Michael Keaton Is Ditching His Stage Name for His Real Name After Almost 50 Years

Just don’t say his name three times.

Michael Keaton is ready to return to his roots, more specifically, his birth name.The Beetlejuice Beetlejuice star shared that after five decades in show business playing several iconic characters like Batman and Beetlejuice, he wants to use his original moniker—Michael Douglas—again.

Due to the Screen Actor’s Guild’s rules that no two members can have the same name, Keaton was forced to come up with a solution due to both Wall Street actor Michael Douglas and talk show host Mike Douglas.

“I was looking through—I can’t remember if it was a phone book,” the 72-year-old recalled to People in an interview published Sept. 4. “I must’ve gone, ‘I don’t know, let me think of something here.’ And I went, ‘Oh, that sounds reasonable.’”

Moving forward, Keaton plans to be credited professionally as Michael Keaton Douglas, a combination of his stage name and his real name.

The Oscar-nominated actor said he planned to use the new name on his 2023 film Knox Goes Away, which he directed and starred in, but noted that he simply “forgot” amid the chaos of making the film.

“I said, ‘Hey, just as a warning, my credit is going to be Michael Keaton Douglas.’ And it totally got away from me,” he shared. “And I forgot to give them enough time to put it in and create that. But that will happen.”

Keaton isn’t the first Hollywood A-lister to decide to revert back to their birth name in a professional setting. Emma Stone, who coincidentally starred alongside Keaton in 2014’s Birdman, previously announced her intentions of returning to her first name of Emily.

"That would be so nice," she told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published April 24. "I would like to be Emily."

In fact, Stone said that several of her colleagues already do.

"When I get to know them, people that I work with do," she explained. "I freaked out a couple of years ago. For some reason, I was like, 'I can't do it anymore. Just call me Emily.'"

For more celebrities who have changed their real names, read on.

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Cardi B took on the name Bacardi after family and friends started calling her sister Hennessy. Later on she shortened the name to something that suited her quite a bit more.

Before she became the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle was briefly known as Rachel. 

Shania Twain shared the origin story of her stage name during an appearance on Apple Music's Home Now Radio: "In short, I was born, Eilleen Regina Edwards, and then I was adopted and I became Eilleen Regina Twain. Then I became a professional singer and I needed a stage name that sounded a little less like my grandmother's name, because I'm named after my grandmother, both my grandmothers, Eilleen and Regina. I think, in my mind, I was just not really wanting to be called my grandmother's name onstage, so I decided to change it to Shania Twain. I met somebody with the name Shania, thought it was beautiful, and Shania Twain was born."

Oddly enough, Gigi Hadid got her stage name in school when the teacher would confuse her and a girl named Helena. Since her mom called her "gigi" as a term of endearment at home, she told the teacher to just call her Gigi and it simply stuck. 

If you're looking for an explosive action-star name, how about Vin Diesel instead?

Miley Cyrus' bright smile is what inspired her childhood nickname, Smiley. Eventually the name was shortened to Miley and it stuck. 

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Before the meat dresses and chart-topping music, Lady Gaga was just an everyday girl from New York.

Jason Sudeikis confirmed on Today that he was named Daniel after his father, but following some confusion, his mom started using his middle name Jason to avoid confusion. 

Emma Stone ended adopting this stage name after finding out that the Screen Actors Guild already had a member registered under her birthname. 

Turns out Reese isn't even Reese Witherspoon's middle name. The actress chose the moniker in honor of her mother, whose maiden name is Reese.

Every artist has an alter ego, and Lana Del Rey just happens to be the persona of choice for the singer. 

In 2014, Frank Ocean legally changed his name because, why not? 

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This pioneer of West Coast rap would later go on to be known as Snoop Dogg.

Turns out the "Royals" singer is really into learning about the aristocracy, hence the reason why she chose the name Lorde, but with a feminine 'e.'

Before he started shaking his bonbon for the masses, music superstar Ricky Martin went by this everyday name.

It's hard to believe that Iggy Azalea was born Amethyst Kelly!

Fans were confused when Taylor Swift thanked then-boyfriend Adam in an acceptance speech, which lead people to the discovery that Calvin Harris is simply a stage name. The DJ told Shortlist magazine he chose the name because his first single was more soulful and wanted something a bit more "racially ambiguous."

Before she became a household name, this was what erstwhile Friend Jennifer Aniston answered to.

Alicia Keys didn't always have such a musical name.

Before he became arguably the biggest movie star in the world, Tom Cruise went by this name.

Back when she was born in 1980, this was how the future bigtime actress Natalie Portman greeted the world.

Before she became a big-time TV star and married Ellen DeGeneres, this was the name Portia de Rossi answered to.

Guess music superstar Elton John didn't think his original name would be a hit with audiences.

Check The Simple Life alum Nicole Richie's birth certificate and this is the name you'll see.

All it took was a nickname from some high school friends, and U2 frontman Bono's famous moniker was born.

We agree. Carmen Electra is much more effective when it comes to selling a sexy Baywatch persona.

"I went on as Eric Bishop, killed, standing ovation," Jamie Foxx has said of his early comedy days, revealing that for weeks after his fellow comedians blocked him from getting back onstage. So he took his act to a new location and wrote down three unisex-sounding names in the hopes of getting picked. "I go up and get a standing ovation, so the name sticks." 

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