Changing Your Professional SAG-AFTRA Name: A Case Study
Are you considering a change to your professional name with SAG-AFTRA? Many A-listers have made the change and found success after adopting their new monikers. But how do you go about the process, and what factors do you need to keep in mind? Keep reading for all the information you’ll need for changing your professional SAG-AFTRA name along with a working actor’s perspective on how changing his name not once, not twice but three times affected his career.
If you do decide to make the change, SAG-AFTRA requires a written request that you can mail, fax or drop off in person. The request needs to include your SAG-AFTRA identification, your current name with a signature and the name you’re requesting with a signature. In order for the name change to be approved, the union has to verify that another SAG-AFTRA member does not already hold your requested name.
But before you take the leap, consider the potential ramifications of a professional name change. Casting directors, for example, with whom you’ve already established relationships may not recognize your new alias. A name change requires time and effort spent on rebranding yourself. To give you some insight into the process, Matthew Jayson Cwern, known for “Sneaky Pete,” “Lethal Weapon” and “9-1-1,” weighs in on how changing his stage name altered the course of his career.
“I changed it the first time because Cwern is hard to pronounce,” Cwern recalls. “I was convinced it would’ve been hard for casting directors to remember … I first changed my name when I was 19 to Matthew Jay.” He says that he used the moniker in New York as well as in Los Angeles but changed it to Matt Jayson when he was 30. “[Matthew Jay] just didn’t suit me anymore as far as who I was as an actor, as a person and as the characters I would play.” He elaborates that he was beginning to market himself as more of a “tough guy” action character and felt the new name fit. Cwern says the change worked, and he began booking more TV roles.
Cwern’s third and final name change happened last year. “I booked a job on ‘Lethal Weapon’ in January of 2018, and on the call sheet it said ‘Matthew Jayson Cwern’ by mistake,” he recalls. “I just loved seeing my family name on the call sheet.” Changing his SAG-AFTRA professional name back to his legal name, he states, was a part of embracing himself and his roots. Cwern also feels that it’s helped his career. “Matt Jayson is very generic,” Cwern says. “But Cwern is a weird, interesting name that starts conversations.” He elaborates that the surname reflects his ethnic background, which has also had a positive effect. “I actually am Eastern European [by heritage] … but I look Middle Eastern. Changing my [SAG-AFTRA] name back to Cwern opened me up to a lot of Eastern European roles that I wasn’t getting before.”
As Cwern tells us, his experience with changing his professional SAG-AFTRA name was a good one. But he cautions actors to take the big decision seriously. “I think you’ve got to have a valid reason for wanting to do it,” Cwern advises. “Every single time I did it, it was connected to some kind of emotional truth.” If you’re considering going under a new moniker, Cwern’s words may encourage you to do a heart check. Whether you’re moving away from your legal name or coming back to it as Cwern eventually did, keep in mind how it could affect your career. And if you do decide to make a change, may you have as much success with it as the many who’ve done it before you. If the names Maurice Joseph Micklewhite or Olivia Jane Cockburn don’t ring a bell, their aliases Michael Caine and Olivia Wilde surely do.
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