Worst Actor Names (1 Viewer)

A little background: It used to be customary for actors and actresses to routinely change their names for stardom. Some famous examples are Archibald Leach's name change to Cary Grant and Frances Gumm's change to Judy Garland. Positive changes, both. But starting in the 1970s, actors increasinly have kept their original name, even if it is hard to pronounce or just plain ugly-sounding. Now, I understand that giving up their original name is a sore point for some actors, but I really wish some of them would consider it. Asian actors do it all the time and don't consider it beneath them.

I won't include foreign actors here (but posters can), but here are some actors whose names have or likely will impede their chances of stardom:
1. Ioan Gruffudd: How the heck do you pronounce this name? He's in King Arthur and will have a role in the Fantastic Four movie as Reed Richards, so perhaps he can overcome the limits of this name.
2. Carrie Snodgress: This talented and recently deceased actress might have gone further with a better last name, frankly.
3. Billy Crudup: My favorite example of a bad actor name. Just a terrible name all around. Billy Bob Thornton is the only actor I know of who can get away with "Billy" as a first name without looking silly. And Crudup (pronounce "Crewed-up", I think) is just an awful last name.

Vin Diesel
Lucy Lawless

Both sound like wreslters names

Well, made-up names can be pretty bad as well. Feel free to include them also.

Galen Gering (soap actor)
Elisha Cuthbert
Engelbert Humperdinck (singer, has he acted?)


I think it's close to "Ian Griffith".

And everybody knows who "Vincent Furnier" is....

I always feel weird reading the name Sean Biggerstaff in the credits to the Harry Potter movies. It sounds too much like a porn star name. And when you add the fact that he plays a character named Oliver Wood...

I've always had the same thought. :b

Tom Cruise and Sean Biggerstaff. The mind boggles.

Richard Gere.

Paul Newman and Garry Oldman.

James Gandolphini

Schwarzenegger


BTW excellent thread idea. I've occasionally had the same thought, and Carrie Snodgress' name popped into my head before I read the first line.

Yahoo Serious - you gotta be kidding, right?

But Sean can trace his ancestry back to the Roman Empire, can you? Surely you've heard of his illustrious forebearer, Biggus Diccus?

(By the way, did you ever notice that Peter O'Toole is a double-phallic name? )

Regards,

Joe

Here are some awful actor names.
Beyonce Knowles
Cedric The Entertainer
DMX
Ice Cube
Ja Rule
Queen Latifah
The Rock


-Mike

Another one I feel sorry for is Tucker Smallwood, a veteran character actor who played one of the Xindi humanoids in Enterprise.

I think Vin Diesel is a cool name.

Made up name. He has a normal real name--can't remember what it is right now--but was told he would do better with a memorable name. Little bit of trivia: Engelbert Humperdinck was the name of an Australian composer. The singer mentioned above found his name in a book.

Austrian would be closer than Australian.

But I’m pretty sure that he was German. He composed a famous, but mostly minor opera, Hansel and Gretel.

Patrick Fugit. Poor kid, I never know how to pronounce his last name.

I did mean to type Austrian, but that works, too. I'd look him up on the All-Music Guide, but the new format hurts my eyes. Why did they have to change?

According to the commentary on the Horatio Hornblower DVDs, it's pronounced Yo-an Griffith.

Few-jet? Foo-git? Oh, Fugit! I give up!

I wonder if he'll have the cajones to name his daughter Tempus.