Overview

• Appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Sept. 2, the 70-year-old actor said his first name is pronounced with a clipped second syllable, sounding like “DEN-zuhl.”
• He explained that his mother, Lennis Washington, adopted the clipped pronunciation to distinguish him from his father, who shares the same full name.
• Jimmy Kimmel noted there are currently four NFL players named Denzel, compared with none in 1987 before Washington’s first Oscar win in 1990.
• Washington joked that the players “named themselves after me” and quipped that he should receive a cut of jersey sales.
• He previously recounted the same origin story on NorGraham Norton Show in 2013, a detail resurfacing with this latest appearance.