Aaron Paul Officially Changes His Name

Actor Aaron Paul has officially changed his name to… Aaron Paul. As we previously reported, Aaron Paul was filing to officially change his birth name (Aaron Paul Sturtevant) to just “Aaron Paul,” which has been the name the world has come to know him as, through projects like Big Love, Breaking Bad, Westworld, and more. 

TMZ now reports that they have seen the name change petition from Aaron Paul get approved by the courts, making the name change official. Paul didn’t just change his own name: he extended the name change across his entire family, which includes his wife, Lauren Parsekian (now Lauren Paul). The couple has a 4-year-old daughter who was born with the last name Paul, as well as an infant son; part of the reason for the family name-swap is that Aaron and Lauren reportedly wanted to also change the entire name for their new son, from “Casper Emerson Paul” to “Ryden Caspian Paul.” 

While Aaron Paul looks to be happy on the personal front, his acting career is admittedly at a crossroads. Westworld got canceled by HBO, and Aaron Paul’s arc in the show was arguably over anyway. Paul also made a return to his Breaking Bad role of Jessie Pinkman this year, reuniting with Bryan Cranston for some key cameos in the final season of Better Call Saul. However, no one knows what the future of Vince Gilligan’s Break Bad Universe is, or which characters/actors will be involved. Aaron Paul will return to the Netflix series Black Mirror for the upcoming Season 6, which will also feature Zazie Beetz, Paapa Essiedu, Josh Hartnett, Kate Mara, Danny Ramirez, Clara Rugaard, Auden Thornton, and Anjana Vasan.

Who Is Aaron Paul? 

Aaron Paul was born Aaron Paul Sturtevant in Emmett, Idaho, to retired Baptist minister Robert Sturtevant. He gained a love of theater and performance doing plays and programs for the church, before deciding all the way back in eighth grade that he was going to be an actor. He went through high school as part of the theater department, and upon graduating he moved to Los Angeles to pursue acting. 

After working as an usher at a Universal Studios Movie Theatre, Paul got a break doing episodes of Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place in the ’90s, which led to further bit roles on shows like Suddenly Susan and 3rd Rock from the Sun. Paul jumped to film soonafter, most notably opposite Kevin Spacey in the 2001 sci-fi drama K-PAX. Paul would bounce back and forth between TV and film for years (with some notable appearances) before taking on the role of Breaking Bad’s Jessie Pinkman in 2008.