Michael Keaton is ready to return to his roots, specifically by reclaiming his birth name. The Beetlejuice and Batman star recently shared that, after five decades in the entertainment industry playing iconic roles, he plans to start using his original name—Michael Douglas—once again.
Due to Screen Actors Guild rules prohibiting two members from having the same name, Keaton had to find an alternative early in his career, as both actor Michael Douglas and talk show host Mike Douglas were already using the name.
“I was flipping through something—I don’t remember if it was a phone book,” Keaton, now 72, recalled in an interview on Sept. 4.
“I just thought, ‘I need to come up with something,’ and I landed on Michael Keaton. It sounded reasonable.”
Now, Keaton intends to be professionally credited as Michael Keaton Douglas, combining both his stage name and his birth name moving forward.
Keaton mentioned that he planned to use this new name for his 2023 film Knox Goes Away, which he directed and starred in, but admitted he “forgot” to follow through in the hectic process of making the movie.
“I told them, ‘Just a heads up, I want my credit to be Michael Keaton Douglas,’ but it slipped my mind,” he said. “I didn’t give them enough time to make it happen, but it will in the future.”
Keaton isn’t the first Hollywood star to revert to their original name. Emma Stone, who starred alongside Keaton in 2014’s Birdman, once shared her own desire to go back to her birth name, Emily.
“That would be so nice,” Stone told in an April 24 interview. “I would love to be called Emily again.”
In fact, Stone revealed that many of her colleagues already use her real name. “Once people get to know me, they often call me Emily,” she explained.
“A couple of years ago, I had this moment where I was like, ‘I can’t do it anymore. Just call me Emily.'”
Several other celebrities have also chosen to use stage names throughout their careers.
For instance, Katy Perry, born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson, adopted her stage name to avoid confusion with actress Kate Hudson, while Cardi B’s birth name is Belcalis Almanzar, but she took inspiration from the Bacardi nickname given to her by friends.
Meghan Markle was born Rachel Meghan Markle, and Miley Cyrus was originally named Destiny Hope Cyrus, but both opted for names that reflected personal transformations.
Other examples include Gigi Hadid, who was born Jelena Noura Hadid, and Vin Diesel, whose birth name is Mark Vincent.
Even Tom Cruise, born Thomas Mapother IV, and Natalie Portman, whose real name is Natalie Hershlag, chose stage names that have since become iconic.
