Machine Gun Kelly has had many roles in his career. MGK is a rapper, a nail lacquer aficionado and an actor. MGK has been in several films over the years such as Beyond the Lights, Bird Box, Project Power and The Dirt. But in his leading role as a man on a killing spree in the western The Last Son (out on streaming now), MGK decided to use his given name, Colson Baker, in the credits. He said in a recent profile for The Hollywood Reporter that he wanted to use his birth name for his acting career. Colson wanted to make the change out of respect for the art of acting. A few highlights:
But forget everything you knew, or thought you knew, about Machine Gun Kelly. Beginning with his name. He now wants to be known by his birth name: Colson Baker.
“I think it’s more just out of respect for the art,” Baker, 31, explains of the decision in a phone interview promoting his first starring role, in a violent period Western called The Last Son. “If you’re looking at a Basquiat piece and you have feelings about him personally,” he continues, “is that fair to the art because of how you feel about him personally?”
But Last Son is a major step in his acting career — a meaty role that requires him to play a cold-blooded killer with deep-seated abandonment issues. As such, it felt time to hang up the Machine Gun Kelly moniker and get back to basics.
As Baker explains it, “There is music and then there’s movies.” In the music realm, he created Kelly — what he describes as a “character” who in the early 2010s rose to prominence out of the Cleveland hip-hop scene for his rapid-fire rhymes (that’s what the “Machine Gun” refers to) and outlaw swagger.
“I don’t feel like being Inception in a person,” Baker says, referring to the 2010 Christopher Nolan film. “Like there’s a character inside of a character inside of a character inside of a character. I’d rather it just be me playing a character in one world and then me playing a character in another world.”
MGK is not the first performer to revert to their given name or change names for a career metamorphosis. Marky Mark became Mark Wahlberg, The Rock is now Dwayne Johnson, Prince became a symbol for a period (to avoid copyright issues) and god only knows how many times Puff Daddy changed his name. I also understand the need to change one’s name to fit the situation (I have changed my online moniker so many times, I don’t have the room to put them all here). Colson’s rapper stage name (MGK) comes with its own history that is not suitable for his new career trajectory. I know he will continue to use it for music, but I still get why he wants to separate his careers. Many rappers have paved the way for Colson by leveraging their music careers into very lucrative acting careers. So there is definitely a blueprint set out for him to study. What Colson is hoping to accomplish is doable if he has the right people around him to guide him. I am sure Megan Fox is helping him navigate Hollywood as well.
I have seen Colson in Bird Box and Beyond the Lights (he was such a douche in that film) and I actually think he has an acting future ahead of him. I hope that Colson doesn’t fall into be a one or two trick pony by only doing super emo and problematic characters. I personally love a good western so I am sure I will get around to watching Last Son. Anyways, good luck to Colson Baker. Just like the fans other performers who have changed their names, I am sure MGK’s fans will accept him as Colson and continue to support his career wherever he decides to take it.
The Last Son trailer:
photos via Instagram and credit: Avalon.red
Yesi remember his oscar winning performance in Beyond the lights.
Despise his rap name so i’m happy about this. lol
I wish Awkwafina would do this, Nora Lum is the perfect name for an actress,
agree, that’s how I feel about Lady Gaga too
Agree re: Awkwafina and Gaga. It sounds so silly when they’re nominated for awards and are called their stage names by presenters, or referred to as such by their colleagues. Real names are the way to go with acting gigs, I think, particularly if it’s something they’re really good at and serious about (which they both are!).
Both names are ridiculous and pertain to characters they made up. They should both go by their real names especially Nora.
She already dropped the blaccent why even keep the name Akwafina ?
I find him compelling. I wish him well in his acting career.
I know it’s his given name but it’s hideous. It’s clunky and at the same time has a real “my parents were the queen bees of our unremarkable suburb in the 90s” vibe to it.
Just use your stage name with this one.
i’m really not a fan of him (remember when he tweeted about how “hot” eminem’s 15yo daughter was while he was in his 20s? and he has a young daughter *himself*?) but i actually think his birth name sounds just fine for the kind of roles he seems to be receiving. it works for me *shrug*
I remember Eminem eating him up on a diss track. That is why I never paid attention to him until now. Also gross.. a 15 y/o? Why are they like this?
Still trying to find a lane. I hope he finds one so I can avoid it lol. Anyway good luck to him.
I thought he was great playing Tommy Lee in the Motley Crue film.
Yea he was really good in that. I think he could pull off a better Tommy Lee than Sebastien Stan.
I can’t help but wish him well because he is a hometown kid from Cleveland.
and Houston!!!
I don’t get why this mediocre white dude gets so many opportunities. I heard his song on the radio and it was so dumb and generic. Maybe his acting is better (I haven’t seen him in anything I can recall) but are there no better, more diverse performers out there who deserve a shot?
he’s good at selling himself. if you look into his backstory, that’s about all the dude’s ever done. he’s also good at creating the kinda of personas that the masses love to gawk at, engage with or love to hate. like i can’t stand him, i really can’t, but this IS my observation.
and now with megan and the megan resurgence, the over the top hollywood trash aesthetic is working in his favor more than it is against him, and also providing a gateway to acting. which….given his history he might be kinda good at, i guess. i dont know. i havent watched anything with him in it and i dont plan to lol
oh yeah and he’s white, that helps with selling himself too. but it’s only part of it. not like every white dude is out there being MGK or Colson Baker or getting with Megan Fox.
he is mediocre at hell but he has talents, they’re just all completely the wrong ones.
not surprised his song was dumb and generic, he’s just an updated y2k hot topic kid for the 2020s (which again is actually one of his selling points, i hate to say it and i dont buy it, but it’s working). creativity in an innovative sense is NOT one of his talents.
“is that fair to the art because of how you feel about him personally?”
He doesn’t know a lot about art history or how the art industry works, does he?
Bless him.
This sounds like a good idea because it’s hard to take anyone seriously with such a lame rap name.
He was excellent as Tommy Lee in The Dirt. For a while there, I thought I was watching Tommy in the 80’s. He’s compelling and a unique talent, along with a seemingly good man to Megan Fox, so I wish him well.
I love his relationship w/his daughter, as far as his acting chops, he is willing to do whatever in films and is not a primadonna. Hope he learns a lot on the way.
He has a history of talking about young girls – and has a young daughter himself. He justified being with young girls by saying Robert Plant was w/ a 14 year old when he was 30 something…I just get gross vibes from him & feel embarrassed for his current girlfriend who is obviously going through some kind of midlife crisis.