Michael Caine has said that he’s had to change his legal name to his stage name due to increased airport security caused by the threat of Islamic State.
The actor, born Maurice Micklewhite, told The Sun that confusion had increasingly arose at airports due to his passport showing his birth name rather than the name he’s most known by.
“I changed my name when all the stuff started with ISIS,” Caine explained.
“An airport security guard would say ‘Hi Michael Caine’, and suddenly I’d give him a passport with a different name on it. I could stand there for an hour. So I changed my name.”
Earlier this year, Caine weighed in on the Oscars diversity debate.
“You can’t vote for an actor because he’s black,” Caine said. “You can’t just say, ‘I’m going to vote for him. He’s not very good, but he’s black. I’ll vote for him.’ You have to give a good performance.”
Asked if he had any advice for black actors frustrated by their lack of Oscar nominations, Caine said: “Be patient. Of course it will come. It took me years to get an Oscar.”