This Is The Ultimate Movie Star Name Quiz

They don’t make movie-star names like they used to—by which we mean their original names, the ones that were discarded on the cutting room floor. Test your knowledge here of who was who, before fame beckoned.

Stars are seldom fussy about having fancy names these days. Anyone with a name like Renee Zellweger or Benedict Cumberbatch will likely stick with it, rather have their agent dream up something like “Rena Fontaine” or “Ben Cummings.”

Back in Hollywood ‘s golden era, studio publicists would comb through the phone book to find a “classier” or less ethnic-sounding name for the “Gumm” or “Schwartz” or “Grossel” on their books. They arranged “socially acceptable” and usually non-existent romances for their stars, too.

Here, we list the original names of 42 movie stars, and to help identify the owners, we’ve thrown in a few visual clues. A few modern stars who did opt for a name change are included.

Click each box to flip from the real name to reveal the marquee-friendly monicker. How many do you know?

About the author

Graham Fuller

Film Editor

Liverpool University graduate Graham previously ran the film sections at The Movie, Stills, Elle, Interview, The New York Daily News, and artinfo.com. His writing on movies has appeared in Sight & Sound, Film Comment, Cineaste, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Village Voice, Screen Daily, theartsdesk.com, Art in America, and Art Forum. He co- wrote and co-hosted the television show Cinema. A New York Film Critics Circle member, he has edited books on Dennis Potter and Ken Loach. His interests include the work and travels of Robert Louis Stevenson, nineteenth-century painting, British history and folklore, Native American culture, and psychogeography.