16 Celeb Duos You Didn’t Realize Are Related Because One Uses A Stage Name
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Hollywood is full of Skarsgårds, Baldwins, Coppolas, and Cyruses. However, not every famous family is so easy to piece together — a lot of celebs use a stage name that separates them from their relatives.
Here are 16 celebrity duos you probably didn't realize are related because at least one of them uses a stage name:
1.Florence Pugh has an older brother named Sebastian Toby M. Pugh.
He's better known as Toby Sebastian, aka Trystane Martell in Game of Thrones.
He also does music — in fact, the siblings released the song "Midnight" together in 2021.
2.Óscar Isaac Hernández Estrada — aka Oscar Isaac — isn't the only actor in his family.
His younger brother, Michael Benjamin Hernández, is a journalist as well as an actor.
They worked together on Moon Knight, where Michael served as Oscar's body double for the scenes where he needed to play both Marc Spector and Steven Grant.
3.William Mapother — aka Ethan Rom from Lost — has a pretty famous cousin named Thomas Cruise Mapother IV.
Thomas is well-known under his stage name, Tom Cruise.
He reportedly uses a stage name because an agent suggested it.
4.Meryl Streep's four children all followed in her footsteps, but only Mamie Gummer and Grace Gummer kept their family name.
Their dad is sculptor Don Gummer.
Her oldest — Henry Wolfe Gummer — dropped his last name for Hollywood. He acts and releases music under the name Henry Wolfe.
His song "Stop the Train" was part of the soundtrack for Julie & Julia, which Meryl starred in.
Meryl's youngest — Louisa Jacobson Gummer — also acts under her first and middle name. She plays Marian Brook in The Gilded Age.
5.Beanie Feldstein's older brother, Jonah Hill Feldstein, is also an actor.
Jonah Hill has never spoken about his decision not to use his last name professionally. When the Guardian asked him about it in 2014, he was silent for a few seconds then said, "Can we just not? Just…don't."
Regardless, the siblings are nothing but supportive of each other. In fact, at the Booksmart premiere, Jonah proudly donned a hoodie with "Beanie's brother" embroidered on it.
6.Vincent D'Onofrio's oldest child, Leila George D'Onofrio, is also an actor.
Credited as Leila George, she recently had a major role on Animal Kingdom as young Janine "Smurf" Cody.
She also played Sara Cutler in The Kid, which was directed by her dad.
7.Corbin Bleu Reivers followed in his father's footsteps when he pursued acting, but he decided to drop his last name when his family moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles.
However, he has his dad to thank for his famous stage name. David Reivers wanted to name his son Bullet Blue after the U2 song "Bullet in the Blue Sky," but he and his wife compromised on only keeping the "Blue" part.
David and Corbin played father and son in three movies — Jump In!, High School Musical 3: Senior Year, and Free Style.
8.The Beaty siblings — Henry and Shirley — both changed their names for Hollywood.
Henry added a t to his last name and started going by his middle name, becoming Warren Beatty.
Shirley dropped her last name altogether, becoming Shirley MacLaine.
She told Closer Weekly that she's never done a movie with Warren because she doesn't think they'd "be a good team."
9.Brandy Norwood is better known by her musical mononym, Brandy.
Her younger brother, William Ray Norwood Jr., is also a singer, but he's better known by the stage name Ray J.
They worked together on Moesha. Brandy starred in the titular role, and Ray J joined the cast as her secret half-brother Dorian for the last two seasons.
Brandy and Ray J also have a couple of famous cousins, most notably Snoop Dogg, whose real name is Calvin Broadus Jr.
All three of them are cousins to WWE wrestler and actor, Sasha Banks, whose real name is Mercedes Kaestner-Varnado.
10.Angelina Jolie Voight made her film debut alongside her father, Jon Voight, in Lookin' to Get Out. When she grew up, she decided to drop her last name professionally.
In 2001, she shared the screen with her dad again when they played daughter and father in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider.
However, she legally changed her name to Angelina Jolie in 2002. The press linked the decision to her estrangement from her father.
However, Angelina and Jon reportedly reconciled a few years after her mother's death, and she's allowed him into her children's lives.
In 2017, she told Vanity Fair, "He’s been very good at understanding they needed their grandfather at this time...I had to do a therapy meeting last night and he was just around. He knows kind of the rule — don’t make them play with you. Just be a cool grandpa who’s creative, and hang out and tell stories and read a book in the library."
11.While Nicolas Coppola was working on Fast Times at Ridgemont High, he grew irritated with the constant jokes people made about his famous last name, so he changed it to Nicolas Cage.
He told Wired, "People would not stop saying things like, 'I love the smell of Nicolas in the morning,' because of Apocalypse Now, and Robert Duvall saying, 'I love the smell of napalm in the morning,' and it made it hard to work and I said, 'I don’t need this,' and changed it to Cage."
His uncle is director Francis Ford Coppola, who's known for films like Apocalypse Now and The Godfather.
Nicolas has several other famous relatives, including his director cousin, Sofia Coppola, his actor aunt, Talia Shire (née Coppola), and his actor cousin, Jason Schwartzman (Talia's son).
12.Tanner Elle Schneider is better known as Ex's & Oh's singer, Elle King.
Her dad is Saturday Night Live alum Rob Schneider. Ten-year-old Elle acted alongside him in Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo.
Elle's stage name comes from her mom, former model and actor, London King.
13.Early in his acting career, Ramón Estévez was convinced to use the stage name Martin Sheen — which he now regrets.
However, he's grateful that his son Emilio Estévez kept his name when he went into acting.
His younger son, Carlos Estévez, decided to share his dad's stage name, becoming Charlie Sheen.
His two other children — Ramón Luis and Renée — have also acted under the Estévez name. Sometimes, however, Ramón Luis has been credited as Ramón Sheen.
14.Both members of LMFAO have colorful stage names, but outside of music, they share a last name.
Stefan Gordy (Redfoo) formed the duo with his nephew Skyler Gordy (Sky Blue).
They're the son and grandson of Motown Records founder, Berry Gordy, Jr.
15.Benedict Cumberbatch is the son of fellow actor, Timothy Carlton, whose full name is Timothy Carlton Congdon Cumberbatch.
Timothy and his wife, Wanda Ventham, played the parents of Benedict's titular character on Sherlock.
16.And finally, twins Nicholas Brendon Schultz and Kelly Donovan Schultz both dropped their last name when they started acting. They even shared the role of Xander on Buffy when the character was split into two different people in Season 5.
Nicholas is known for playing Xander Harris on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
But on the Season 5 episode "The Replacement," a demon split Xander into two people — his normal self and an evil double. Kelly served as Brendon's body double.
Brendon did most of the talking for both roles, but Kelly had lines in the scenes where both Xanders spoke.
