For the Love of Hollywood! See Marilyn Monroe and More Stars Who Changed Their Names Before Fame

Natalie Wood

The late actress was born Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko.

Michael Caine

At birth, Michael was given the name Maurice Joseph Micklewhite Jr.

Doris Day

Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff is the actress' real name!

Kirk Douglas

Kirk was born with the name Issur Danielovitch. Son Michael Douglas took his stage last name!

Joan Crawford

The actress' real name, Lucille Fay LeSueur, is so different than her stage name!

Audrey Hepburn

Her first name is Audrey, but her last name was actually Ruston!

Judy Garland

We're definitely not in Kansas anymore! The actresses' real name was Frances Ethel Gumm.

Stevie Wonder

Stevland Hardaway Judkins would have been a great one to keep!

Dean Martin

Dino Paul Crocetti is just as handsome as Dean Martin!

Marilyn Monroe

Well, Marilyn Monroe is definitely sexier than Norma Jeane Mortenson!

Bea Arthur

Bea was named Bernice Franke before her days on The Golden Girls!

Rock Hudson

The actor was first named Roy Harold Scherer, Jr.! Very similar to Rock.

Cary Grant

The actor was first named Archibald Alec Leach!

Rita Hayworth

The actress was born with the moniker Margarita Carmen Cansino!

Mickey Rooney

The late actor was previously named Joseph Yule, Jr.!

Shelley Winters

Shelley Winters was actually born with a different last name, Schrift!

Martin Sheen

In the mid-’60s, Martin Sheen made his Broadway debut under the stage name that his son Charlie Sheen later adopted. The West Wing actor was born Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez, the son of Spanish and Irish immigrants. While he has been billed under his stage name for six decades, Martin told Closer in June 2022 that he never legally changed his name. 

“It’s still Ramon Estévez on my birth certificate. It’s on my marriage license, my passport, driver’s license,” he revealed. “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.”

John Legend

John Legend was born John Roger Stephens.

“Well, it was a nickname that some friends started calling me in the studio, just guys that I was collaborating with,” he once said.

Whoopi Goldberg

Whoopi Goldberg, who was born Caryn Elaine Johnson, explained the unique story behind her stage name.

“Whoopi first, and I was Whoopie Cushion,” she told Seth Meyers on an episode of Late Night. “And then I was Whoopi Cushión.”

Her mom then encouraged her to use the name Goldberg.

“She said, ‘You are diminishing your abilities,’” the talk show host remembered. “‘If you call yourself by Whoopi Cushion, people are not really going to appreciate what you can do.’ And I said, ‘Oh really? Oh, great namer of the star?’ And she said, ‘Yes.’”

Rita Wilson

Rita Wilson was born Margarita Ibramihoff.

Diane Keaton

Several other stars adopted stage names, following the lead of Hollywood icons, past and present. Diane Keaton shared the reason she decided to go by a different name in a June 2017 interview with the Irish Examiner. 

“My name is Diane Hall and what happened was I had to change my name when I joined Actors’ Equity, which is our union because there was a Diane Hall,” she explained. “So, I picked my mother’s maiden name, which was Keaton.” 

Michael Keaton

Michael Keaton was born Michael John Douglas. However, to distinguish himself from actor Michael Douglas, he was forced to change his name. But in August 2024, he announced he would be going by Michael Keaton Douglas. He intended for this name to be on the credits of his project Knox Goes Away, however, it slipped his mind.

“I said, ‘Hey, just as a warning, my credit is going to be Michael Keaton Douglas.’ And it totally got away from me. And I forgot to give them enough time to put it in and create that. But that will happen,” he told People.