10 Stars Whose Real Names We Don't Actually Know Are All Aliases

If the name is not harmonious or too long, celebrities prefer to shorten it or completely change it beyond recognition. It also happens that at the beginning of the creative path, it turns out that there is already a star with that name or surname.

10 PHOTOS

1. Ornella Muti

Ornella Muti's real name is Francesca Rivelli. The actress liked her name, but she was forced to take a pseudonym since at that time the Italian actress Luisa Rivelli was already shining on the screen. At the age of 15, Ornella was invited to shoot in the film “The Most Beautiful Wife”. Director Damiano Damiani came up with a pseudonym for the young actress. At first, Francesca did not like her new name, but over time she fell in love with it.

2. Jean Reno

On July 30, 1948, Juan Moreno Herrera Jimenez was born in Morocco. The guy bore this name until it was time to enter the theater school. Then he took the French name, consonant with Juan - Jean, and shortened his surname from Moreno to Reno. Very soon, the whole world recognized the actor with a sonorous pseudonym. Jean Reno became especially popular after the movie "Leon".

3. Nastassja Kinski

The original name of the actress is Nastasya Aglaya Nakshinski. First, the name was shortened by Nastasya's father, the famous German actor Klaus Kinski. The double name of the newborn daughter came from the heroines of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky's novel The Idiot. When the girl began acting, she left herself only one name and took the pseudonym of her father.

4. Jean-Claude Van Damme

The Belgian has an unpronounceable and long name - Jean-Claude Van Varenberg. No matter how they called him, shortening his surname. As a result, it stuck - Van Damme. But there is another version of the origin of the actor's pseudonym. According to legend, Jean-Claude's father had a best friend named Van Damme. When a friend died, his father grieved greatly, but Jean-Claude reassured his parent that he would now bear the name of his untimely departed comrade.

5. Natalie Portman

Neta Lee Hershlag was born in Jerusalem, Israel. When the girl ended up in America, she quickly realized that for a dizzying acting success, she needed to choose a worthy pseudonym. Then Neta Li folded her name into one - Natalie, and also took the Jewish, but already more compatible surname of her grandmother - Portman.

6. Whoopi Goldberg

At birth, the actress was named Caryn Elaine Johnson. Growing up, the girl differed from her peers in a certain sense of humor. For “toilet” jokes, her friends nicknamed her Whoopi (Whoopi Cushion - fart pillow). Karin took this with humor and later left the nickname as a pseudonym. And the name Goldberg was advised by her mother.

7. Antonio Banderas

Jose Antonio Dominguez Bandera is the name of the star of the film Desperado (1995) according to the documents. In the acting environment, Antonio uses a shortened version of his long name. Despite the fact that the actor is Spaniard, there is no “s” at the end of his last name. But the handsome man was not taken aback and added it to himself. So he became Antonio Banderas.

8. Michael Caine

The actor began his career under his real name - Maurice Joseph Micklewhite. He then took on a pseudonym and became Michael Micklewhite. But one day the producer called him and said that this name was already taken. A new pseudonym had to be invented immediately, and the actor looked out the window. On the pole, he saw a poster announcing the new film "Riot on the Kane". Without hesitation, the actor said: “Now my name is Michael Caine!”.

9. Mila Kunis

Milena Markovna Kunis was born in Ukraine and moved to the USA with her parents at the age of 7. The girl did not radically change the name but simply shortened it. Mila speaks good Russian. The actress has been living in the States for over 30 years. One of the fresh strong roles of the actress in the film “4 Good Days”.

10. Vin Diesel

For some reason, Mark Sinclair decided that his first and last name did not fit the brutal image of a security guard in a nightclub. After going through a lot of options, the guy first became Mark Diesel, and then just Diesel. But in Hollywood, he was asked to come up with a normal name for himself, not a nickname. Without hesitation, the actor added Vin's name. The producers were fine with it.