If you thought Emma Stone was Emma Stone’s real name, you are sorely mistaken.
The two-time Oscar winner shared this week that she would like to be called by her given name — Emily Stone — despite her many years in show business using that other moniker.
In a joint interview with “The Curse” co-star Nathan Fielder, Fielder said that he would be using the “La La Land” and “Poor Things” actor’s actual name during the interview — in line with her close friends and collaborators.
“Before we continue, I’d like to say something. Her name’s Emily, but she goes by Emma professionally,” the “Nathan for You” and “The Rehearsal” star told the Hollywood Reporter. “So when there’s people that don’t know her, I end up saying Emma. But I’m going to just say Emily from here on.”
“You can say Emma. You can say anything,” Stone replied. The 35-year-old star noted that people call her Emily when they get to know her, including people she works with, like Fielder, whom she met through her husband, “Saturday Night Live” writer-director Dave McCary.
“It’s just because my name was taken [by another actress in the Screen Actors Guild],” Stone explained. “Then I freaked out a couple of years ago. For some reason, I was like, ‘I can’t do it anymore. Just call me Emily.’ Nathan calls me Em, which is easier.”
Stone added that it “would be so nice” if fans used her real name.
“I would like to be Emily,” she said.
Stone initially registered with SAG as Riley Stone when she was about 16 — before the union merged with AFTRA in 2012 — but changed it to Emma Stone six months later.
“For a 16-year-old, picking a new name is an interesting prospect,” Stone told W magazine in 2017. “So, for about six months I was called Riley. I landed a guest spot on ‘Malcolm in the Middle,’ and one day they were calling, ‘Riley! Riley! Riley! We need you on set, Riley!’ and I had no idea who they were talking to. At that moment, I realized that I just couldn’t be Riley. So I became Emma. But I miss Emily. I would love to get her back.”
She also previously said on “The Tonight Show” that she preferred Emma at the time she chose it because she’s a huge fan of Emma Bunton, better known as the Spice Girls’ Baby Spice.
The film star is one of many SAG-AFTRA members who have altered their names to join the union: Diane Keaton is really Diane Hall, Nicholas Cage changed his name from Nicholas Coppola to distance himself from his famous filmmaking family, Michael Keaton is actually Michael Douglas (not to be confused with the famous Oscar winner, whose late father, Kirk Douglas, changed his name from Issur Danielovitch Demsky). David Tennant‘s real name is David McDonald, Ashton Kutcher is actually Christopher Ashton Kutcher, Vin Diesel was born Mark Sinclair, and Elizabeth Banks is really Elizabeth Mitchell — to name just a few.
