To begin I want you to consider the large number of aspiring actors in this industry and the very few successful ones.  In such a situation, you must be phenomenal at your art to be famous.  This requires you to be diligent, hard working, properly trained and thoroughly experienced. In addition, an impressive stage name works wonders as well.

The act of adopting stage names has evolved through the ages.  Stage names themselves are used for multiple reasons.  While some have employed stage names for the sake of a adopting a different identity others have done so because their actual names sounded similar to another famous personality.  Still others have done so to enhance their glamour and make themselves more memorable.  An example can be made of Ray Charles, who was originally called Ray Robinson but who had to adopt a pseudonym because there was already a boxer named Sugar Ray Robinson.  Of course Sugar Ray Robinson also happened to be a stage name.

People have been known to use names that sound more English or are anglicized to a  extent.  Earlier, in the American Vaudeville age many people who had migrated from other countries used pseudonyms to hide their immigrant identities.  Thus, the music great Robert Zimmerman is known to everyone as Bob Dylan and lead vocalist Farrokh Bulsara from the musical group Queen is popularly known as Freddie Mercury.  The talented Mel Brooks was actually Melvin Kaminsky and even Woody Allen changed his name from Allen Stewart Konigsberg.  Florencia Bisenta de Casillas Martinez Cardona also changed hers to Vicky Carr.  Incidentally, many ballet artists adopted more Russian-sounding names around the same American Vaudeville period since Russian Ballerinas were highly esteemed at the time.

In a departure from the above, people have been seen to do rather eccentric things to their names.  Take for example the adding of the word the to the wrestlers Jesse The Body Ventura and Tony the Tiger.  Still others managed to add attractive words to their names to make them more appealing.  Thus Steven Demetri Georgiou became Cat Stevens, Courtney Michelle Harrison became Courtney Love, Judy Cohen became Juice Newton and Eleanora Fagan Gough became Billie Holiday and the list continued.  Add to this the emergence of curious names used by hip-hop artists Snoop Dogg, who is actually Cordazer Calvin Broadus and P. Diddy, born Sean John Combs.  Ice-T, born Tracy Marrow and Biggie are others that have adobted curious names.

Since a stage name doesnt require a legal change to your actual name it is rather a simple and useful transformation and can make all the difference to a aspiring artist.  You could also take cue from some celebrities who have legally changed their names later on in their career.  This does not mean you have to follow suit.  There are also many celebrities that did not legally change their name.  So go ahead and choose a catchy stage name, but make sure its something memorable.  It is of vital importance that you concentrate on your skills.

In no time flat, you will start to understand how these concepts really come together if you choose to venture into this subject further.