Are Michael Keaton And Diane Keaton Related?

Michael Keaton and Diane Keaton have become legends in Hollywood and beyond. Diane gained fame by starring in projects like "The Godfather" and "Annie Hall," while Michael's popularity emerged from leading movies such as "Beetlejuice" and "Batman." In a 2021 interview on Backstage's "In the Envelope" podcast, Michael discussed the bold outlook he took on at the start of his career. "First of all, early on I told myself, you're never going to know if you can do this until you just try to do it," he said. "And if it doesn't work, you can always live." He then added, "I personally chose to play the long game and always bet on me."

While discussing her career beginnings in a 2010 CBS News interview with journalist Katie Couric, Diane revealed that she received unwavering encouragement from her mother. "She was the kind of mother who was the great enabler," Diane said. "And she was always supporting me, every single thing that I ever did." As Michael and Diane have gone after their dreams, and achieved great success, fans have wondered whether the performers might be related due to the two sharing the same last name.

Contrary to some speculation, actors Michael Keaton and Diane Keaton are not related. Interestingly enough, Keaton is not the birth name of either actor; both Michael and Diane chose to professionally change their last names to Keaton early on in their acting careers. As stated on the Golden Globes site, Michael altered his name due to the fact that there were already other performers registered with the Screen Actors Guild who had his birth name, Michael Douglas. "Yeah, I had to change my name because there were two other actors registered at Equity with that name, " he said.

As reported by BuzzFeed, Diane was born Diane Hall. When she had to register for an Actors' Equity card, however, she ran into a dilemma like Michael's — someone with her name was already registered. She contemplated names, such as Dorrie Hall and Corry Hall, before choosing Diane Keaton as her stage name. And both Michael and Diane have unique reasons as to why they decided on the last name Keaton for their professional titles. 

Michael Keaton and Diane Keaton may use the same last name, but how they settled upon this title for their acting careers is unique to each of them. Michael revealed to Collider in 2015 that, after he had been told he would have to change his last name before he could work in Hollywood, he randomly found the name Keaton. "I went down the alphabet," Michael said. "So, I was in the Ks and I picked it. I thought I'd change it later to something really cool, but I never changed it. It seemed to fit." Michael then stated that using this title professionally has proven to be "really handy" in his life. "It kept things really clear, that that's my job and this is my life," he said.

In her case, Diane was inspired her mother's maiden name when she changed her last name. "My name is Diane Hall and what happened was I had to change my name when I joined Actors' Equity, which is our union, because there was a Diane Hall," she toldthe Irish Examiner in 2017. "So I picked my mother's maiden name, which was Keaton." The Keaton name has served both of these actors well as they've become iconic household names!