10 Hollywood Actors Names You Don't Really Know

Real Name: Michael Douglas

Thanks to rules set by the Screen Actors Guild that stipulate no two members can have the same name, Batman and Birdman star Michael Keaton was forced to change his name when he registered with the actors’ union to avoid confusion with the then more well-known Michael Douglas of Basic Instinct and Fatal Attraction fame.

Although it’s been speculated that his name change may have been inspired by fellow actors Buster Keaton or Diane Keaton, his stage surname was actually chosen on a whim when Michael was thinking up names that started with the letter ‘K’.

Keaton does sometimes use his birth name when he’s not in professional working situations to confuse people into thinking that Basic Instinct Michael Douglas is turning up. It’s probably a nice surprise when Keaton turns up instead, come to think of it.

Funnily enough, Michael Douglas’s dad Kirk (who is somehow still alive despite being older than the Hollywood hills themselves) was born Issur Danielovitch so Douglas should really have been called Michael Danielovitch leaving Michael Keaton to be Michael Douglas … this is getting kind of confusing.