Do we like Nicolas Cage?
Our score: 7 out of 10. Decent record, real charity and nothing nasty found, but the reporting on his views is thin, so it stops short of the top end.
Cage is one of those rare Hollywood names who has gone from Oscar winner to action star to cult-favourite weirdo and stayed likeable the whole way. He started out as Nicolas Coppola, part of a famous film family, and made his name before the world got to meet the Cage persona. Honestly, the record we could read in full is thinner on his early life than we'd like, so we're sticking to what the reporting backs up.
The most recent chatter is Cage himself being a bit petty-adjacent in interviews. In late May 2026 he said directors including Christopher Nolan, Woody Allen and Paul Thomas Anderson stopped calling after he turned down their parts, saying “They don't call me back.” That's an actor grumbling about showbiz egos, not harm, and it's more funny than damning.
The only scandal near his name lately isn't his. In May 2025 TMZ, citing unnamed sources, reported that a supporting actor quit the Madden biopic, in which Cage plays John Madden, over a director's alleged use of a racial slur and a nudity dispute. Studio sources told TMZ the slur was proposed in private creative talks and not used while filming. The report doesn't allege Cage was involved.
On the harm check, we found nothing: no campaigning against LGBTQ+ or trans people, no vaccine or climate nonsense, no slide into conspiracies. A search for his politics also turned up nothing reliable in his own words, so we won't guess at his votes. We also couldn't read the page for his recent project list in full, so the usual company-he-keeps check is a gap rather than a clean bill. On what's on the record, he passes.
As for how he treats people, the clearest case on file is a win. Cage sued author Kathleen Turner and her publishers in London over memoir claims he stole a dog and picked up drink-driving charges. His lawyer told the court the publishers acknowledged those claims were untrue, apologies were agreed and Turner covered his legal fees. Being falsely smeared is not a mark against him.
The good stuff is real. He set up a $2 million fund to help former child soldiers, worked with Amnesty International and was named Global Citizen of the Year by the UN Correspondents Association in 2009. In 2023, while filming in Western Australia, he rang in a personal $5,000 donation to Telethon. That's quiet decency, not a PR stunt.