Sometimes it’s because of structural Anglocentrism making it harder to get an acting role with a foreign-sounding last name (e.g. “Ramon Antonio Gerard Estevez” becomes “Martin Sheen” or “Ilyena Lydia Vadilievna Mironov” becomes “[Dame] Helen Mirren”)
Sometimes it’s just a matter of cropping a name or two (“Philip Anthony Hopkins”)
Sometimes it’s just about sounding cooler (“Eric Bishop” becomes “Jamie Foxx” or “Caryn Elaine Johnson” becomes “Whoopi Goldberg”)
And sometimes it’s because there’s already a SAG member with your name (“Diane Hall” becomes “Diane Keaton” or “Michael Douglas” becomes… “Michael Keaton”)
It depends.
Sometimes it’s because of structural Anglocentrism making it harder to get an acting role with a foreign-sounding last name (e.g. “Ramon Antonio Gerard Estevez” becomes “Martin Sheen” or “Ilyena Lydia Vadilievna Mironov” becomes “[Dame] Helen Mirren”)
Sometimes it’s just a matter of cropping a name or two (“Philip Anthony Hopkins”)
Sometimes it’s just about sounding cooler (“Eric Bishop” becomes “Jamie Foxx” or “Caryn Elaine Johnson” becomes “Whoopi Goldberg”)
And sometimes it’s because there’s already a SAG member with your name (“Diane Hall” becomes “Diane Keaton” or “Michael Douglas” becomes… “Michael Keaton”)