This past weekend, 12 Years a Slave and All Is Lost joined Captain Phillips and Gravity in theaters, signaling that the Serious Movie stretch of the American calendar—aka Oscar Season—has arrived. You will surely hear much discussion of the acting and directing talents behind these movies in the days and weeks to come, and you may even want to participate in these conversations yourself. But how can do you so without flubbing a few of those hard-to-pronounce names?
Herewith, a pronunciation guide for some of the trickiest names likely to pop up again and again this Oscar season, from Chiwetel Ejiofor to Adèle Exarchopoulos and beyond—including a few names whose trickiness might surprise you. (Jared Leto!) When we could find it, we have included video of the actor or director in question saying his or her name him or herself (or, in one case, his dad saying it in his presence), as well as links to other useful discussions of the preferred pronunciations.
We hope it helps.
Barkhad Abdi, actor, Captain Phillips
Pronunciation: BAR-cod AHB-DEE
Cate Blanchett, actress, Blue Jasmine
Pronunciation: KATE BLAN-chit
J.C. Chandor, director, All Is Lost
Pronunciation: JAY-SEE SHANN-door
Alfonso Cuarón, director, Gravity
Pronunciation: al-FONE-zo kwah-ROAN
Jonás Cuarón, screenwriter, Gravity
Pronunciation: ho-NAS kwah-ROAN
Chiwetel Ejiofor, actor, 12 Years a Slave
Pronunciation: CHOO-it-tell EDGE-ee-oh-for
Adèle Exarchopoulos, actress, Blue is the Warmest Color
Pronunciation: uh-DELL ex-ar-COOP-oo-los
Jared Leto, actor, Dallas Buyers Club
Pronunciation: JAIR-red LET-oh
Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
Pronunciation: MATH-yew Mih-CON-nuh-hay
Lupita Nyong’o, actress, 12 Years a Slave
Pronunciation: lew-PEET-tuh en-YON-go
Adepero Oduye, actress, 12 Years a Slave
Pronunciation: ADD-uh-pair-oh oh-DOO-yay
David Oyelowo, actor, The Butler
Pronunciation: DAY-vid oh-YEAH-luh-whoa
Martin Scorsese, director, The Wolf of Wall Street
Pronunciation: MAR-tin score-SEH-zee
Léa Seydoux, actress, Blue is the Warmest Color
Pronunciation: LEE-yuh say-DOO