I learned when I was Chris, and I wanted to share those things with you guys because I think it’s helped me be here today.”
Funnily enough, Kutcher’s ex-wife, Demi Moore , and current wife, Mila Kunis , also go by different monikers in the public eye. Moore, born Demetria Gene Guynes, shortened her first name and adopted her first husband Freddy Moore ’s surname. Kunis, for her part, abbreviated her first name, Milena, to Mila when she started booking roles as a young actress.
Scroll through the gallery below to see which of your favorite celebrities go by a stage name.
Emma Stone
Real Name: Emily Stone
Stone previously revealed to The Hollywood Reporter in April 2024 that while she’s gone by Emma professionally, she would prefer it if people referred to her as Emily from now on. During the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, a reporter addressed Stone as Emily, which got her excited.
Karwai Tang/WireImage
Jonah Hill
Real name: Jonah Hill Feldstein
In November 2022, the Superbad actor reportedly filed a petition to drop “Feldstein” as his last name, making his stage name “Hill” his legal surname.
Gregory Pace/Shutterstock
Martin Sheen
Real name: Ramón Antonio Gerardo EstévezThe West Wing alum told Closer Weekly in June 2022 that changing his stage name from his Spanish immigrant father’s given name is “one of my regrets,” revealing that he has “never changed” the moniker officially. “It’s still Ramon Estévez on my birth certificate. It’s on my marriage license, my passport, driver’s license,” he explained. “Sometimes you get persuaded when you don’t have enough insight or even enough courage to stand up for what you believe in, and you pay for it later. But, of course, I’m only speaking for myself.”
Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
Tyler, the Creator
Real name: Tyler Okonma
His stage name came from his MySpace, which he created at 13 years old in 2004, but as an adult, the rapper has started to embrace his real name. He realized that the African name Okonma (pronounced, as the performer says, like “a coma”) is “pretty cool” and started using the credit on his album credits.
“My full name, Tyler Okonma, in all caps, just looks really cool,” the performer said in a December 2021 interview with Fast Company. “So you might see more of that, I don’t know. I’m getting older, and I think people get older, they start realizing s–t and liking things they didn’t like. You just start changing. I think my version of that is looking at my name and saying, ‘Oh, this is actually cool.'”
Jordan Strauss/AP/Shutterstock
Thandiwe Newton
Real name: Thandiwe Newton
The Westworld actress dropped the “w” in her first name while attending Catholic school in England. She went by Thandie Newton for nearly 30 years, until she reclaimed her birth name in April 2021, telling British Vogue, “That’s my name. It’s always been my name. I’m taking back what’s mine.” The actress explained that while starring in Flirting in 1991, she was incorrectly credited as Thandie and it stuck.
Magnus Sundholm/Shutterstock
Travis Scott
Real name: Jacques Berman Webster II
NINA PROMMER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Cardi B
Real name: Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar
MediaPunch/Shutterstock
Calvin Harris
Real name: Adam Richard Wiles
Broadimage/Shutterstock
Vin Diesel
Real name: Mark Sinclair
Matt Baron/Shutterstock
Mila Kunis
Real name: Milena Markovna Kunis
GEORGE FREY/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Jack Black
Real name: Thomas Jacob Black
Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP/Shutterstock
Charlie Sheen
Real name: Carlos Irwin Estévez
Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock
Demi Moore
Real name: Demetria Gene Guynes
Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic
Julianne Moore
Real name: Julie Anne Smith
Steve Granitz/WireImage
Jay-Z
Real name: Shawn Corey Carter
James Devaney/GC Images
Reese Witherspoon
Real name: Laura Jeanne Reese Witherspoon
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Katy Perry
Real name: Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson
Jeff Vespa/WireImage
Meg Ryan
Real name: Margaret Mary Emily Anne Hyra
Venturelli/Getty Images
Tina Fey
Real name: Elizabeth Stamatina Fey
Jason Merritt/Getty Images
Olivia Wilde
Real name: Olivia Jane Cockburn
Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images
Ashton Kutcher
Real name: Christopher Ashton Kutcher
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Whoopi Goldberg
Real name: Caryn Elaine Johnson
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images
Carmen Electra
Real name: Tara Leigh Patrick
Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images
Miley Cyrus
Real name: Destiny Hope Cyrus
Dan MacMedan/Getty Images
Nina Dobrev
Real name: Nikolina Konstantinova Dobreva
Jason Kempin/Getty Images
Shania Twain
Real name: Eilleen Regina Edwards
Gregg DeGuire/Getty Images
Natalie Portman
Real name: Natalie Hershlag
Rabbani and Solimene Photography/Getty Images
Helen Mirren
Real name: Ilyena Lydia Vasilievna Mironov
Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images
Lady Gaga
Real name: Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta
Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
Nicki Minaj
Real name: Onika Tanya Maraj
NBC/Getty Images
Lorde
Real name: Ella Marija Lani Yelich-O’Connor
Michael Buckner/AMA2014/Getty Images
Pink
Real name: Alecia Beth Moore
Lester Cohen/WireImage
Bono and The Edge
Real names: Paul David Hewson and David Howell Evans
Araya Diaz/Getty Images
Iggy Azalea
Real name: Amethyst Amelia Kelly
C Flanigan/Getty Images
Snoop Dogg
Real name: Calvin Cordozar Broadus
Leon Bennett/Getty Images
Faith Hill
Real name: Audrey Faith Perry
Jason Merritt/Getty Images
Jamie Foxx
Real name: Eric Marlon Bishop
Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images
Marilyn Manson
Real name: Brian Hugh Warner
Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images
Ozzy Osbourne
Real name: John Michael Osbourne
Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images
Queen Latifah
Real name: Dana Elaine Owens
Jason LaVeris/Getty Images
Lana Del Rey
Real name: Elizabeth Woolridge Grant
Steve Granitz/Getty Images
Source link
Continue Reading