Top 20 Times Celebs Did Interviews in Another Language
#20: Ben Affleck Spanish
Top 10 Times Celebs Did Interviews in Another Language
In the actor’s own words, he’s a “passable” Spanish speaker. He, his brother, Casey, and their mom spent some time in Mexico while the boys were filming a TV series as kids. The brothers picked up the language simply from being immersed in it every day. He sounds pretty good–at least to those of us whose bilingual dexterity is limited to high school Spanish. Affleck isn’t afraid to demonstrate those so-called “passive” abilities on the promotion circuit, dipping into his second language on numerous occasions. When he appeared on the Spanish talk show “Despierta América” he even conducted the entire conversation in Spanish. Affleck jokingly shared that his only concern is that his daughter is overtaking him in fluency.
#19: Will Smith Spanish
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Even though the Fresh Prince has been entertaining us for decades, not many of us knew that he could speak Spanish. We heard him speak the language in “Seven Pounds,” but of course, this is a scripted performance that he could have just learned really well. So, the biggest surprise came during this interview when we discovered that he could do a lot more than just read Spanish from a script. His language skills are bueno and the accent is no va mal, either. We’re sure that this is always an exciting surprise for his Spanish-speaking fans.
#18: Serena Williams Italian & French
As the enthusiastic reception demonstrates, fans were impressed by even the little Italian Serena claimed to speak. However, the more we hear her, the more it seems to us she’s just being modest. She effortlessly transitions into the language during multiple press conferences, and much like her game, her skills are a Grand Slam. Williams also speaks fluent French, claiming one of the reasons was for her eventual French Open win. She said, “I wanted to speak French when I won.” She also said it was important because it’s a mainstream language in many African countries. She demonstrated her fluency in several interviews and indeed fulfilled her dream at the French Open as well.
#17: Guy Ritchie Hebrew
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The director was first drawn to learn Hebrew following his fascination with the Jewish teachings of Kabbalah. He first surprised his interviewer and Hebrew-speaking audiences when he promoted "King Arthur" in Israel in 2017. However, for many, Ritchie's language skills were a well-kept secret until the 2019 "Aladdin" live-action remake. Speaking with the Israeli outlet, Ynet, he demonstrated an impressive conversational level of fluency. Some sources claim that he insists on promoting his work in Hebrew while in Israel. He shared that he had a good teacher who taught him via Skype. When asked why he chose to learn Hebrew, he responded, "Why not?"
#16: Sandra Bullock German
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As the daughter of German opera singer, Helga Mathilde Meyer, this actress was raised in a bilingual home. She spent 12 years of her childhood moving between Germany, Austria, and the U.S. so her German is pretty fluent. According to German publication, “Welt” though, the actress seems rather self-conscious when speaking her second language, perhaps due to struggling with its grammar. A plight that anyone raised bilingual will understand. German can seem like a difficult and intimidating language to learn at the best of times. But, Sandra has flexed her Deutsch on several occasions. We’re no experts, but she sounds great to us.
#15: Colin Firth Italian
Remember in “Love Actually” when Colin Firth’s character learned Portuguese to win over Aurélia? Well, it turns out that this wasn’t a huge leap from reality for the actor. After meeting Italian film producer Livia Giuggioli in 1996, Firth decided to learn Italian. Although, in this case, it seems like he was trying to impress his future in-laws. He became fluent in the language down to the hand gestures and impressed many more than just Giuggioli’s parents. He’s done several interviews in Italian, including one at the Venice Film Festival. Who knows, maybe his next step will be starring in Italian movies.
#14: Christoph Waltz French, English & German
The “Inglourious Basterds” actor was born and raised in Austria, so his native languages are German and English. However, he’s also fluent in French, which is yet another language that can be heard in the Tarantino movie. Indeed, his multilingual skills impressed many critics, but his linguistic abilities extend so much further than reciting lines from a script. He’s genuinely trilingual and can easily slip in and out of all three languages. The internet is filled with interviews that showcase his talents for those who are interested. In some cases, he might even be speaking in one language and drop into another one mid-sentence simply because it more accurately represents what he’s trying to say.
#13: Chris Hemsworth Bahasa Indonesian
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In a 2015 interview that went viral, Chris Hemsworth shocked fans and his interviewer by recalling some of his school days and speaking Indonesian. As soon as the host introduces herself as representing Indonesia, Hemsworth gets in there and rattles off practically every sentence he can think of. Needless to say, many of us were left astonished. We may not understand what he's saying, but we know we should be impressed based on the interviewer's (and Chris Evans’) reaction. Indonesian is one of the foreign languages taught in Australian schools and, though Hemsworth admits he didn’t pay much attention, he’s clearly retained enough to make light conversation.
#12: Kobe Bryant Italian
When basketball legend Kobe Bryant was just six years old, his family moved to Rieti in central Italy. Naturally, while there, he picked up the native language and became accustomed to the culture. When he was 13, the family moved back to Philadelphia, but Bryant kept up with his Italian. You can hear him speak it in multiple interviews, and it’s astounding. He’s completely fluent, so much so you’d think he was dropping Italian into everyday conversations all the time. Incidentally, the sports icon can also speak Spanish quite fluently and has done so at press conferences. He truly was a man of many talents.
#11: Joseph Gordon-Levitt French
This self-proclaimed Francophile is so imbued with his love for the country and its culture that he decided to learn the language, too. He even studied French poetry at Columbia University. While he did play real-life Frenchman Philippe Petit in “The Walk,” we’ve yet to see him completely flex his French-language skills in a movie role. Nevertheless, you can hear his impressive skill set in an array of interviews. Of course, it’s not perfect, but he’s fluent enough to do entire interviews with confidence. For someone who learned the language out of a passion for all things French, we have to say we’re pretty impressed.
#10: Audrey Hepburn Various
As well as being an icon of Hollywood glamor, Hepburn was an accomplished polyglot. She spoke several languages, including French, English, Spanish, Italian, and Dutch. The actress was born to a Dutch mother and an Austrian-British father, and was raised as an English speaker — although clearly not from the East End of London if “My Fair Lady” is anything to go by. As for Spanish, French, and Italian, she learned them later on. Hepburn was no stranger to flaunting her multilingualism on the press circuit. The internet is full of examples of her engaging in interviews in other languages. We’re no experts, but she sounds pretty amazing to us no matter what she’s speaking.
#9: John Cena Mandarin
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Speaking at a historic WWE press conference in China, the wrestler-turned-actor had us all in shock as he delivered a speech in seemingly-eloquent Mandarin. Supposedly, he studied languages and music to keep his brain sharp. Cena explained that he became “obsessed” with Mandarin at the time that the WWE was trying to enter the Chinese market. He had two-hour sessions with a tutor to help him learn the famously tricky language. Cena, at one point, used his abilities to insult Piers Morgan on “Good Morning Britain” and caused controversy by unintentionally and accidentally weighing in on the China-Taiwan conflict. He’s since apologized for his mistake–in what we assume is perfect mandarin. He’s kept us awe-struck with how easily he seems to nail the language.
#8: Natalie Portman Various
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Born in Jerusalem to an Israeli dad and an American mom, Portman grew up in a bilingual household. Indeed, you can hear her speak Hebrew in several interviews. However, the actress also went on to learn French, Spanish, German, and Japanese to varying degrees. She even showed off some ASL in Paul McCartney’s music video for “My Valentine.” She’s also felt comfortable enough in her multilingual abilities to address audiences and interviewers in a range of tongues. We all knew that this Harvard grad was super smart but being able to engage with fans in their languages is definitely part of what makes her so likable.
#7: Gwyneth Paltrow Spanish
Due to countless family holidays in France, the actor has a pretty conversational level of French. However, when she was a teenager, she spent a few weeks in Spain and totally fell in love with the language and culture. So much so that she’s tried to pass on her passion to her kids by speaking to them in Spanish and whisking them off to the country once a year. In this interview, for instance, Paltrow details her love for the country in an almost flawless accent [1]. She can act, she can sing, she’s a successful businesswoman, and can speak multiple languages. What can’t she do?
#6: Lupita Nyong’o Spanish
Nyong’o had her breakthrough role in the highly acclaimed “12 Years a Slave” back in 2013. It was also around that time that we first discovered that she was fluent in Spanish. The actor was actually born in Mexico but her family returned to Kenya before she was a year old. As a teenager, her parents sent her back to Mexico to learn Spanish. Incidentally, she’s also fluent in Luo and Swahili and identifies as Kenyan-Mexican. In 2019, she also appeared on the Spanish morning show, “Un Nuevo Día.” Although she opted to mix it up between English and Spanish, she does so seamlessly.
#5: Bradley Cooper French
For most of us, our high school language lessons are nothing but a distant memory. But for Cooper, learning French growing up only spurred his love for the language. He went on to study English and French at Georgetown and spent six months on exchange in Aix-en-Provence. If you were unaware that he could speak another language, you’re certainly not alone. It’s surprisingly rare to hear Cooper flex his French but on occasion, he will bring it out for interviews. Clearly, he needed more reasons to make the fans swoon because just being the amazingly talented Bradley Cooper apparently isn’t enough.
#4: Shakira French, Italian & Portuguese
If you thought that being bilingual was impressive, Shakira’s language skills will blow your mind. Not only does she have a phenomenal singing voice and hips that don’t lie, but she’s also impressively multilingual. In addition to her native Spanish and of course, English, the Colombian-born singer can also speak French, Italian, Portuguese, and Arabic to varying degrees. It’s obviously quite a handy skill to have when you’re an international star and one that she’s put into good use. Whether it's just a few sentences or the entire interview, we’re sure that hearing Shakira speak their language is always a delight for her fans.
#3: Jodie Foster French
As a child, Foster attended the bilingual Lycée Français de Los Angeles, which is how she became fluent in French. Her fluency helped propel her career, as she was able to act in French movies and dub herself in translated adaptations of English-speaking films. Of course, this also means that she’s no stranger to the French-speaking press either. You can see her give numerous interviews in flawless French throughout her career. In 2011, she hosted the French equivalent of the Oscars, the César Awards. As if that isn’t cool enough, she also speaks a relatively conversational level of Italian, Spanish and German, which you can also hear in a few interviews.
#2: Tom Hiddleston French, Spanish, Italian & Greek
Top 10 Times Tom Hiddleston Did an Interview in Another Language
The actor’s profound interest in language has proven rather useful when connecting with his fans around the world. Hiddleston has learned so many additional ones to his native English that we could easily write a Top 10 just about that. Of course, he’s more fluent in some than others but he seems comfortable in almost any language. He’s given interviews in French and Spanish plus showed off a little Italian and Greek among other languages as well. We can only imagine the joy that his fans feel when they hear him speaking their language. As if we needed another reason to love him. Tom Hiddleston = https://youtu.be/klzMN_CLJcU?t=24 Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions. Charlize Theron, Afrikaans It’s Great to Hear Her in Her Native Afrikaans Mark Zuckerberg, Mandarin He Surprised Everyone at a Q&A in Beijing Johnny Depp, French The One-Time French Resident Occasionally Shows Off His French in Interviews Donna Summer, German The Singer Picked up the Language after Living in the Country for Several Years Timothée Chalamet, French He Spent Many Summers with His Grandparents in Le Chambon-Sur-Lignon, a Small Village in France
#1: Viggo Mortensen Various
Arguably one of Hollywood’s greatest polyglots, it feels like there’s no language Mortensen hasn’t mastered. The Danish-American actor grew up in a bilingual household but can speak seven languages to varying degrees. He’s fluent in English, Spanish, Danish, and Canadian-French, and can hold conversations in Italian, Catalan, and Arabic. He’s used his multilingualism throughout his career both for roles and to promote his work worldwide. It’s a handy set of skills to have and has no doubt helped cement his reputation as an international star. Between his many achievements, eclectic career, and an awe-inspiring array of languages, it’s almost unfair how talented one man can be.
