Celebrities who adopted (fake?) new accents

Celebrities who picked up new accents
Taylor Swift - Howdy y’all
Charlize Theron - Oh yeah, she’s South African!
Austin Butler - He couldn't shake the king
Ava Gardner - Dropping gs like shattered magnolia blossoms
Priyanka Chopra - Depends on the interviewer
Charlie Hunnam - An Englishman who had to relearn an English accent
Hilaria Baldwin - A Spanish accent… from vacationing in Spain in her youth
Madonna - The queen of pop (not England)
Johnny Depp - Ever-changing, but unique
Lindsay Lohan - Learning new languages… like English?
Gillian Anderson - Adapting to two worlds
George Michael - Foreign Accent Syndrome, Bristol-style
Ariana Grande - A notable range
Paris Hilton - A fake baby voice accent?
Quentin Tarantino - African American Vernacular English (AAVE)?
Dorit Kemsley -
Celebrities who picked up new accents

Whether you want to call them phony, confused, or professional, many celebrities have seen their accents change fairly dramatically over the years. Let's have a look at the strangest adaptations of a new accent by the stars.

Taylor Swift - Howdy y’all

Swift was born in Pennsylvania, in the Northern US, but moved to Nashville at 13 to pursue a singing career. Within a couple of months, she had picked up a noticeable southern twang. But hey, it worked. In around a year, she had a record deal. Her southern accent has since vanished…

Charlize Theron - Oh yeah, she’s South African!

If you hear this gorgeous South African actress in interviews, she speaks in a perfect American accent. Theron told Conan O'Brien about her reasons: "Something happens to you when someone tells you you’re not going to get a job until you lose the accent." She said she learned the accent by watching American TV 24/7. But then again, her first language isn't even English — it's Afrikaans!

Austin Butler - He couldn't shake the king

After his acclaimed performance as Elvis Presley in the biopic 'Elvis', Austin Butler revealed that he struggled to shake off the King's distinctive Southern drawl. He had dedicated three years to perfecting the accent. "It really made me self-conscious, cause I thought 'Am I being phony?'" he said on the Graham Norton Show.

Ava Gardner - Dropping gs like shattered magnolia blossoms

Born in deep North Carolina, this gorgeous actress's original accent was reportedly thick to the point of almost being incomprehensible. "When [MGM representative Ben] Jacobson asked her name, she replied 'Aa-a-a-vah Gahd-nah.' She pronounced the word 'five' [as] 'faave' and dropped her g’s all over his office, like shattered magnolia blossoms," wrote the Saturday Evening Post in 1948. After she became famous, her accent changed radically.

Priyanka Chopra - Depends on the interviewer

The Indian beauty queen noticeably changes her accent depending on who she’s talking to. For instance, when she’s being interviewed by Americans like Jimmy Fallon, her accent is quite American. But then when she’s interviewed, also in English, by an Indian host, her accent is much more Indian. Meanwhile, she is married to the Texan Nick Jonas.

Charlie Hunnam - An Englishman who had to relearn an English accent

The English actor from 'Sons of Anarchy' told Vanity Fair that he had been working in America for so long that when he was hired to play 'King Arthur', he had to hire a dialect coach to help him sound English again. "It was an absurd situation to find myself in," he said.

Hilaria Baldwin - A Spanish accent… from vacationing in Spain in her youth

Born Hillary Lynn Hayward-Thomas in Boston to an Anglo-Saxon family, Hilaria sometimes speaks with a Spanish accent. The woman who went on to marry Alec Baldwin says she got her accent from Spain, where she spent some of her childhood vacations. Skeptics say she is culturally appropriating Spanish/Latina culture and lying about where she's from.

Madonna - The queen of pop (not England)

The Queen of Pop raised eyebrows when she started speaking with a British accent after moving to England in the early 2000s. Critics and fans speculated whether it was affectation or a genuine shift after marrying British director Guy Ritchie.

Johnny Depp - Ever-changing, but unique

He was born in Kentucky but you would never guess it. As pointed out by several media outlets, Johnny Depp's accent changes a lot, especially depending on his latest role. In 2016, Slate described the accent as English, but the Irish Independent described it as "some kind of international accent.” There have also been twinges of Australian or Boston in some interviews.

Lindsay Lohan - Learning new languages… like English?

The actress surprised many when she debuted a unique accent in 2016. It seemed to blend elements from various languages and sounded as if English was her second language. Lohan explained it was a side effect of learning multiple languages at once. She told Vanity Fair that the languages included Russian, Turkish, Italian, and Arabic. Later, she would add that, as an actress, she quickly absorbs the speech patterns of those around her.

Gillian Anderson - Adapting to two worlds

The American-British actress, perhaps best known for 'The X-Files,' seamlessly switches between her American and British accents. Having spent significant time in both the UK and the US as a child, Anderson's accent changes depending on her location.

George Michael - Foreign Accent Syndrome, Bristol-style

Yes, this is a real thing! The late pop icon went into a three-week coma in December 2011. When he woke up, the celeb from London found himself speaking in a Bristol accent. "They were worried I had this condition where people wake from comas speaking French or some other language... Mine was two days of this vague Bristolain accent and they were afraid I'd have it for life," he said, according to The Telegraph.

Ariana Grande - A notable range

A clip of the popstar has gone viral showing her very clear 'voice evolution' over the years. In some interviews, she talks in a 'Blaccent,' while in others, she adopts a baby-ish white voice or various spins on New York. She is from South Florida.

Paris Hilton - A fake baby voice accent?

In her 2023 documentary, Paris Hilton acknowledged that she used a fake baby voice early in her career to put on a "dumb blonde facade." Now, she speaks in much deeper tones and says the whole thing had been an act. "It kind of helped the pain of the media just constantly being mean and very vicious and cruel to me for so long. That character shielded me from ever really having to feel anything," she said.

Quentin Tarantino - African American Vernacular English (AAVE)?

While the iconic director isn't known for being exactly socially fluent, in at least one interview, where he was being interviewed by several Black actors, he began talking in a, as some describe, very cringe-y 'Black' accent, also known as African American Vernacular English (AAVE).

Dorit Kemsley - "When you've traveled the world, you can speak in any accent you want”

On the ‘Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’, Kemsley's co-star called her out for her accent, saying: "You’re an American. You were born in Connecticut." The season’s tagline was even: "When you've traveled the world, you can speak in any accent you want." She said her husband is a Brit and she traveled a lot to Europe when she was young.

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