We listen to the radio, watch movies, go to the theatre. We all have our idols or just favorites. Stars of today. And for someone, maybe the heroes of youth? We follow their lives, ups and downs, but sometimes we don't even know the real names of the celebrities who won our hearts.
A bit of history
Creative pseudonyms have never been something out of the ordinary for creative people.
The Russian poetess Anna Akhmatova, well known to us, actually bore the surname Gorenko. And the Soviet writer Demyan Bedny was Efim Pridvorov in everyday life.
Beloved by many Soviet science fiction writer Kir Bulychev was known to the authorities as Igor Mozheiko.
If we talk about an earlier period, we can recall the French poet, prose writer of the XVIII century Voltaire, whose real name is Francois-Marie Arouet. And the English writer and mathematician Lewis Carroll, the author of the famous "Alice", was Charles Lutwidge Dodgson.
Did you know that beloved by many LeonidIs Utyosov really Leiser Iosifovich Weissbein?
Cinema
In cinema, the history of pseudonyms began at the same time as the history of cinema itself. Maybe that's why today stars change their names with the ease supported by directors and producers.
The real names of celebrities can be dissonant, difficult to pronounce. But sometimes situations arise when a pseudonym arises not because of the desire for a new one, but as an escape from the old. So, for example, Nicolas Cage decided to change his last name, because he avoided association with his star uncle Francis Coppola.
Estrada
The real names of Russian celebrities are often surprising. So, for example, Alsou, whose name is considered by many to be fake, actually did not take a pseudonym. She really Alsu. But the well-known Valeria is just the same nee Alla Perfileva.
Someone only changes the name. So Angelica Varum was named Maria by her parents. Someone is trying to forget the last name. Like Vera Brezhneva (nee - Galushka) or Elena Vaenga (according to Khrulev's passport). Marina Vladi also changed her last name from Polyakova-Baidarova.
Particularly eccentric stars may take the risk of taking on a full pseudonym. Few people decide that Yolka is a real name. But not everyone knows that she is Elizaveta Ivantsiv.
But don't think foreign celebrities are lagging behind domestic ones. It's not like that at all. The real names of celebrities are often hidden not on the stage, but in the usuallife. For example, many Hollywood stars prefer to travel under pseudonyms.
Sometimes famous people change their whole life along with their name. So, shocking Dana International was born as Yaron Cohen. Yes, the bright star is a man undergoing sex reassignment surgery.
Elton John is not Elton at all, but Reginald Kenneth Dwight. Ringo Starr was known as Richard Starkey. Even the scandalous Ozzy Osbourne is not Ozzy at all, but John Michael.
Not only stage and cinema
The real names of celebrities in the fashion world are also not always advertised. So, few people know Gabriel Bonheur. But the name Coco Chanel raises no questions.
Show business? And here it was not without intrigue. For example, the sexy Anfisa Chekhova is actually Sasha Korchunova.
The most striking pseudonym of modern Russian literature is Boris Akunin, who created the adventures of representatives of the Fandorin family. Many people know that this is a writer, historian, Japaneseist - Chkhartishvili. But the fact that Anna Borisova, Anatoly Brusnikin - these are also the names of Grigory Shalvovich, few people already know.
So how can you be sure that you know who your idol is, even if the childhood hero of millions of children W alt Disney turned out to be W alter Eolaias?!
