Nicolas Cage is an Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award winning actor and filmmaker; best known for his performances in action films and big-budget summer blockbusters.

As the nephew of motion-picture director Francis Ford Coppola, Cage made his acting debut in 1981 in a television pilot. Wanting to differentiate himself from his uncle, he subsequently began using the last name Cage, and later landed a role in the teenage comedy "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and "Rumble Fish". His first starring role came in "Valley Girl" (1983), a lighthearted romance about suburban punk rockers. In 1984, Cage, by then a strong proponent of the Stanislavsky method of acting, appeared in Coppola’s "The Cotton Club" as well as in "Racing with the Moon" and "Birdy". Throughout the late 1980's he starred in numerous comedies, including "Peggy Sue Got Married" (1986) and the Coen brothers’ "Raising Arizona" (1987).

Cage earned critical acclaim with his Oscar-winning performance as a self-destructive alcoholic writer in "Leaving Las Vegas". He went on to star in a series of large-budget explosive-laden films that were hits at the box office. In "The Rock", "Con Air", and "Face/Off", he appeared opposite such actors as Sean Connery, John Cusack, and John Travolta, respectively. Other notable action films and thrillers include "Gone in 60 Seconds", "Windtalkers", and "National Treasure" and its sequel "National Treasure: Book of Secrets", which featured Cage as a treasure hunter searching for historical artifacts.

In 1997, Cage was ranked #40 in Empire magazine's The Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time list, while the next year he was placed #37 in Premiere's 100 most powerful people in Hollywood. He earned his second Academy Award nomination for his performance as Charlie and Donald Kaufman in "Adaptation". He also directed the film "Sonny", for which he was nominated for Grand Special Prize at Deauville Film Festival. Cage owns the production company Saturn Films and has produced films such as "Shadow of the Vampire" and "The Life of David Gale".

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