Denzel Washington reveals we've all been saying his name wrong

Turns out we've been pronouncing Denzel Washington's name incorrectly all this time.

The award-winning star has been a mainstay in Hollywood since breakthrough in 1989 film Glory, which won him an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. Washington has since gone on to star in huge blockbuster films such as Gladiator II, The Equalizer and Training Day.

He was even named the greatest actor of the 21st century by The New York Times back in 2020, which is a pretty major feat.

However after five decades in Hollywood, it would appear we've all been pronouncing the 70-year-old's name incorrectly all this time.

Washington confirmed the decades-long pronunciation during a recent interview with Jimmy Kimmel, after the US TV host revealed there are currently four NFL players named Denzel, likely as a nod to the American Gangster actor.

The actor revealed the truth about his name during an interview with Jimmy Kimmel (Randy Holmes/Disney via Getty Images)

"And this is how you know they were named after me," Washington said, before going on to reveal scores of people had been mispronouncing his name for decades.

"My name's not pronounced Den-ZEL. My name's pronounced DEN-zull," he explained.

So there you have it folks, the emphasis is not syllable of his name and not the second, with the last part rhyming with 'pull' or 'lull'. Although I'd imagine that most Brits have been pronouncing his name like this anyway.

So why has Washington allowed so many people to mispronounce his name for so long? Turns out it's all his mother's doing.

"I'm Denzel Jr." he explained. "My father's Denzel Hayes Washington Sr. I'm Denzel Hayes Washington Jr.

"[So] my mother would say, 'Denzel', and we'd both show up."

It was this confusion which created the name Den-ZEL, as the actor's mother searched for a way to differentiate between father and son.

"So she said, 'From now on, you're Den-ZEL'," he added. "That's how it got pronounced Denzel."

The more you know.

The actor revealed the mispronunciation was down to his mother's doing (Frazer Harrison/WireImage)

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Washington's latest film sees him star alongside rapper ASAP Rocky in Spike Lee's Highest 2 Lowest, which streams on Apple TV+ from today (5 September).

Inspired by Japanese 1963 film High and Low, the film stars Washington as a music mogul whose informed that his son has been kidnapped just as he's about to buy back his record label.

It was during promotion for the film alongside Lee and ASAP that Washington revealed that he doesn't really watch movies after his long career on screen.

"I don’t watch movies, man. I really don’t," he said in an interview with the two men for GQ. "I’m just being honest with you. I don’t watch movies, man. I don’t go to the movies. I don’t watch movies."