Nicolas Cage Nicolas Cage Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor, director and producer. During his early career, Cage starred in a variety of films such as "Valley Girl" (1983), "Racing with the Moon" (1984), "Birdy" (1984), "Peggy Sue Got Married" (1986), "Raising Arizona" (1987), "Moonstruck" (1987), "Vampire's Kiss" (1989), "Wild at Heart" (1990), "Fire Birds" (1990), "Honeymoon in Vegas" (1992), and "Red Rock West" (1993). Cage received an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award for his performance as an alcoholic Hollywood writer in "Leaving Las Vegas" (1995) before
Francis Ford Coppola to pay off his debts. (Zoetrope Studios finally filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1990, after which its name was changed to American Zoetrope). Following the disastrous "One from the Heart", Coppola co-directed "Hammett" along with Wim Wenders in the same year. Although Coppola was not credited for his effort, according to one source, "by the time the final version was released in 1982, only 30 percent of Wenders' footage remained and the rest was completely reshot by Coppola, whose mere 'executive producer' credit is just a technicality." In 1983, he directed "The Outsiders", a film adaptation of the novel