by Kristen HarrisBuzzFeedBuzzFeed StaffAs a staff writer at BuzzFeed, I write about all things celeb and pop culture.

Celebrities using stage names is a tale as old as time, but many people plying their trade in Hollywood don't have the privilege of using their real names. When an aspiring star's given moniker is deemed "too hard to pronounce" or "too foreign-sounding," their agent or another industry professional may goad them into picking a more "American" name.

First, here are 15 celebs who were pressured into changing their names for Hollywood:

Bruno Mars's real name is Peter Gene Hernandez. As a toddler, he earned the nickname "Bruno" because of his resemblance to wrestler Bruno Sammartino. At 17, he moved to LA, where, as he told GQ, people would tell him, "Your last name's Hernandez, maybe you should do this Latin music, this Spanish music.... Enrique's so hot right now." So, he adopted the stage name Mars to prevent being stereotyped.

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Christina Milian was born Christina Flores. When she first started working as a child actor, she auditioned under her legal name. However, she didn't start booking roles until she took on her mom's last name. She told the podcast Richer Lives by SoFi, "It was absolutely a business decision. I am Afro Latina. I'm Afro Cuban, which is not really translated all the time, especially in the early phases of my career. You know, you didn't see as many of our faces on TV, especially a Black Latina. And so, a lot of auditions I would go in for, I would try to go in as a Latina, but my skin color didn't really match the last name to what was appealing at the time, so I really couldn't go in for Latina roles. And then, when they was going for an African American role, they're like, 'Flores? Oh, she's Hispanic. She can't even come to this audition.'"

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"So they didn't even give me a chance to go into the auditions," she said.

She continued, "So, a friend of ours, she had changed her last name, and it really worked out for her. She's like, 'You should change your last name.' So, we sat; we came up with all these names. And then one day, I don't even know why we didn't think of it, but my mom's last name is Milian. ... Same picture, same headshot, changed the last name to Milian, and do you know, overnight… We sent it to the same casting directors, changed everything. I booked TV shows immediately. Just that one small, little change, that pivot, actually changed the trajectory of my whole career, just by changing my last name."

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Oscar Isaac's real name is Óscar Isaac Hernández Estrada. Before enrolling in Juilliard, he was already going by Oscar Isaac. He told Esquire, "When I was in Miami, there were a couple of other Oscar Hernándezes I would see at auditions. All [casting directors] would see me for was 'the gangster' or whatever, so I was like, 'Well, let me see if this helps.' I remember there was a casting director down there because [Men in Black director] Barry Sonnenfeld was doing a movie; she said, 'Let's bring in this Oscar Isaac,' and he was like, 'No no no! I just want Cubans!' I saw Barry Sonnenfeld a couple of years ago, and I told him that story — 'I don't want a Jew, I want a Cuban!'"

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Rita Moreno's real name is Rosa Dolores Alverío Marcano, but MGM Studios forced her to take a stage name when she signed with them at 18. She told the BBC, "They didn't know what to do with me because of my name. I didn't like the name Rita, but they chose it because I liked the actress Rita Hayworth. Moreno was my stepfather's last name, so I took that."

Alekandra London / WireImage / Via Getty

James Roday Rodriguez, who previously acted under the name James Roday, was born James David Rodriguez. During his first year at NYU, his successful audition for the lead role in Primal Fear was soured by a casting director who told him, "You're so great, but I don't think I can call you back because your last name is Rodriguez. But I can call you back for this four-line role of a gang member." James told TV Line, "I didn't look Latino enough. They basically didn't know what to do with me."

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Three years passed, and a month before graduation, he auditioned for a series regular role in a TV series. He said, "I auditioned for the pilot, they [signed me to a] test deal, and next thing I know, I'm on a plane to Los Angeles and told in no uncertain terms, 'You are our guy.' Their only concern was that the role wasn't written for a Hispanic or Mexican person. They were worried that casting a white guy with a Mexican name could be construed as their version of 'diverse casting,' and there could be a backlash. They said, 'You might want to give some real consideration to changing your name.' Now imagine someone giving that advice to an actor out loud today, with the climat

Celebrities Pressured To Americanize Their Names