Look up agent in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

An Agent is one who acts for, or in the place of, another, by authority from him; one entrusted with the business of another.

In philosophy[link]

• An entity which is capable of Action (philosophy)
• Agency (philosophy)

In sociology[link]

• A social 'agent'; See structure and agency

In law enforcement[link]

• Special agent, title for a detective or investigator for a state, county, municipal, federal or tribal government
• Secret agent, spy involved in espionage. See agents in espionage.

In law[link]

• Agent (law), in commercial law, is a person who is authorized to act on behalf of another (called the principal) to create a legal relationship with a third party
  • C & F Agent abbreviated from Clearing and Forwarding Agent (IN).
  • Election agent, person legally responsible for the conduct of a candidate's political campaign (UK)
  • Free agent, sports player whose contract with a team has expired
  • Literary agent, person who represents writers and their written works to publishers, theatrical producers and film producers
  • Press agent, professional publicist who acts on behalf of his or her client on all matters involving public relations
  • Sports agent, person who procures and negotiates employment and endorsement deals for a player
  • Talent agent or booking agent, person who finds jobs for actors, musicians and models, etc., in various entertainment businesses
  • Foreign agent, person representing the interests of foreign powers, mandated by the Foreign Agents Registration Act to be identified to the American public
  • Patent agent or patent attorney, person who has the specialized qualifications necessary for representing clients in obtaining patents and acting in all matters and procedures relating to patent law and practice
  • Real estate agent or real estate broker, person who acts as an intermediary between sellers and buyers of real estate
  • Travel agent, person who works on behalf of a travel agency
  • Tuition agent, person who works on behalf of a tuition agency, specializing in introducing tutors to students requiring help in the academic area
  • Yacht agent or yacht broker, specialist who acts as a representative for the sale of a yacht or boat

In economics[link]

• Agent (economics), actor and decision maker in a model
  • Homo economicus, concept in some economic theories of humans as rational and broadly self-interested actors
  • As discussed by economists as the principal–agent problem, agent means anyone supposed to act in the interests of the principal, especially insofar as the actions of the agent cannot be completely monitored by the principal. In this sense agent includes such diverse and common roles as auto mechanic, a doctor, a lawyer, an investment advisor, any fiduciary, a contractor, any employee (from the point of view of the employer), and a political representative in a democracy.
• Agent-based computational economics, computational study of economic processes modeled as dynamic systems of interacting agents
• Rational agent, entity which has clear preferences, models uncertainty via expected values, and always chooses to perform the action that results in the optimal outcome for itself from among all feasible actions
• Representative agent, refers to the typical decision-maker of a certain type

In medicine[link]

• A pharmacological agent is a chemical substance with pharmacological or biological activity, i.e., a pharmaceutical drug

In chemistry and warfare[link]

• Agent Orange, code name for an herbicide and defoliant
• Biological agent, infectious disease or toxin that can be used in bioterrorism or biological warfare
• Chemical warfare, involves using the toxic properties of chemical substances as weapons to kill, injure, or incapacitate an enemy
  • Blister agent or vesicant, chemical compound that causes severe skin, eye and mucosal pain and irritation
  • Blood agent or cyanogen agent, chemical compound carried by the blood for distribution throughout the body
  • Incapacitating agent, agent that produces temporary physiological or mental effects, or both, which will render individuals incapable of concerted effort in the performance of their assigned duties
  • Nerve agent or nerve gases, class of phosphorus-containing organic chemicals (organophosphates) that disrupt the mechanism by which nerves transfer messages to organs
  • Pulmonary agent or choking agent, chemical weapon agent designed to impede a victim's ability to breathe
  • Riot control agent, less-lethal lachrymatory agents used for riot control

In linguistics[link]

• Agent (grammar), the participant of a situation that carries out the action in this situation; also the name of the thematic role (also known as the thematic relation)
• Agent noun (or nomen agentis), word that is derived from another word denoting an action, and that identifies an entity that does that action

In computer science and artificial intelligence[link]

• Agent architecture, blueprint for software agents and intelligent control systems, depicting the arrangement of components
• Agent-based model, computational model for simulating the actions and interactions of autonomous individuals with a view to assessing their effects on the system as a whole
• Intelligent agent, autonomous entity which observes and acts upon an environment and directs its activity towards achieving goals
• Software agent, piece of software that acts for a user or other program in a relationship of agency
  • Forté Agent, email and Usenet news client used on the Windows operating system
  • User agent, the client application used with a particular network protocol

In culture and entertainment[link]

• James Bond, most famous secret agent, fictional character by Ian Fleming.
• Agent 47, fictional character and protagonist in the Hitman video-game series.
• Agent 212, name of a humorous Belgian comic about a large police officer
• Agent (The Matrix), group of characters in the series
• Agent (video game), currently in development by Rockstar North for the PlayStation 3
• The Agent (film), 1922 film featuring Oliver Hardy
• Secret Agent (1936 film), British film directed by Alfred Hitchcock
• Agent, version of The Mole (TV series) that aired in Poland on TVN
• The Agents, superhuman characters in Seven Samurai 20XX
• Agents (band), a Finnish schlager/rock'n'roll band
• The Agents, a British band

See also[link]

• Agency (disambiguation)
• Agent, a title or honorific, such as "Agent Smith"
• All pages with titles containing "Agent"
• Bot (disambiguation)
• Operative (disambiguation)
• Personoid
• Robot
• Agent P, A secret agent name for Perry the Platypus from Disney's Phineas & Ferb

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Saif Ali Khan
Khan at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival.
Born	(1970-08-16) 16 August 1970 (age 41) New Delhi, India
Occupation	Actor, Producer
Years active	1992–present
Spouse	Amrita Singh (m. 1991–2004) «start: (1991)–end+1: (2005)»"Marriage: Amrita Singh to Saif Ali Khan" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Saif_Ali_Khan) (divorced)
Partner	Kareena Kapoor (2007-present)
Children	2

Saif Ali Khan (pronounced [ˈsɛːf əˈli ˈxaːn]; born 16 August 1970) is an Indian actor known for his work in Bollywood films. He is the son of the cricket player and last titular Nawab of Pataudi, late Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, and actress Sharmila Tagore, a great-grandniece of poet Rabindranath Tagore.^[1]

Having made his acting debut in 1992 with Parampara, Khan had his first success with the 1994 films Main Khiladi Tu Anari and Yeh Dillagi. After going through several years of decline throughout the 1990s, he rose into prominence with his performance in Dil Chahta Hai (2001), which marked his professional turning point.^[2] His work in Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003) won him the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor, and he was awarded the National Film Award for Best Actor for his performance in Hum Tum (2004).

Khan subsequently had further mainstream success with films like Salaam Namaste (2005) and Race (2008) and starred in critically acclaimed projects such as Parineeta (2005), Being Cyrus and Omkara (2006).^[3] In 2009, Khan branched out into film production with his company Illuminati Films' first film Love Aaj Kal, which became a box-office success. These accomplishments have established him as one of the leading actors of Hindi cinema.^[4] He was awarded the Padma Shri civilian award by the Government of India in 2010.^[5]

Khan was married to actress Amrita Singh from 1991 to 2004, having two children together. His sister, Soha Ali Khan, is also a film actress.

Life[link]

Saif Ali Khan has Muslim ancestry through Nawabs of Pataudi lineage from his father's side and Hindu Bengali Tagore ancestry from his mother's side.^[6][7] His paternal grandfather, Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi, was the Nawab of Pataudi as well as an accomplished cricketer who played for England and then for India as the captain of the team.^[7] His paternal grandmother was Sajida Sultan, Begum of Bhopal and his great-uncle was Pakistani general Nawabzada Sher Ali Khan Pataudi. His father was Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, a former captain of the Indian cricket team and the ninth Nawab of Pataudi until the abolition of titles by India in 1971.^[6][7] Following the death of his father, Saif Ali Khan was proclaimed the Nawab of Pataudi by villagers of Pataudi State in deference to tradition, although the title carries no official or legal significance.^[8]

Khan has two sisters Saba Ali Khan and Soha Ali Khan. Khan's mother is Sharmila Tagore, a Bengali Indian film actress and a member of Bengal's Tagore family. She is also the head of the Indian film censorship board^[9] and the grand-niece of Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore.^[1] Tagore converted to Islam from Hinduism after her marriage to Khan's father, and changed her name to Begum Ayesha Sultana.^[7] Khan spent his childhood in a Muslim atmosphere, reading the Quran, with his grandmother being the centre of his religious education. Khan says that "Religion played a major role in my upbringing."^[6] Khan also states that his family is "cool or rather massively open–minded about religious matters." For example, he acknowledges that his daughter is born into a Muslim family, however he states that he will not decide her religion for her.^[6]

Initially Khan studied at the Lawrence School Sanawar^[10] and later attended Lockers Park School in Hertfordshire. He followed in his father's footsteps by attending Winchester College, an independent school for boys in the UK. Khan can speak his native languages of Hindi and Bengali fluently, as well as English.^[11]

Acting career[link]

Early work, until 2000[link]

In 1993, he won the Filmfare Best Male Debut Award for Aashiq Awara. His breakthrough role came in 1994 with Yeh Dillagi starring opposite Akshay Kumar and Kajol which was his first major hit.^[12] Khan went on to star in many films but they failed at the box office. He only had success with multi-starrer hits like Main Khiladi Tu Anari (1994), Imtihaan (1995),^[13] Kachche Dhaage (1999) and Hum Saath-Saath Hain: We Stand United (1999).^[14] After some box office failures he had a hit with the film Kya Kehna (2000).^[15]

Turning point, 2001-03[link]

His acting career, more or less, went through a relative slump until 2001, when he was cast in Farhan Akhtar's National Film Award-winning Dil Chahta Hai, co-starring Aamir Khan and Akshaye Khanna.^[16] Depicting the contemporary routine life of Indian affluent youth, it is set in modern-day urban Mumbai and focuses on a major period of transition in the lives of three young friends. Despite receiving a positive critical reception, it was only a moderate box office success in India;^[17] it performed well in the big cities but failed in the rural areas, which was attributed by critics to the urban-oriented lifestyle depicted in the movie.^[18] He received much acclaim for his role as Sameer with critic Taran Adarsh calling it his career-best performance.^[19]

He has since had many box office successes, starting with Nikhil Advani's drama Kal Ho Na Ho (2003), co-starring alongside Shahrukh Khan and Preity Zinta. The film, set in New York, starred Saif as Rohit, Zinta's best friend, who later realises that he loves her.^[20] The film was the second top-grossing film of the year, and Khan's performance was praised by critics. He won the Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award, as well as other awards in that category in other award ceremonies.

Solo success and critical acclaim, 2004–08[link]

To date, Khan's films have often featured him as the supporting cast, though following the success of Dil Chahta Hai and Kal Ho Naa Ho, producers began signing him on for the main lead.^[21] In early 2004, Khan was approached by Sriram Raghavan to star as the globe-trotting bachelor, Karan Singh Rathod, in his directorial debut, Ek Hasina Thi. The film tells the story of a young woman (played by Urmila Matondkar) who meets with Khan's character, and is subsequently arrested for having links with the underworld. When Khan was initially offered the project, he was unable to do it due to his busy schedule.^[21] However, when the director approached him several months later, he agreed to do the film.^[21] Upon release, the film was critically embraced, with Khan's performing earning praise. The Deccan Herald reported, "From suave loverboy to self-serving skunk, he (Khan) moves with such brilliance that he leaves you breathless [...] He holds his own in a movie that is completely Urmila's."^[22] For his performance, Khan received nominations at the Star Screen, Zee Cine and IIFA ceremonies.

He followed it with the leading role in Kunal Kohli's romantic comedy Hum Tum. Featured opposite Rani Mukerji, the film follows the encounters of the two main characters until they, after several years and various meetings, become friends and finally fall in love. The film was received favourably by critics and became one of the year's most successful films, with a domestic box office of 210 million (US$4.19 million).^[23] Khan played the role of Karan Kapoor, a young cartoonist and womaniser whose relationship with Rhea Prakash (played by Mukerji) changes his perception of women and life. Rediff.com wrote about his performance: "Saif reprises his urbane self from Dil Chahta Hai and Kal Ho Naa Ho, peppering it with occasional fits of introspection and angst, and marking himself as an actor whose time has come."^[24] He won the Filmfare Award for Best Performance in a Comic Role and was conferred the coveted National Film Award for Best Actor in 2005 among much controversy.^[25] It marked the beginning of his work with Yash Raj Films, one of the largest production houses in Bollywood.

In 2005, Khan appeared in two movies. His first release was Pradeep Sarkar's Parineeta (2005), an adaptation of Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay's 1914 Bengali novella by the same name.^[26] Prior to being cast, the film's producer, Vidhu Vinod Chopra was initially reluctant in casting Khan as the male protagonist because he felt that "I could not manage it".^[27] After much deliberation, Chopra was persuaded by Sarkar who felt that Khan was perfect for the role.^[28] The film garnered critical acclaim upon release and Khan's portrayal of Shekhar Rai earned him nominations for Best Actor at a number of award ceremonies. Derek Elley from Variety wrote, "Khan, who has gradually been developing away from light comedy, again shows smarts as a substantial actor."^[26] His next release was Siddharth Anand's comedy-drama Salaam Namaste opposite Preity Zinta. Produced by Yash Raj Films, it was the first Indian feature to be filmed entirely in Australia and went on to become the year's highest-grossing Bollywood production outside of India, earning 570 million (US$11.37 million) internationally.^[29] Khan played the role of the egotistic, laid-back chef, Nikhil Arora. According to Khalid Mohamed, "Salaam Namaste is unthinkable without Saif Ali Khan. He rescues several untidily written scenes with his neat wit and that flustered 'how-did-I-get-into-this-soup?' facial expression."^[30]

He next played the protagonist in the English language art film, Being Cyrus (2006), co-starring alongside Naseeruddin Shah and Dimple Kapadia. Directed by debutant Homi Adajania, the psychological drama revolves around a dysfunctional Parsi family with who Khan's character moves into. The film received predominantly positive reviews, and Khan was particularly praised.^[31] Later in the year, he portrayed the character of Iago in Omkara, the Indian adaptation of William Shakespeare's Othello. Directed by Vishal Bhardwaj, the film is a tragedy of sexual jealousy set against the backdrop of the political system in Uttar Pradesh.^[32] The film premiered at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival and was also selected for screening at the Cairo International Film Festival.^[32][33] Omkara was embraced by critics and Khan went on to receive major acclaim earning the awards for Best Actor in a Negative Role at the Filmfare, Star Screen, Zee Cine and IIFA ceremonies; his performance was later included in the 2010 issue of the "Top 80 Iconic Performances" by Filmfare.^[34] Variety described his performance as "powerhouse" and further wrote, "It is Khan's movie through and through, in a performance of rugged, contained malevolence which trades on his previous screen persona as a likable best friend as well as his stint as the manipulative outsider in Being Cyrus. It is smart casting, superbly realized."^[35]

In 2007, Khan collaborated once again with producer Vidhu Vinod Chopra in the epic drama Eklavya: The Royal Guard, alongside Amitabh Bachchan, Boman Irani, Sharmila Tagore and Vidya Balan. Set in the state of Rajasthan during the early years of Indian independence, the movie revolves around a jealous and ungrateful ruler who will not let his wife die in peace because she is uttering the name of Eklavya. Although the film did not succeed at the box office,^[36] it was chosen as India's official entry to the Oscars. The Full Hyderabad described Khan's performance of Harshwardhan as "sombre and understated," played with a "brooding and contemplative sensibility."^[37] He next appeared in the action comedy Nehlle Pe Dehlla, a production that had been delayed since 2001.^[38] The film garnered negative reviews and poor box office returns.^[39] Khan's role was small, and was not well received.^[39] His final release of the year was the family drama, Ta Ra Rum Pum. Directed by Siddharth Anand, it went on to become an economic success at the box office, earning 646 million (US$12.89 million) internationally.^[29]

Khan received further success in 2008, starring in the Abbas-Mustan thriller Race with an ensemble cast including Anil Kapoor, Akshaye Khanna, Bipasha Basu, Katrina Kaif and Sameera Reddy. The feature was loosely adapted from the 1998 American film Goodbye Lover, and became one of the biggest box office hits in India, earning 617 million (US$12.31 million)^[40] and grossed over 200 million (US$3.99 million) abroad.^[41] Critic Rajeev Masand from CNN-IBN wrote, "Of the cast, Saif Ali Khan stands out as the chap with the least dialogue but the one who makes the best impression."^[42] This was followed by three projects produced by Yash Raj Films: Tashan, Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic and Roadside Romeo, all of which were not successful.^[40]

Producer and other works, 2009–present[link]

2009 saw Khan branch out into film producing when he setup his own production company, Illuminati Films, along with Dinesh Vijan.^[43] The company's first release was marked by the romantic comedy Love Aaj Kal. Directed by Imtiaz Ali, the film portrays the feeling of pure love which never changes over time, although the perspective of realizing one's soulmate has changed. It received mostly positive reviews by critics and became one of the highest-grossing films of the year.^[44] For his portrayal of Jai Vardhan Singh and the younger Veer Singh, Khan went on to receive several Best Actor nominations at a number of award ceremonies, including Filmfare. A review in The Economic Times described his performance as "refreshing natural" and "outstanding".^[45] He then starred in the dramatic thriller Kurbaan, alongside Kareena Kapoor and Vivek Oberoi. Produced by Dharma Productions, the film marked the directorial debut of Rensil D'Silva and featured Khan in the role of a terrorist. Upon release, Kurbaan was received favourably by critics and Khan's performance was critically acclaimed. Critic Taran Adarsh of Bollywood Hungama wrote: "Saif is extraordinary in a role that only proves his versatility once again. If he won your heart with a winning performance in Love Aaj Kal a few months ago, you need to watch this supremely talented actor underplay his part so beautifully in Kurbaan.^[46]

In 2011, he appeared in Prakash Jha's multi-starrer drama Aarakshan. Set in the city of Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, the film deals with the policy of caste-based reservations in government jobs and educational institutions.^[47] Khan portrayed the character of Deepak Kumar, a rebellious student who joins the mafia. To prepare for the role, Khan was required to take acting workshops along with the rest of the cast.^[48] Prior to its release, the film was banned from releasing in select cities across India due to its controversial subject.^[47] While the film received a mixed critical reaction, his performance was generally well-received.^[49] The following year, Khan collaborated once again with director Sriram Raghavan, as the protagonist in the action thriller Agent Vinod. The film, which was produced under his own banner, opened to mixed reviews and eventually under-performed at the box office.^[50]

By May 2012, Khan completed working on Cocktail, a romantic comedy directed by Homi Adjania.^[51] Co-starring alongside Deepika Padukone and Diana Penty, the film is scheduled to release on 13 July 2012. He is currently filming for the sequel to his 2008 release, Race.

Personal life[link]

Khan with Kareena Kapoor at the 53rd Annual Filmfare Awards (2008).

Khan married actress Amrita Singh in October 1991.^[52] After thirteen years of marriage and two children (son Ibrahim Ali Khan and daughter Sara Ali Khan), the couple divorced in 2004. The children live with their mother.^[53]

He then dated Rosa Catalano a Swiss model born in Italy, whom he met in Kenya, for three years. Catalano later revealed that he had not told her about his earlier marriage and children, and that she learnt about them only after she came to India.^[54] They were later said to be considering marriage,^[55] but then broke off.^{[56][57][58][59]}

On 18 February 2007, Khan was hospitalised at Lilavati Hospital, Mumbai due to experiencing chest pain while rehearsing for his performance at the Stardust Awards, to be held that night.^[60] After hospitalization, he stated he would quit smoking.^[61]

Khan has been dating actress Kareena Kapoor since October 2007.^[62][63] In October 2009 he publicly spoke of his relationship with Kapoor and the prospect of marriage stating, that in his opinion people said that marriage does not affect one's career but in fact it does and that today the whole definition of marriage has changed. He said, that he and Kareena were so well connected, so close that marriage is just a stamp of validation for the society.^[64]

On 22 September 2011 Khan's father Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi passed away,^[65] which led Saif to formally assume the title of 10th Nawab of Pataudi.^[66] Although the title has no legal or official status after 1971, Saif assumed the title in order to please the sentiments of the villagers. The 'pagri' ceremony was even attended by the incumbent Chief Minister of Haryana.^[66]

Other work[link]

In 2005, along with other Bollywood stars, Khan performed at the HELP! Telethon Concert to help raise money for the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake.^[67]

Khan took part in two major world tours. He was part of a troupe that included Shahrukh Khan, Rani Mukerji, Preity Zinta, Arjun Rampal and Priyanka Chopra, which went on the Temptations 2004 world tour.^[68] Two years later, he toured again, participating and performing in the Heat 2006 concert around the world, along with Akshay Kumar, Preity Zinta, Sushmita Sen and Celina Jaitley.^[69]

In 2006, Khan appeared along with various other Bollywood actors at the Closing Ceremony of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, as part of a performance showcasing Indian culture along with Rani Mukerji, and Aishwarya Rai on behalf of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, held in Delhi.^[70]

Controversy[link]

In 1998, Khan was charged with poaching two blackbucks in Kankani during the filming of Hum Saath Saath Hain along with co-stars Salman Khan, Tabu, Sonali Bendre and Neelam.^[71] The charges were dropped soon after Salman Khan was acquitted.^[72]

Khan was also involved in assaulting a photographer, Pawan Sharma, in 2008 during a film shoot at Patiala railway station.^[73][74]

In 2012, Khan was dining with his friends including Kareena Kapoor and Amrita Arora at the Wasabi restaurant in Taj, Mumbai and making a din and was repeatedly requested by the restaurant management to be quieter. Khan then allegedly assaulted the complainants, Iqbal Sharma, a businessman, who suffered a fractured nose, and an elderly man.^{[73][75][76][77][78]} Khan was arrested under article 325 of the Indian Penal Court, and released on bail on a surety of 3,000 (US$59.85) by the Mumbai Police.^[79][80]

Awards and nomination[link]

Filmography[link]

See also[link]

• List of Indian Actors

References[link]

External links[link]

• Saif Ali Khan at the Internet Movie Database

Nicolas Cage
Cage at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con International.
Born	Nicolas Kim Coppola (1964-01-07) January 7, 1964 (age 48)[1] Long Beach, California, US
Occupation	Actor, producer, director
Years active	1980–present
Spouse	Patricia Arquette (1995–2001) Lisa Marie Presley (2002–2004) Alice Kim (2004–present)
Children	Weston Coppola Cage Kal-El Cage
Parents	August Coppola (deceased) Joy Vogelsang
Family	Marc Coppola (brother) Christopher Coppola (brother) Francis Ford Coppola (uncle) Eleanor Coppola (aunt)

Nicolas Cage (born Nicolas Kim Coppola; January 7, 1964) is an Academy Award–winning American actor, producer and director, having appeared in over 60 films including Raising Arizona (1987), The Rock (1996), Face/Off (1997), Gone in 60 Seconds (2000), Adaptation (2002), National Treasure (2004), Lord of War (2005), Ghost Rider (2007), Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans (2009), Kick-Ass (2010), and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2012).

Early life[link]

Cage was born Nicolas Kim Coppola^[2] on January 7, 1964^[1][3][4][5] in Long Beach, California. His father, August Coppola, a professor of literature, and his mother, Joy Vogelsang, a dancer and choreographer, divorced in 1976. He was raised in a Catholic family.^[6][7] Cage's mother is of German descent and his father was of Italian descent. His paternal grandparents were composer Carmine Coppola and actress Italia Pennino, and his paternal great-grandparents were immigrants from Bernalda, Basilicata.^[8] Through his father, Cage is the nephew of director Francis Ford Coppola and actress Talia Shire, and the cousin of directors Roman Coppola and Sofia Coppola, film producer Gian-Carlo Coppola, and actors Robert Carmine and Jason Schwartzman. Cage's two brothers are New York radio personality Marc "The Cope" Coppola and director Christopher Coppola. He attended Beverly Hills High School, which is known for its many alumni who became entertainers. He aspired to act from an early age and also attended UCLA School of Theatre, Film and Television. His first non-cinematic acting experience was in a school production of Golden Boy.

Career[link]

Acting career[link]

To avoid the appearance of nepotism as the nephew of Francis Ford Coppola, he changed his name early in his career to Nicolas Cage, inspired in part by the Marvel Comics superhero Luke Cage. Since his minor role in the film Fast Times at Ridgemont High, with Sean Penn, Cage has appeared in a wide range of films, both mainstream and offbeat. He tried out for the role of Dallas Winston in his uncle's film The Outsiders, based on S.E. Hinton's novel, but lost to Matt Dillon. He was also in Coppola's films Rumble Fish and Peggy Sue Got Married.

Other Cage roles included appearances in the acclaimed 1987 romantic-comedy Moonstruck, also starring Cher; The Coen Brothers cult-classic comedy Raising Arizona; David Lynch's 1990 offbeat film Wild at Heart; a lead role in Martin Scorsese's 1999 New York City paramedic drama Bringing Out the Dead; and Ridley Scott's 2003 quirky drama Matchstick Men, in which he played an agoraphobic, mysophobic, obsessive-compulsive con artist with a tic disorder.

Cage has been nominated twice for an Academy Award, winning once for his performance as a suicidal alcoholic in Leaving Las Vegas. His other nomination was for his portrayal of real-life screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and Kaufman's fictional twin Donald in Adaptation. Despite these successes, most of his lower-profile films have performed poorly at the box office compared to his mainstream action/adventure roles. The suspense thriller 8mm (1999) was not a box office success, but is now considered a cult film. He took the lead role in the 2001 film Captain Corelli's Mandolin and learned to play the mandolin from scratch for the part. He made his directorial debut with 2002's Sonny. In 2005, two offbeat films he headlined, Lord of War and The Weather Man, failed to find a significant audience despite nationwide releases and good reviews for his acting in those roles. Poor reviews for The Wicker Man resulted in low box office sales. The much criticized Ghost Rider (2007), based on the Marvel Comics character, fared better, earning more than $45 million (the top earner) during its opening weekend and over $208 million worldwide through the weekend ending on March 25, 2007. Also in 2007, he starred in Next, which shared the concept of a glimpse into an alternate timeline with Cage's film, The Family Man (2000).

Most of Cage's movies that have achieved financial success were in the action/adventure genre. In his second-highest grossing film to date, National Treasure, he plays an eccentric historian who goes on a dangerous adventure to find treasure hidden by the Founding Fathers of the United States. Other action hits include The Rock, in which Cage plays a young FBI chemical weapons expert who infiltrates Alcatraz Island in hopes of neutralizing a terrorist threat, Face/Off, a John Woo film where he plays both a hero and a villain, and World Trade Center, director Oliver Stone's film regarding the September 11, 2001 attacks. He had a small but notable role as the Chinese criminal mastermind Dr. Fu Manchu in Rob Zombie's fake trailer Werewolf Women of the S.S. from the B-movie double feature Grindhouse.

Cage made his directorial debut with Sonny, a low-budget drama starring James Franco as a male prostitute whose mother (Brenda Blethyn) serves as his pimp. Cage had a small role in the film, which received poor reviews and a short run in a limited number of theatres. Cage's producing career includes Shadow of the Vampire, the first effort from Saturn Films.

In early December 2006, Cage announced at the Bahamas International Film Festival that he planned to curtail his future acting endeavors to pursue other interests. On The Dresden Files for the Sci-Fi Channel, Cage is listed as the executive producer.

In November 2007, Cage was spotted backstage at a Ring of Honor wrestling show in New York City researching his role for The Wrestler. The role was ultimately played by Mickey Rourke, who received an Academy Award nomination for his performance.^[9] Wrestler Director Darren Aronofsky, in an interview with slashfilm.com, said of Cage's decision to leave the film that: "Nic was a complete gentleman, and he understood that my heart was with Mickey and he stepped aside. I have so much respect for Nic Cage as an actor and I think it really could have worked with Nic but ... you know, Nic was incredibly supportive of Mickey and he is old friends with Mickey and really wanted to help with this opportunity, so he pulled himself out of the race.^[10]"

Cage at the 66th Venice Film Festival in September 2009

In 2008, Cage appeared as Joe, a contract killer who undergoes a change of heart while on a work outing in Bangkok, in the film Bangkok Dangerous. The film is shot by the Pang Brothers and has a distinct South-East Asian flavor. In 2009, Cage starred in science fiction thriller Knowing, directed by Alex Proyas. In the film, he plays an MIT professor who examines the contents of a time capsule unearthed at his son's elementary school. Startling predictions found inside the capsule that have already come true lead him to believe the world is going to end at the close of the week, and that he and his son are somehow involved in the destruction. The film received mainly negative reviews but was the box office winner on its opening weekend. Also in 2009, Cage starred in the film Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, directed by acclaimed German director Werner Herzog. He portrayed a corrupt police officer with gambling, drug and alcohol addictions. The film was very well received by critics, holding a rating of 87% positive reviews on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.^[11] Cage received lauds for his performance, with Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune writing "Herzog has found his ideal interpreter, a performer whose truth lies deep in the artifice of performance: ladies and gentlemen, Nicolas Cage, at his finest."^[12] This film reunited Cage with Eva Mendes, who played his love interest in Ghost Rider. In 2010, Cage starred in the period piece Season of the Witch, playing a 14th-century knight transporting a girl accused of causing the Black Plague to a monastery, and The Sorcerer's Apprentice, in which he played the sorcerer.^[13]

Other works[link]

Cage, an avid comic book fan, auctioned a collection of 400 vintage comics through Heritage Auctions for over $1.6 million in 2002.^[14]

In 2007 he created a comic book with his son Weston, called Voodoo Child, which was published by Virgin Comics.

Cage is a fan and collector of painter and underground comic artist Robert Williams. He has written introductions for Juxtapoz magazine and purchased the painting Death On The Boards.^[15]

Acting style[link]

In February 2011, Cage claimed to have created a new method of acting he calls "Nouveau Shamanic". He claims to have used the acting style throughout his career and one day plans to write a book about the method.^[16]

Praise and criticism[link]

Nicolas Cage's acting has been praised by influential film critic Roger Ebert who writes, in his "Great Movies" essay about the film Adaptation, that: "There are often lists of the great living male movie stars: De Niro, Nicholson and Pacino, usually. How often do you see the name of Nicolas Cage? He should always be up there. He's daring and fearless in his choice of roles, and unafraid to crawl out on a limb, saw it off and remain suspended in air. No one else can project inner trembling so effectively.... He always seems so earnest. However improbable his character, he never winks at the audience. He is committed to the character with every atom and plays him as if he were him."^[17] Roger Ebert, in response to mixed reviews of Knowing and their focus on criticizing Cage, wrote an article in which he defends both Cage as an actor and the movie to which, in stark contrast to other critics, Ebert gave 4/4 stars.^[18]

In the 68th Academy Awards, Cage was awarded the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Leaving Las Vegas.^[19]

In May 2001, Cage was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts by California State University, Fullerton. He spoke at the commencement ceremony.^[20]

Despite such praise, Cage has his detractors. Cage has been criticized for choosing to star in big-budget, action-adventure movies rather than smaller, character-driven dramas, the type of film that initially garnered him praise.^[21] In 1999, one-time friend Sean Penn expressed that sentiment to the New York Times, declaring Cage "no longer an actor."^[22]

Personal life[link]

Relationships and family[link]

In 1988, Cage began dating actress Christina Fulton, who later bore their son, Weston Coppola Cage (born December 26, 1990). Weston is lead singer of the black metal band Eyes of Noctum, and appeared in Cage's film Lord of War as Vladimir, a young Ukrainian mechanic who quickly disarms a Mil Mi-24 helicopter.

Cage has been married three times. His first wife was actress Patricia Arquette (married on April 8, 1995, divorce finalized on May 18, 2001).

Cage's second marriage was to singer/songwriter Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis Presley. Cage is an Elvis fan and used the star as the base of his performance in Wild at Heart. Presley and Cage married on August 10, 2002 and filed for divorce on November 25, 2002 which was finalized on May 16, 2004. The divorce proceeding was longer than the marriage.^[23]

Cage met his third and current wife Alice Kim, a former waitress who previously worked at the Los Angeles restaurant Kabuki and at the Los Angeles-based Korean nightclub, Le Privé. She bore their son, Kal-El, (after Superman's birth name^[24]) on October 3, 2005. Cage was once considered for the role of Superman in a film to be directed by Tim Burton. Alice had a minor role in the 2007 film Next, which Cage produced. They were married at a private ranch in Northern California on July 30, 2004.^{[citation needed]}

Real estate and tax problems[link]

Nicolas Cage is one of Hollywood's highest-paid actors, earning $40 million in 2009 according to Forbes Magazine.^[25]

Cage had a Malibu home where he and Kim lived, but sold the property in 2005 for $10 million. In 2004 he bought a property on Paradise Island, Bahamas. In May 2006, he bought a 40-acre (160,000 m²) island in the Exuma archipelago, some 85 miles (137 km) southeast of Nassau and close to a similar island owned by Faith Hill and Tim McGraw.

He once owned the medieval castle of Schloss Neidstein in the Oberpfalz region in Germany, which he bought in 2006 and sold in 2009 for $2.5 million. His grandmother was German, living in Cochem an der Mosel.^[26]

Schloss Neidstein in Bavaria was owned by Cage between 2007 and 2009.

In August 2007, Cage purchased "Grey Craig", a 24,000-square-foot (2,200 m²) brick-and-stone country manor in Middletown, Rhode Island. With an estate occupying 26 acres (110,000 m²) the home has 12 bedrooms and 10 full bathrooms and overlooks the Atlantic Ocean as well. It borders the Norman Bird Sanctuary to the west. The sale ranked among the state of Rhode Island's most expensive residential purchases until eclipsed that same year, 2007, by the $17.15 million sale of the Miramar mansion on Bellevue Avenue in Newport.

Also in 2007, the actor purchased Midford Castle in Somerset, England.^[27][28][29] Shortly after selling his German castle, Cage also put homes in Rhode Island, Louisiana, Nevada, and California, as well as a $7 million island in the Bahamas, up for sale.

On July 14, 2009, the Internal Revenue Service filed documents in New Orleans in connection with a federal tax lien against property owned by Cage in Louisiana, concerning unpaid federal taxes. The IRS alleges that Cage failed to pay over $6.2 million in federal income tax for the year 2007.^[30] In addition, the Internal Revenue Service has another lien for more than $350,000 in unpaid taxes dating from 2002 to 2004.^[31] Cage filed a $20 million lawsuit on October 16, 2009, against his business manager, Samuel J. Levin, alleging negligence and fraud.^[32] The lawsuit states that Levin "had failed to pay taxes when they were due and had placed [Cage] in speculative and risky real estate investments 'resulting in (the actor) suffering catastrophic losses'."^[32] Cage is also facing separate lawsuits from East West Bank^[33] and Red Curb Investments for unpaid, multimillion dollar loans.

The LaLaurie Mansion in New Orleans was purchased anonymously by Cage in 2007 and sold in 2009.

Samuel Levin filed a counter-complaint and responded to the lawsuit in a filing stating that he warned Cage that he was living beyond his means and urged him to spend less. Levin's filing states that "instead of listening to Levin, cross-defendant Cage (Coppola) spent most of his free time shopping for high ticket purchases, and wound up with 15 personal residences", Levin's complaint continued: "Likewise, Levin advised Coppola against buying a Gulfstream jet, against buying and owning a flotilla of yachts, against buying and owning a squadron of Rolls Royces, against buying millions of dollars in jewelry and art."^[34]

In his filing Levin says that in 2007 Cage's "shopping spree entailed the purchase of three additional residences at a total cost of more than $33 million; the purchase of 22 automobiles (including 9 Rolls Royces); 12 purchases of expensive jewelry; and 47 purchases of artwork and exotic items."^[34] One of those exotic items was a dinosaur skull of a Tarbosaurus for which Nicolas Cage paid $276,000 in an auction after winning a bidding contest against Leonardo DiCaprio.^[35]

According to Cage, he owned the "Most Haunted House in America", a home located in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana.^[36] The home is known as "The LaLaurie house" after its former owner Delphine LaLaurie. The house was foreclosed and sold at auction on November 12, 2009 along with another New Orleans property for a total of $5.5 million, in the wake of his financial problems.^[37]

His Bel Air home, which had six loans totaling $18 million on it, failed to sell at an April 2010 foreclosure auction despite an opening offer of $10.4 million, substantially less than the $35 million that Cage had originally tried to sell it for. The home, built in 1940 for $110,000 had been owned by Dean Martin and singer Tom Jones.^[38] The home eventually sold in November 2010 for $10.5 million.^[39] Another home in Nevada also faces foreclosure auction.^[37]

In November 2011, Cage also sold his Action Comics 1 in an online auction for a record-breaking $2.16 million dollars (the previous record being 1.5), to assist paying his tax liens and other debts. Cage purchased the comic in 1997 for $110,000.^[40]

Legal issues[link]

In December 2009, Christina Fulton sued Cage for $13 million and the house she is living in. The suit was in response to an order that she leave the dwelling that was brought about by Cage's financial difficulties.^[41]

On April 15, 2011, at 11:30 pm, Cage was arrested in New Orleans in the city's famed French Quarter district for suspicion of domestic abuse battery, disturbing the peace and public intoxication, after a police officer was flagged down by onlookers after Cage allegedly grabbed his wife's upper arm while appearing to be under the influence of alcohol.^[42] Cage was held in police custody until a bail of $11,000 was posted by Duane "Dog" Chapman.^[43][44] He was later ordered to appear in court on May 31, 2011.^[45] On May 5, 2011, it was announced that the charges against Cage had been dropped.^{[46][47][48][49]}

Filmography[link]

See also[link]

Film portal

• Coppola family tree
• List of oldest and youngest Academy Award winners and nominees

References[link]