Entertainment

Michael Keaton reveals plans to start using combo of birth and professional name

Written by ABC Audio All Rights Reserved on September 6, 2024

You know him as Michael Keaton, but the actor is planning to change his name in show business.

Born Michael Douglas — just like the two-time Wall Street Oscar winner — the Beetlejuice star opened up in a new interview about choosing his professional moniker when starting out in the ’70s due to the Screen Actors Guild rule that prohibits two members from having the same name.

Keaton told People he doesn’t recall if he found his chosen name in a phone book like the rumors suggest, but added, “I must’ve gone, ‘I don’t know, let me think of something here.’ And I went, ‘Oh, that sounds reasonable.'”

Despite making a name for himself — quite literally — throughout his decadeslong career, starring in movies like Birdman and even playing Batman, the actor said he’d like to go by a combination of his birth name and stage name: Michael Keaton Douglas.

In fact, Keaton said he intended to be credited with the hybrid name on Knox Goes Away, the film he directed and starred in that was released in theaters earlier this year, but simply “forgot.”

“It totally got away from me,” he said. “And I forgot to give them enough time to put it in and create that. But it will happen.”

“Michael Keaton” can next be seen on the big screen in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the long-awaited sequel coming more than 35 years after the original, out Friday.