Your 2015 Oscar Season Pronunciation Guide
Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images
Every year it seems there’s at least one big mispronunciation blunder during awards season: Most famously, last year, John Travolta butchered Idina Menzel’s name at the Oscars—inspiring Slate’s “Adele Dazeem” name generator. Other celebrities struggled with the names of Chiwetel Ejiofor and Lupita Nyong’o while, the year before, Quvenzhané Wallis provided one of the night’s biggest tongue twisters.
The 87th Academy Awards will likely see more of the same with Selma stars David Oyelowo and Carmen Ejogo part of a fairly large crop of Oscar hopefuls, including Birdman’s Alejandro González Iñárritu and Boyhood’s Richard Linklater, who each have names that are frequently mispronounced. (Hint: It’s not “Link-letter.”) To avoid suffering from your own “Adele Dazeem” or “James Flacco” goof (or “Dick Poop”!), here’s a handy cheat sheet on how to properly pronounce the most difficult-sounding names at the Oscars—including video tutorials from some of the nominees themselves.
David Oyelowo, actor, Selma
Pronunciation: DAY-vid oh-YEAH-luh-whoa
Alejandro González Iñárritu, writer-director, Birdman
Pronunciation: ah-lay-HAHN-dro gone-SAH-les ih-NYAR-ee-too
(Note: If you’re not comfortable rolling the R, you’re probably better just skipping it.)
Carmen Ejogo, actress, Selma
Pronunciation: CAR-men ee-JO-go
Morten Tyldum, director, The Imitation Game
Pronunciation: MORE-ton TILL-dum
Rosamund Pike, actress, Gone Girl
Pronunciation: RAH-zah-mund PIKE
Ava DuVernay, director, Selma
Pronunciation: AY-vah DOO-verr-nay
Jóhann Jóhannsson, composer, The Theory of Everything
Pronunciation: YO-hahn YO-hahn-son
Ralph Fiennes, actor, The Grand Budapest Hotel
Pronunciation: RAFE FINES
Richard Linklater, director, Boyhood
Pronunciation: RICH-ard LINK-later
Marion Cotillard, actress, Two Days, One Night
Pronunciation: mah-ree-OHN co-tee-YAR
Note: In native French pronunciation, you would only pronounce the final D if the next word starts with a vowel.
Paweł Pawlikowski, director, Ida
Pronunciation: PAH-vel PAHV-lee-cov-ski
Bonus! The pronunciation of Ida: ee-da
Emmanuel Lubezki, cinematographer, Birdman
Pronunciation: ay-mahn-WELL loo-BES-key