Two-time Academy Award winner Denzel Washington has been an icon in cinema for over thirty years. His name is enough motivation to get folks into the movie to watch his latest blockbuster, but it turns out that we’ve all been saying his name wrong, and there’s a good explanation as to why…
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While appearing on Jimmy Kimmel to promote “Highest 2 Lowest,” his latest film and fifth collaboration with Oscar-winning director Spike Lee, Washington was told by Kimmel that there are four players named Denzel in the NFL, a name that only began to pop up after 1987. This fact prompted Washington to then reveal how he knew these NFL players were named after him.
“…because my name’s not pronounced Den-Zel, my name’s pronounced Den-Zuhl,” the actor clipped the ‘e’ in his name to create an ‘uh’ sound.
The “Training Day” actor then explained that it was his mom who first began mispronouncing his name, and for good reason. “My father’s Denzel Hayes Washington Sr. I’m Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. My mom would say ‘Denzel’ and we’d both show up. So she said, ‘From now on, you’re Denzel,” the actor emphasized the ‘e’ in his name. “So that’s how I got pronounced Denzel.”
Washington then joked that he should receive some compensation for NFL players who are named after him. “You should receive a small percentage of each jersey sale,” Kimmel played along.
Aside from revealing how his name is supposed to be pronounced, the actor spoke about his favorite rappers, his DJing past as a teenager, and how he got Spike Lee on board for “Highest 2 Lowest.”
“This project came to me first, and I thought, hey, this is a New York story, and I brought it to Spike… I read a script. I forgot how it came to me… I liked it, and there wasn’t a director attached, so I said Spike.”
As he began to wrap up his time on the show, the Oscar-winning actor made sure to surprise everyone one more time by facetiming his friend and music icon, Lenny Kravitz, who told Washington he had just gotten out of the shower. “Lenny, you wanna do a song?” The actor joked before inviting an audience member up to say hi to the baffled musician.
Currently, “Highest 2 Lowest” is playing in select theaters and will premiere on AppleTV+ on September 5th. The film features a star-studded cast, including Wendell Pierce, ASAP Rocky, and even a cameo by Ice Spice.
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