Celebrities You Didn't Know Use Stage Names

List of celebrities with stage names, loosely ranked according to fame and popularity. It's tough to break into show business, but a good stage name might give you a leg up in a sea of boring Joe Smiths and Anne Taylors. This list includes famous people you didn't know were using fake stage names, including those who go by their middle names and celebrities who used variations of family names. A number of people on this list changed their names to avoid confusion with other actors. For example, the Batman you know as Michael Keaton was born Michael John Douglas - not to be confused with Michael Kirk Douglas (whose own father, Kirk Douglas, was born Issur Danielovitch). Other celebrities changed their names to protect their privacy. Natalie Hershlag was a famous child actress, but you have always known her as Natalie Portman. Some celebrities who use pseudonyms changed their names themselves just because they sounded better.

This list of famous stage names includes celebrities who go by nicknames and famous people who have changed their names. It does not, however, include female celebrities who use their married surnames professionally, famous people who were adopted by stepparents at a young age and had their names legally changed as children, or celebrities with obviously theatrical stage names, such as many wrestlers and eponymous artists. You know Adele must have a last name. You know Sting's real name is not Sting. You are pretty sure it's not just a coincidence that the Macho Man's last name was Savage. For more lists of celebrity names, check out the funniest real names of celebrities and this list of stupid celebrity baby names.