ByJake Rossen|Feb 16, 2024, 9:23 AM EST
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When John Travolta attended rehearsals for the 2014 Academy Awards, he had no trouble pronouncing the name Idina Menzel, the actress and singer who was set to perform the nominated “Let it Go” from Frozen. Come the live telecast, though, Travolta invited the audience to welcome “Adele Dazeem.”
Menzel found it funny. And in fairness to Travolta, he’s not alone. Plenty of people have trouble getting their tongues around the names of some notable entertainers, including musicians. (Irish and Welsh names can be particularly challenging, too.) Take a look at 25 actors from film and television that have to endure mispronunciations.
1. Idris Elba
The Luther star’s name should be pronounced “IH-driss ELLE-ba,” not “EE-driss.” (The actor’s birth name is Idrissa; he changed it after enduring some childhood taunts.)
2. Joaquin Phoenix
Phoenix had the biggest commercial hit of his career with 2019’s Joker, a revisionist take on Batman’s notorious villain. His name is pronounced “wah-KEEN.”
3. Florence Pugh
The Midsommar and Black Widow star isn’t “Pug” like in the dog or “poo” like … you know. It’s “Pew,” which Pugh herself described on Twitter as the noise you make when you’re “pretending to have a shoot out and you make all the noises yourself … pew pew pew pew.”
4. Matthew McConaughey
The actor broke out following a turn as a stoner in 1993’s Dazed and Confused. Both the spelling and pronunciation of his last name has proven challenging for people. It’s not “MIC-CON-ah-hee,” but “muh-KAH-nuh-HAY.” McConaughey says his name rhymes with “What did Madonna say?” And no, he’s never considered changing it.
5. Brendan Fraser
The star of The Mummy franchise had an excellent 2022 and 2023 thanks to his Oscar win for Best Actor in The Whale. It’s not “FRAY-sher,” though. It’s “FRAY-zer,” which rhymes with razor.
6. Lupita Nyong’o
The co-star of Black Panther has endured many maimings of her name over the years. It’s “NYONG-oh.”
7. Rami Malek
Malek, who starred on Mr. Robot and inhabited Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, sometimes gets “RAY-me.” According to the actor, it’s “RAH-me MAL-ek.”
8. Margot Robbie
The Australian actress and Barbie star will typically see her first name given its due—it’s “MAR-go”—but back home it’s “MA-go.” Her last name is “RAW-bee,” not “ROBE-ee.”
9. Keanu Reeves
Keanu Reeves considered going by the stage name “Chuck Spadina” (among others) because his agents thought his first name, which is Hawaiian, was “too ethnic.” It’s pronounced “key-AH-noo.”
10. Domhnall Gleeson
The Irish actor has said his first name rhymes with tonal, just with a d—so you’d say “DOH-nal.”
11. Thandiwe Newton
The actress admitted in 2021 that her first name has been misspelled as “Thandie” for most of her career. While correcting that, she also said it’s pronounced “tan-DEE-way.”
12. Claes Bang
The Denmark native was recently in The Northman and has also played Dracula for the BBC. It’s “Clayze” (rhymes with maze). Bang is—well, “bang.” Like bang, bang.
13. Simu Liu
The star of Kim’s Convenience and Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings tweeted that his name is pronounced “SEE-moo LEE-ew.” He also corrected the common mistake made with his Marvel character’s name: It’s “SHONG-chee,” not “SHANG-chee.”
14. Michelle Yeoh
The name of the 2023 Best Actress Oscar winner for Everything Everywhere All At Once is pronounced “Yo,” not “Yow” or “YEE-oh.”
Read More Articles About Commonly Mispronounced Names:
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30 Irish Names You’re Probably Mispronouncing
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25 Welsh Names You’re Probably Mispronouncing
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20 Spanish Names You’re Probably Mispronouncing
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30 Author Names You Might Be Mispronouncing
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20 German Names You’re Probably Mispronouncing
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25 Arabic Names You’re Probably Mispronouncing
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21 French Names You’re Probably Mispronouncing
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15 Historical Figures’ Names You’re Probably Mispronouncing
15. Xolo Maridueña
The star of Cobra Kai and the upcoming DC film Blue Beetle says his name is “SHOH-loh mah-ree-DWEN-yah.”
16. Andre Braugher
The star of Brooklyn Nine-Nine pronounces his name “AHN-dray BROW-er,” where Braugher rhymes with power.
17. Chiwetel Ejiofor
A very imposing name, but it’s not that difficult. It’s “CHEW-it-tell EDGE-ee-oh-four.”
18. Lea Seydoux
The James Bond actress’s name is French. It’s pronounced “LAY-uh say-DOO.” The x is silent.
19. Letitia Wright
The Black Panther star pronounces her first name “luh-TEE-shuh.”
20. Mads Mikkelsen
The Danish actor (Casino Royale, Hannibal) is often cast in villain roles, but he’s typically polite in the face of people mangling his first name. While it’s easy to assume it’s “Mads,” it’s actually “Mass.”
21. Mahershala Ali
The Moonlight and Green Book actor will soon be stepping into the shoes of Marvel’s vampire hunter Blade. Maybe that will prompt people to say his name correctly: It’s “muh-HER-shuh-luh.” He shortened it in 2012 from his full birth name, Mahershalalhashbaz (which you can see him pronounce in the video above).
22. Saoirse Ronan
The Little Women and Lady Bird star’s Irish name can give people trouble. It’s “SUR-shuh.”
23. Daniel Kaluuya
Jordan Peele collaborator Daniel Kaluuya’s last name is pronounced “kuh-LOO-yuh.” He’s said people started pronouncing it correctly following the success of 2017’s Get Out.
24. Giancarlo Esposito
Esposito’s turns on Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, and The Mandalorian are just the most recent hits in a long career, dating back to a breakthrough role in 1989’s Do the Right Thing. His name is pronounced “jon-carlo” (make sure to roll the r) “ess-POH-zee-toh,” not “espos-SITO.”
25. Steve Buscem
The character actor (Boardwalk Empire) might have the most maligned name in show business. It’s so difficult that even Buscemi himself has managed to mispronounce it. The actor has said he uses “boo-SEM-ee” while many others use “boo-SHEM-ee,” but neither is actually correct. In Italy, where Buscemi’s family is from, it’s pronounced “boo-SHAY-me.”
26. Jake Gyllenhaal
“The only two places that [my last name] is pronounced correctly … is in Sweden and in IKEA,” the actor told Conan O’Brien. So while Americans might pronounce it “JILL-in-hall,” go with “YEEL-en-HAUL” for that authentic Swedish feel.
27. Timothée Chalamet
Sure, “Timothy” will work, but Chalamet’s father is French, so technically, it’s “TEE-moh-tay.” His last name is “SHAL-uh-may.”
Are you a logophile? Do you want to learn unusual words and old-timey slang to make conversation more interesting, or discover fascinating tidbits about the origins of everyday phrases? Then pick up our new book, The Curious Compendium of Wonderful Words: A Miscellany of Obscure Terms, Bizarre Phrases, & Surprising Etymologies, out June 6! You can pre-order your copy on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, or Bookshop.org.
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20 Forgotten Reality TV Shows From the 2000s That Are Unbelievable Today
From ‘Flavor of Love’ to ‘The Swan,’ it’s hard to believe any of these shows were even green-lit.
ByPaul Anthony Jones|Nov 1, 2026, 2:00 PM EST
Considering that it ran for a full 15 years, from 2003 to 2018, reality show America’s Next Top Model was hardly without its fair share of controversies. From models being compelled to undergo cosmetic procedures to remain in the contest to fat-shaming scandals, perilous photoshoots, and even race-swapping makeovers, the show made quite a few questionable choices over its original run—so much so, in fact, that it sparked a recent three-part retrospective documentary on Netflix.
But Top Model was by no means alone in sparking controversy, as during the genre’s boom in the early 2000s, TV schedules were filled with increasingly provocative (and often downright bizarre) reality TV shows.
ARE YOU HOT?
One of the lowest-rated television shows on IMDB, as its title suggests Are You Hot? The Search for America’s Hottest People was a six-episode ABC reality show from 2003 in which hopeful contestants had their physical attractiveness judged (and often rudely critiqued) by a panel of experts, including supermodel Rachel Hunter and actor Lorenzo Lamas.
Talent and personality meant nothing, as the show was purely based on looks. Perhaps understandably, it was canceled after a single six-episode season.
ARMED & FAMOUS
A number of popular reality shows, from Dancing With the Stars to the UK iteration of Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen, have been built around famous faces training in or learning how to do various new skills or occupations.
CBS reality show Armed & Famous perhaps took that one step too far in 2007 when five celebrities—including La Toya Jackson and Jack Osbourne—trained as reserve police officers in Indiana, eventually going out on patrol and officially graduating as gun-carrying officers. The show was pulled from schedules after just a handful of episodes.
BEAUTY AND THE GEEK
Female “beauties” and male “geeks” were paired up and made to take part in a string of challenges in Ashton Kutcher’s Beauty and the Geek, which originally ran on The WB from 2005 to 2008. Although cancelled in the U.S., the show has nonetheless sparked a franchise worldwide.
BIG!
The Discovery Channel’s Big! was a short-lived 2004 show in which teams of experts would be gigantic, yet fully functioning, versions of everyday gadgets and objects—from treadmills and vacuum cleaners, to cuckoo clocks and electric guitars.
THE BIGGEST LOSER
Initially broadcast on NBC from 2004–2016, The Biggest Loser was a ratings favorite at its peak, but questions were routinely raised over the controversial techniques involved (including an infamous accusation of illicit weight-loss drug taking that eventually led to an investigation by the LA County Sheriff).
CHANGING ROOMS
Discovery’s long-running Emmy-nominated home decoration show Trading Spaces was actually the U.S. version of the earlier British reality TV favorite Changing Rooms, which was first broadcast back in 1996, and ran until 2004.
Both versions followed the same straightforward premise: two sets of neighbors were given a small budget and 48 hours to entirely redecorate a room in one another’s houses. Not all the renovations quite went to plan, however, with a particularly memorable British episode in 2000 seeing a contestant’s prized £6,000 teapot collection smashed to pieces when some avant-garde suspended shelving collapsed.
FAT FAMILIES
Like a British version of The Biggest Loser, Sky’s Fat Families in 2010 saw straight-talking weight-loss guru Steve Miller spending 24 hours with an overweight family, before giving them the advice and routine needed to get them in shape. Miller’s no-nonsense, fat-shaming approach to encouraging the contestants caused controversy, however, and the show was ultimately cancelled after just two series.