8 Famous People Who Changed Their Names For Hollywood, And 8 Who Absolutely Refused To (2024)

Table of Contents

Changed their name: Michelle Yeoh 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.'" 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.'" "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." Changed their name: Taika Waititi His father's last name was Waititi, and his mother's is Cohen. His parents, who never married, wrote Cohen on Waititi'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." 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." Changed their name: Mindy Kaling 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.'" "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." 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 Reeves couldn't do it. "Eventually, I went back to my agents, and I was like, 'I can't change my name.'" Changed their name: Jo Koy 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. "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 f*cking sweet is that?" 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." Changed their name: KJ 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." 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. Scherzinger'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]." Changed their name: Kal Penn 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)." 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." Changed their name: Awkwafina 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." "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." 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, f*ck that.' Your name's your name." Changed their name: Bruno Mars 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." 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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Amy Sussman / Getty Images

Changed their name: Michelle Yeoh

Her real name isChoo Kheng Yeoh (although the name order is switched, so it's really Yeoh Choo Kheng).

8 Famous People Who Changed Their Names For Hollywood, And 8 Who Absolutely Refused To (2)

Steve Granitz / FilmMagic

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, Yeoh voiced her disbelief at the time. "What do you mean they can't say it? It's Yeohas in Yo, that’s easy right? Chooas in 'choo choo train'and Khengas in 'king.' Why can't you put those threewords together?"

8 Famous People Who Changed Their Names For Hollywood, And 8 Who Absolutely Refused To (3)

Errich Petersen / SXSW Conference & Festivals via Getty Images

Refused: Amrit Kaur

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Matt Winkelmeyer / Variety via Getty Images

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 Kaur 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."

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Unique Nicole / Getty Images

"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."

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Arturo Holmes / FilmMagic

Changed their name: Taika Waititi

His real name is Taika David Cohen.

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Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images for Critics Choice Association

His father's last name was Waititi, and his mother's is Cohen. His parents, who never married, wrote Cohen on Waititi'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."

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Neil Mockford / FilmMagic

"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."

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Frederic J. Brown / AFP via Getty Images

Refused: Ki Hong Lee

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CAPE

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."

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Mike Coppola / Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue

Changed their name: Mindy Kaling

Her real name is Vera Mindy Chokalingam.

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Gilbert Flores / WWD via Getty Images

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."

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John Shearer / WireImage

"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."

8 Famous People Who Changed Their Names For Hollywood, And 8 Who Absolutely Refused To (14)

Steve Granitz / WireImage

Refused: Keanu Reeves

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Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images

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 Reeves 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.

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Daniel Zuchnik / WireImage / Getty Images

Changed their name: Jo Koy

His real name is Joseph Glenn Herbert.

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Netflix

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.

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Netflix

"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 f*cking sweet is that?"

"Why didn't she tell me this 30 years ago? All my merchandise, misspelled."

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Steve Granitz / FilmMagic

Refused: Maitreyi Ramakrishnan

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Leon Bennett / Getty Images

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?"

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Leon Bennett / Getty Images

Changed their name: KJ Apa

Hisreal name is Keneti James Fitzgerald Apa.

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ABC

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."

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Pool / Getty Images

Refused: Nicole Scherzinger

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Frazer Harrison / Getty Images

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. Scherzinger'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]."

8 Famous People Who Changed Their Names For Hollywood, And 8 Who Absolutely Refused To (25)

Axelle / FilmMagic

Changed their name: Kal Penn

His real name isKalpen Suresh Modi.

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Corey Nickols / Getty Images for IMDb

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."

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Frederic J. Brown / AFP via Getty Images

Refused: Ke Huy Quan

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Handout / Getty Images

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."

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Rich Polk / Getty Images for IMDb

Changed their name: Awkwafina

Herreal name is Nora Lum.

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Jeff Kravitz / FilmMagic

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 f*cking name, it's so stupid.'"

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Axelle / FilmMagic / Getty Images

"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."

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Santiago Felipe / Getty Images

Refused: Hasan Minhaj

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Warner Bros.

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.

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Netflix / Via Twitter: @patriotact

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, f*ck that.' Your name's your name."

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John Esparza / via Getty Images

Changed their name: Bruno Mars

His real name isPeter Gene Hernandez.

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John Esparza / via Getty Images

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."

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Steve Granitz / FilmMagic

And finally, refused: Jamie Chung

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Jc Olivera / FilmMagic

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."