Though haunted by cries of nepotism early in his career, engaging, sleepy-eyed American star Nicolas Cage, nephew of director Francis Ford Coppola, led anything but a charmed existence growing up amidst the placid suburban comfort of Long Beach, California. His mother's hospitalizations for severe depression kept her away from the family for long intervals, and his parents' subsequent divorce, coupled with his adolescent feelings of "dorkiness" made it easy for him to identify with James Dean's outsider status in 1955's "East of Eden.” Credited as Nicolas Cage for the first time, he channeled his frustrations through his initial leading character in "Valley Girl" (1983), his name change inspired by Luke Cage, the black comic-book hero who suffers from depression and insecurity. He has always looked at the world as a very strange place, and his correspondingly dark vision has colored his work from the beginning.Cage graduated from teenage angst after providing a strong presence in a small part in his uncle's underrated "Rumble Fish" (1983), making his first serious dramatic waves as the sensitive, strong and fiercely loyal friend of Matthew Modine in "Birdy" (1984), Alan Parker's duet for emotionally scarred Vietnam veterans. Although roundly criticized at the time for his over-the-top choices in Coppola's nostalgic "Peggy Sue Got Married" (1986), they attracted the attention of Cher who, likening his strangely compelling performance to watching a two-hour car crash, proposed him for the role of Ronny in "Moonstruck" (1987)—then walked out of the production for a day until the producers gave in. "Moonstruck" was his first really big box-office hit, and though some critics objected to his portrayal of the inarticulate but philosophical baker he patterned after Cocteau's alienated monster from 1946's "Beauty and the Beast,” it was unmistakably vintage Cage.
Cage showcased his goofier qualities in such movies as the Coen brothers' screwball comedy "Raising Arizona" (1987) and David Lynch's odyssey, "Wild at Heart" (1990), in which no amount of overacting as Elvis-acolyte Sailor could ever be too much for Lynch's anything-goes universe. He probably single-handedly guaranteed a perpetual cult status for "Vampire's Kiss" (1989) when he ate a live cockroach in yet another method-acting stunt (he had knocked out a tooth for the filming of "Birdy"), and though the critics united with the public in ignoring "Amos and Andrew" (1993), it was his wacky charm that was central to the success of Andrew Bergman's comedy "Honeymoon in Vegas" (1992). Unfortunately Bergman couldn't repeat the formula for "It Could Happen to You" (1994), despite the presence of Cage in that cast. Returning to the Nevada city in Mike Figgis' "Leaving Las Vegas" (1995), Cage delivered an uncharacteristically subtle, multi-layered performance as an alcoholic writer out to commit suicide. Bringing warmth and humor to what could have been an unsympathetic role, Cage earned rave notices, earning nearly every possible award, including a Best Actor Academy Award.
Following his Oscar win, Cage reinvented himself as an action hero, starring in a trio of blockbuster muscle movies that elevated him to the ranks of aging icons Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone and Harrison Ford. "The Rock" (1996) teamed his at-first geeky FBI biochemist with Sean Connery (as the only man ever to have escaped from Alcatraz) to free hostages on the famous island while "Con Air" (1997) matched his bad-luck good guy with offbeat Federal Marshall John Cusack to foil the machinations of some of the hardest criminals ever assembled. After playing a psychotic terrorist who gets to swap identities with FBI guy John Travolta in John Woo's "Face/Off" (1997), Cage enjoyed a respite from actioners in "City of Angels" (1998), a love story inspired by Wim Wenders' "Wings of Desire" (1988), before taking his turn in Brian De Palma's crime thriller "Snake Eyes" (1998). In 1999, Cage starred in two edgy thrillers, the vile "8mm" directed by Joel Schumacher