Nicholas Cage

  	Francis Ford Coppola's brooding, sheepish nephew
  renamed himself in honor of composer John Cage and comic-book
  character Luke Cage. He burst onto the scene as Randy, the punk from
  the wrong side of the tracks who falls for Deborah Foreman in Valley
  Girl. He followed up with a strong performance as a disfigured Vietnam
  vet in Birdy. His intense, quirky, over-the-top characterizations were
  scene-stealers in Peggy Sue Got Married, Wild at Heart, and
  Moonstruck. New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael said that Cage "may be
  the only young actor who can look stupefied while he smolders. And no
  one can yearn like Cage: his head empties out--there's nothing there but
  sheep-eyed yearning." He reached hilarious heights in the underrated
	
  	Vampire's Kiss, Raising Arizona, and Honeymoon in Vegas. The guy
  takes acting seriously: to get in the mood for certain roles he has slashed
  his arm, had two teeth pulled without Novocaine, and eaten a live
  cockroach or two. He even went out and got loaded to get into character
  for Leaving Las Vegas. The film earned him his first Academy Award.