Did you know that Joey Lawrence‘s name isn’t really “Joey Lawrence”?
During a panel at 90s Con in Hartford, Conn. on Friday (March 28), the 48-year-old Blossom actor and his brothers Matthew and Andrew Lawrence – whose real last name is Mignogna – explained why they now regret using a fake last name to get ahead in Hollywood.
Keep reading to find out more…“[Lawrence] was my middle name,” Joey explained, via EW. “So I was named after our dad, and our grandfather on our dad’s side. And in the early ’80s, it was like, ‘No one can pronounce Mignogna. That’s not a name people will say.’”
He went on to say that he probably would have kept “Mignogna” as his last name if he was starting out now.
“Today, things like that are celebrated,” Joey said. “In the ’80s, it was like, ‘We’re going to need to water this down. There are silent Gs.’ Because you spell our last name [Mignogna] like filet mignon.’ So they were like, ‘Let’s call him Joey Lawrence.’ So that’s just what they did, and with these guys it just made sense.”
Matthew, 45, then said that he believes their parents were fine with them using a stage name because it gave them some anonymity outside of Hollywood.
“I also think my parents, and wisely so, [knew] there was an insulation factor, where, before the internet, you could hide behind that at, you know, at school,” Matthew said. “Some people might check in old-school ways, but it would be very, very hard to find us. That was a great thing.”
Andrew, 37, confirmed that he and his brothers now all wish they kept their real last name.
“It would have made it easier,” Andrew said. “It’s really a pain in the butt, honestly, having two names. You have to prove you’re both people.”
Matthew agreed, adding, “Now I’m just stuck with two different names and I can’t travel internationally. For a while there, the government only recognized me as Matt Lawrence because I paid taxes from the time I was a toddler to 18 as Matt Lawrence. But really, my name is Matthew William Mignogna. So when I grew up and used my real name on my passport, there was absolutely no correlation. I didn’t exist.”
