8 Famous People Who Changed Their Names For Hollywood, And 8 Who Absolutely Refused To
1.Changed their name: Michelle Yeoh
Her real name is Choo Kheng Yeoh (although the name order is switched, so it's really Yeoh Choo Kheng).
Back in the '80s, the actor was pressured to change her name. She told USA Today, "I only adopted the name Michelle when I got into the film industry because my producer said at the time, 'No one is going to be able to say your name.'"
Though she reluctantly agreed to the name change, Michelle voiced her disbelief at the time. "What do you mean they can't say it? It's Yeoh as in Yo, that’s easy right? Choo as in 'choo choo train' and Kheng as in 'king.' Why can't you put those three words together?"
2.Refused: Amrit Kaur
The actor told Harper's Bazaar that she only recently started correcting people's pronunciation of her name. "For a long time, I was 'Aym-ritt,' which is disgusting. It doesn’t sound good... It was only three years ago I started telling my friends and family that my name is 'Um-rith.' You pronounce it like a U, not an A. All my life, I’d been called 'Aym-ritt.'"
In The Sex Lives of College Girls, her character Bela opts for the common American pronunciation rather than the Indian one her parents use. But Amrit appreciated this, saying, "It didn’t make me angry. It made me feel like we’re finally revealing truths about being a South Asian born in America and Canada, where people are still learning to pronounce our names. We’re outsiders."
"Because I’m a newcomer, I don’t have a lot of clout. But at the same time, that’s my small little form of self-love or activism. But at least we’re starting to normalize being South Asian. If you can pronounce 'Saoirse,' as in Saoirse Ronan, if you can make the effort to learn a Caucasian name, then you can make the effort to learn a South Asian name as well."
3.Changed their name: Taika Waititi
His real name is Taika David Cohen.
His father's last name was Waititi, and his mother's is Cohen. His parents, who never married, wrote Cohen on Taika's birth certificate, but the filmmaker told Cultural Daily that he switched back and forth throughout his childhood. "Growing up, I was doing a lot of acting and stuff. And because Cohen is on my passport, I would use Cohen through school, and I was known as Taika Cohen. And then, when I went to live with my dad on that side of the family, I was known as Waititi. So I always used both names throughout my life, according to where I was living."
"As a painter, I often felt like that was more the Waititi side of myself; I would be Taika Waititi as the painter. And then, because I made my first short film in that area where I was known as Waititi, that was the name that was put on the film. And that film did really well, and suddenly I had a career as a filmmaker, and now everyone knows me as Waititi."
4.Refused: Ki Hong Lee
In an interview with the Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment, the actor acknowledged that he has a "very Korean name" and considered Anglicizing it earlier in his career. However, he came across an interview of Uzo Aduba, who recalled asking her mom for a name that was easier for people to pronounce. "And she goes, 'Well, if they can learn to say Dostoyevsky and Tchaikovsky and all those names, they can learn to say your name.' And that resonated with me."
"I was like, 'That's right, man! You don't have to change your name for anybody!' You can just be yourself and make them learn your name."
5.Changed their name: Mindy Kaling
Her real name is Vera Mindy Chokalingam.
The actor told NHPR that she shortened her name when she got into comedy because no one could pronounce it — some people even made jokes about it. "It's a South Indian name, and it's a long name. As a performer, these comedians would just butcher it, and then be like, 'I don't know what it is! Just this girl, Mindy.'"
"And so, I would go do stand-up nights, and I already felt, like, a huge distance from the audience — just as a new comedian, but then an even more distance because it had been made so clear that I was ethnic."
"When you do comedy...these are all comedians who changed their names, and I felt it was the easiest thing for me to do, and ultimately, it was really beneficial to do it. It was something that I had a lot of mixed feelings about. But my parents didn't mind. I talked to them about it. And then, I ended up shortening it. It's bittersweet, but I have to say, it was such a help to my career to have a name that people could pronounce."
6.Refused: Keanu Reeves
On the Smartless podcast, he recalled being told his name was "too ethnic" when he first got to Hollywood. Though he was annoyed about it, he came up with a few different options that his agent didn't approve: Chuck Spadina and Templeton Page-Taylor. They agreed to try out Casey Reeves, but Keanu couldn't do it. "Eventually, I went back to my agents, and I was like, 'I can't change my name.'"
"One of the first plays I ever did, I was playing John Procter. And one of the lines is like, 'Because it is my name, because I can have no other,' and that was just running through my head," he added.
7.Changed their name: Jo Koy
His real name is Joseph Glenn Herbert.
During the Netflix special In His Elements, the comedian shared that people would laugh at his name when he did stand-up early in his career. He was mulling over different options when his aunt called him over to eat with her nickname for him: Jo Koy. For over 30 years, he's used that as his stage name.
However, reporters kept asking him for the meaning behind the nickname, so he asked his aunt a few years ago. To his surprise, she told him that she never called him Jo Koy.
"I go, 'Then what do you call me?' She goes, 'I call you Jo ko. That is your nickname. Jo ko.' And for all of you at home who don't know what that means: In Tagalog, ko means my. My nickname is my Jo. Jo ko. How fucking sweet is that?"
"Why didn't she tell me this 30 years ago? All my merchandise, misspelled."
8.Refused: Maitreyi Ramakrishnan
During an interview with Variety, the Never Have I Ever actor spoke about the importance of respecting names. "Obviously, Tamil names are super long. My entire full name — Maitreyi Ramakrishnan — I have 20 letters... I think one of the greatest disrespects you can do to a person is not put the effort into somebody’s name."
She shared that she used to Anglicize her name in high school. "And then when I landed in LA, they were like, 'How do you say your name? Sorry, I don’t want to mix it up.' And I’m like, 'Oh my God, this is my chance to reclaim my name' because I love my name. Why would I change it?"
9.Changed their name: KJ Apa
His real name is Keneti James Fitzgerald Apa.
On an episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the TV show host asked what KJ stands for. The actor replied, "KJ is short for Keneti James, which is a Samoan name. I'm named after my father."
10.Refused: Nicole Scherzinger
Though the singer was born Nicole Prascovia Elikolani Valiente, Scherzinger isn't a stage name. Her biological father left when she was a few years old, and her mother remarried. Nicole's stepfather adopted her, and she took his last name. She told The Guardian, "It's a crazy name, Scherzinger. It comes from my adoptive father, and the Austrian translation is jokester, which explains Schamazeballs [her phrase coined on the X Factor]."
11.Changed their name: Kal Penn
His real name is Kalpen Suresh Modi.
In 2008, the actor told Nirali Magazine that Anglicizing his name resulted in a 50% increase in audition callbacks. "Almost as a joke to prove friends wrong, and half as an attempt to see if what I was told would work (that Anglicized names appeal more to a white-dominated industry), I put 'Kal Penn' on my résumé and photos. Auditions did increase, and I was amazed. It showed me that there really is such an amount of racism (not just overt, but subconscious as well)."
"I kept the Anglicized version of my name on pictures so that I had a better chance of auditions, but I never intended to be known as 'Kal Penn.' Ironically, once you start working under any name, you can't easily be known by another — even if it is your real name. I still prefer Kalpen Modi."
12.Refused: Ke Huy Quan
After winning an Oscar for Everything Everywhere All at Once, he told reporters that he started out in Hollywood using his real name. "When it got really tough, my manager told me that 'maybe, you know, it would be easier if you were to have an American-sounding name,' and I was so desperate for a job that I would do anything," he recalled. But after using the name Jonathan and taking a long break from acting, "The very first thing that I wanted to do was to go back to my birth given name."
"Tonight, to see Ariana [DeBose] open that envelope and say 'Ke Huy Quan,' that was a really, really special moment for me. And then immediately, I was so emotional."
13.Changed their name: Awkwafina
Her real name is Nora Lum.
The actor told Galore, "I just really thought it was funny when people try to subtilize products like Neutrogena. Because I just imagine someone sitting there, thinking about all these weird names, especially the water names. But anyways, I just came up with it when I was 16 and thought it was really funny. And then, I eventually adopted it."
"People started calling me that name, and I was like, 'I can't believe they're actually calling me this fucking name, it's so stupid.'"
"My rap name was just Aquafina, but then I think when we were putting out the video, the guy that made the video...he was like, 'Well, we should change the spelling so you don't get sued,'" she recalled. "So, he spelled it so extra. He spelled it in the most extra way ever. So, I was like, 'I feel like people aren't going to understand this,' and he was like, 'Yeah, but I feel like it would be unique, so then people [will] look it up.' But then, no one knows how to spell it. So, you know, it came back to bite me in the ass."
14.Refused: Hasan Minhaj
In 2019, the comedian went viral for correcting Ellen DeGeneres's pronunciation of his name during her show. He later explained on Patriot Act that people pressured him to change his name when he first got into comedy. So, he spent two months introducing himself at open mics as Sean.
But he quickly realized that didn't align with his principles — though many Asian folks are similarly pressured to change their names. "You'll have people who are like, 'This is my Chinese name, this is my American name.' But I'm like, 'Dude, fuck that.' Your name's your name."
15.Changed their name: Bruno Mars
His real name is Peter Gene Hernandez.
During an interview with Rap-Up, the singer shared the story behind his stage name. "Bruno is after Bruno Sammartino, who was this big, fat wrestler. I guess I was this chunky little baby, so my dad used to call me that as a nickname. The Mars came up just because I felt like I didn’t have no pizzazz, and a lot of girls say I’m out of this world, so I was like I guess I’m from Mars."
16.And finally, refused: Jamie Chung
In an interview with Byrdie, the actor spoke about the racism she's encountered — both in Hollywood and out in the world. "I can never hide my Asianness. But nor would I want to. I've been married for five years, and I won't even change my last name! I’ll never do it. I love my husband [actor Bryan Greenberg], but it’s just my identity. I’m never gonna change it."
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