Nicolas Cage filmography

Nicolas Cage is an American actor whose career began with a role in the 1981 television pilot The Best of Times. The following year, Cage made his feature film acting debut with a minor role in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, the second and last time he went by his birth name Nicolas Coppola, which he changed professionally to avoid allegations of nepotism due to his connection to the Coppola family. In 1983, Cage starred in the teen romantic comedy Valley Girl alongside Deborah Foreman and had a supporting role in Francis Ford Coppola's Rumble Fish.

In 1984, Cage portrayed a fictionalized version of hitman Mad Dog Coll in Coppola's The Cotton Club and appeared in Birdy, a feature the National Board of Review listed among the top ten films of that year. He starred in Coppola's Peggy Sue Got Married in 1986 before leading the 1987 crime comedy Raising Arizona, written and directed by the Coen brothers. In 1988, he earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy for his role as the romantic lead in Moonstruck. In 1989, he appeared in the black comedy film Vampire's Kiss, a box-office bomb that later gained a cult following for his "chaotic" performance. In 1990, he led the David Lynch film Wild at Heart.

In 1992, Cage earned his second Golden Globe nomination for the romantic comedy Honeymoon in Vegas. Three years later, he starred as a suicidal alcoholic in the critically acclaimed Leaving Las Vegas, for which he received a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role, and earned the Golden Globe for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama and the Academy Award for Best Actor. In 2002, he made his directorial debut with Sonny and portrayed filmmaker Charlie Kaufman in Adaptation, another critically acclaimed film that earned him his most recent Best Actor nominations from the Academy Awards, BAFTA, and Golden Globes.

In the 1990s, Cage's career rocketed as a leading man; films of his that made over $100 million in theaters included The Rock (1996), Con Air (1997), Face/Off (1997), City of Angels (1998), Snake Eyes (1998), Gone in 60 Seconds (2000), The Family Man (2000), National Treasure and its sequel (2004; 2007), World Trade Center (2006), Ghost Rider and its sequel (2007; 2011), Knowing (2009), and The Sorcerer's Apprentice (2010). In the 2010s, Cage found himself "taking roles left and right" after a series of box-office disappointments and to pay off his debts to the IRS, placing him in numerous films, many going direct-to-video. His participation in various genres during this time increased his popularity and gained him a cult following. Luke Buckmaster, writing for The Guardian, said, "In Cage's hands, cartoonish moments are imbued with real emotion and real emotions become cartoons. He is erratic and unpredictable; he is captivating and he is capricious. He is a performer." Cage's highest-grossing movie is the 2013 animated film The Croods. His additional voice roles include Superman in Teen Titans Go! To the Movies and Spider-Man Noir in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (both 2018). Recent films of his that earned critical acclaim include Mandy (2018), Color Out of Space (2019), Pig (2021), The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022), Dream Scenario (2023), and Longlegs (2024).