Michael Douglas's Real Name: Michael Kirk Douglas

Quick answer: Michael Douglas's real name is Michael Kirk Douglas. He was born on September 25, 1944, in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Real name and early life

Britannica records Michael Douglas (in full often given as Michael Kirk Douglas), born September 25, 1944, in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The Library of Congress authority file is Douglas, Michael, 1944-. He is the son of actor Kirk Douglas (born Issur Danielovitch) and actress Diana Dill. He studied at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and entered television and film in the 1960s–70s. Douglas is his legal family surname; Kirk is both his middle name and his father's famous stage surname.

Quick facts

• Real name: Michael Kirk Douglas
• Known as: Michael Douglas
• Born: September 25, 1944, in New Brunswick, New Jersey
• Known for: Actor and producer
• Notable work: Wall Street, Fatal Attraction, Traffic; producing One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
• Sources checked: Britannica, Library of Congress Name Authority

Career highlights

Douglas produced One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), which won the Academy Award for best picture. As an actor he won the Oscar for best actor as Gordon Gekko in Wall Street (1987). Other major films include Romancing the Stone, Fatal Attraction, Basic Instinct, Traffic, and Wonder Boys. He later returned as Gekko in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and has continued film and television work, including The Kominsky Method. He is married to actor Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Name notes

Michael Kirk Douglas is the standard full form; he did not drop Douglas for a stage alias. His father Kirk Douglas's birth name was Issur Danielovitch—do not confuse the two generations' name histories. Prefer Britannica and LOC for dates and the Kirk middle name.

Producer credits sit beside acting awards in his résumé, which sometimes confuses searchers about whether Douglas is only an on-screen name; Britannica treats Michael (Kirk) Douglas as the actor-producer born in 1944.