Alexander Skarsgård is setting the record straight about how his famous family’s surname should actually be pronounced – and you’ve probably been saying it wrong this whole time.
During his appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday, May 13, to promote his new Apple TV+ series Murderbot, host Stephen Colbert brought up how Alexander’s father Stellan Skarsgård had revealed during his May 7 appearance that people consistently mispronounce their family name.
“He said one thing: he said we’re mispronouncing the name. It’s [pronounced] ‘Skarsgourd,’ is that how you say it?” Colbert, 61, asked Alexander. The actor confirmed emphatically, explaining “Exactly – that little umlaut is an ‘oua,’ it’s not an ‘a.’ ‘Skarsgourd.'” This revelation means that for years, fans and media alike have been incorrectly pronouncing the Swedish family’s name as “Skars-gard.”
The Skarsgård acting dynasty includes patriarch Stellan, 73, and his oldest son Alexander, along with Alexander’s actor siblings Gustaf, Bill, Valter, Ossian, and Kolbjörn, as well as sister Eija. In an interesting twist, of Stellan’s eight children, only Sam, 42, and Eija, 33, have chosen paths outside of acting – Sam works in the medical field, while Eija has found her niche working in casting departments for various television series. Even the family’s youngest members, Ossian, 16, and Kolbjörn, 12, have already begun following in their father’s and older siblings’ footsteps by taking on acting roles.
Alexander has shown he can have fun with the frequent mispronunciation of his family name. Back in 2016, he appeared on Colbert’s show and participated in a comedic sketch where both he and Colbert deliberately exaggerated the “ar” sound in the Skarsgård name and other words, playing up the common pronunciation error that he’s now officially corrected.
The proper pronunciation revelation comes as a surprise to many who have been following the careers of the Skarsgård family members for years, highlighting how even the most well-known names in Hollywood can be consistently mispronounced. With this clarification from both Stellan and Alexander, perhaps “Skarsgourd” will finally get its due respect in entertainment circles.
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