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Emma Stone recently opened up about the stage name she adopted for her acting career and her preferance to use her real name whenever possible. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter alongside her co-star Nathan Fielder, the conversation took a turn towards names. Fielder acknowledged the disconnect, stating, "Her name's Emily, but she goes by Emma professionally." Stone confirmed this, adding, "When I get to know them, people I work with do [call me Emily]."
The interview revealed the origin of her stage name. Stone, a self-proclaimed Spice Girls superfan in her youth, particularly admired Emma Lee Bunton, aka Baby Spice. This admiration, she admitted to Jimmy Fallon on a previous occasion, fueled her desire to be called Emma. However, entering the professional world presented a more practical reason for the switch.
"It's just because my name was already taken," Stone explained in the THR interview, referring to the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) rule preventing members from sharing the same professional name. She elaborated, "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.'"
This rule has impacted numerous actors throughout history. Michael Douglas, for instance, couldn't use his birth name upon joining the guild in the 1970s due to the established actor of the same name (known for Wall Street). This led him to adopt the stage name Michael Keaton. Similarly, Diane Hall became Diane Keaton after her chosen name was unavailable, opting for her mother's maiden name. Elizabeth Mitchell also faced this scenario, choosing Elizabeth Banks over her birth name, already in use by another actress.
Interestingly, Stone's real name, Emily Jean Stone, appears in the liner notes of Taylor Swift's new album, "The Tortured Poets Department." She's credited with contributing "oddities" on the track "Florida!!!," hinting at a comfort level with using her birth name in non-acting contexts.
Jeff Ian
