13 Actors Who Speak Multiple Languages (Timothée Chalamet and More)
Timothée Chalamet grew up in New York City with a French father, so he not only speaks French fluently, he has dual American and French citizenship.
Why Actors Speak Multiple Languages
You may have seen videos all over social media of American actors speaking fluent French, such as Bradley Cooper and Timothée Chalamet. Mastering a second language is an achievement and when actors can speak three or more languages it makes them stand out from the rest.
Speaking more than one language can increase an actor’s work opportunities and international appeal. In some countries, speaking the local language and making appropriate cultural references can go a long way to building rapport with audiences and it can have a positive impact on the box office. Legendary Hollywood actors like Christopher Lee and Audrey Hepburn amplified their international appeal through their fluency in languages other than English.
While speaking multiple languages may have been easier for actors who had the privilege of learning through international travel—Hepburn and Daniel Brühl, for example—actors like Natalie Portman and Freddie Highmore invested in their learning and studied to become proficient in foreign languages.
1. Timothée Chalamet
Timothée Chalamet has been very popular with French-speaking fans and interviewers for years, but that fandom was reinvigorated this past December (2023) when he was promoting Wonka in Europe. French TV channel TF1 featured him speaking French and remarked how he is a different person when he speaks French!
2. Monica Bellucci
Did you know that Monica Bellucci, star of movies ranging from Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992) to Irréversible (2002) to Spectre (2015), can speak French, Spanish, and English, as well as her mother tongue Italian? She learned Aramaic to play Mary Magdalene in Mel Gibson's controversial 2004 film, The Passion of the Christ, and then learned Serbian for Emir Kusturica’s 2016 drama, On the Milky Road.
3. Vincent Cassel
Monica Bellucci's former husband, Vincent Cassel, who starred in Ocean’s Twelve (2004) and Black Swan (2010), not only speaks French as his mother tongue, but is also fluent in Italian, English, and Portuguese. That latter language is essential as Cassel has dual French/Brazilian citizenship, having lived on and off in Rio de Janeiro for many years.
Like Bellucci, Cassel learned another language to inhabit a role. For 2007's Eastern Promises, Vincent learned Russian. He has admitted in interviews that being a voice actor has given him many opportunities to work in different types of films, including cartoons.
Fun fact: Bellucci's and Cassel's daughters, Deva and Léonie, both speak five languages: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and English.
4. Bradley Cooper
Bradley Cooper is fluent in French and his inspiration won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1982—though the film was released in 1981. As Cooper told People Magazine in 2011:
"When I was a kid, I remember watching Chariots of Fire. And French is the official language of the Olympics. So there’s a scene where a guy was speaking French and I thought, 'Man, that sounds so cool. I want to learn French.'"
True to his word, he moved to France for six months as part of an exchange program and immersed himself in the language and culture. If you want to become fluent in a language, that's how you do it!
5. Audrey Hepburn
Audrey Hepburn, famous for iconic movies like Roman Holiday (1953), Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961), and Charade (1963), could speak Dutch, French, Italian, Spanish, and German, as well as English.
She was born in Belgium and raised bilingual in English and Dutch because her father was a British/Austrian political figure and her mother was a Dutch baroness. In fact, because of her father's job as British Consul in Samarang, central Java—then known internationally as the Dutch East Indies—Hepburn was exposed to multiple languages and cultures from an early age.
6. Christopher Lee
Depending on your age, you know Christopher Lee for his turn as Dracula in the Hammer films (1957–76), Grand Moff Tarkin in the original Star Wars (1977), as Saruman in The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001–03), or as Count Dooku in Episodes II (2002) and III (2005) of the Star Wars prequels.
Lee could speak an impressive eight languages at varying levels of fluency. Being of English and Italian origins, not only he was bilingual, but since he studied in Switzerland, he soon became fluent in German and French, too. He then went on to learn Spanish, Greek, Swedish and Russian.
7. Salma Hayek
Salma Hayek, who broke through with her roles in Desperado (1995) and From Dusk till Dawn (1996), became the first Mexican actress to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for her performance in 2002's Frida, which she also produced.
What's interesting about Hayek's road to language fluency is that she's dyslexic. So, learning ANY language has been difficult for her. That said, she's not only a native Spanish speaker, having been born in Veracruz, Mexico, but she also speaks English, French, and Italian.
In the AMA-style interview with British GQ linked above, Salma took questions from the public, and someone asked about her ability to speak multiple languages. In addition to the four languages above, Hayek added, "I understand Portuguese perfectly. I so wish I could speak Arabic 'cause I am half-Lebanese."
Regarding her heritage, Salma's mother was born in Mexico and her grandmother was born in Spain. And, as she noted above, her father was born in Lebanon, which isn't as unusual as it might sound. In the early 20th century, there was a significant immigration of Lebanese to Mexico. So much so that in Hayek's hometown of Veracruz there is a statue dedicated to the Lebanese immigrant!
8. Penélope Cruz
Penélope Cruz, who was born in Madrid, Spain, is still largely known for collaborating with director Pedro Almodóvar in Spanish-language movies like Live Flesh (1997), Volver (2006), I'm So Excited! (2013), and Parallel Mothers (2021). However, she won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for 2008's Vicky Christina Barcelona, which was very much an English-speaking role.
Aside from Spanish and English, Cruz speaks Italian and French. In fact, she enjoys acting in multiple languages because, as she told Screen Rant in 2019, it allows her to fully live the experience in each movie and communicate it to the audience.
She also noted that fluency in languages beyond her native Spanish opened up her acting options: "I've made movies in four languages, and I feel very blessed that all that hard work has paid off to be able to work in these different territories."
Fun fact: Cruz's husband, fellow actor Javier Bardem, speaks Spanish and English.
9. Natalie Portman
Acting professionally since she was 12, Natalie Portman became internationally popular as Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars prequel trilogy (1999–05). However, she broke through critically with standout performances in V for Vendetta (2005) and Black Swan (2010), the latter for which she won the Best Actress Oscar.
Portman was not only born in Jerusalem in 1981, she continues to be a dual citizen of Israel and the United States. Thus, her native tongue is Hebrew, but along the way she learned English, French, German, Japanese and Spanish. She holds a psychology degree from Harvard University and is a UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador.
In an interview with America Reads Spanish, Portman was asked why it was important for her to learn other languages. She replied, "I didn’t do it for my career as it's not required of an actress at all. I like learning and knowing languages is a tool. Spanish is one of the most useful languages in the world. I went to shoot a Milos Forman movie in Madrid (Goya's Ghosts, 2006) and I fell in love with the culture, the language, the lifestyle."
10. Sandra Oh
Sandra Oh is one of those rare actresses who has had starring roles in three successful TV series. First she played Rita Wu on the HBO comedy, Arliss (1996–2002), then she played Dr. Cristina Yang on Grey's Anatomy (2005–14), and finally, she played Eve Polastri in the spy thriller, Killing Eve (2018–22).
Born and raised in Ontario, Canada, to South Korean immigrant parents, Oh speaks fluent English, French and Spanish, and is conversational in Korean. In a 2021 interview with Esquire, Oh talked about the importance of diversity and inclusion in film and TV roles, and the importance of representing Asian voices. To that end, when she was hired for Killing Eve she admitted that her Korean had to improve.
“I speak such baby Korean,” says Oh. “I was adamant that I needed to get my Korean up to the correct level that Korean-Americans speak Konglish to their parents.”
In her quest to nail the dialogue, Oh “really leaned on” editor Stacy Moon. “It was so amazing, being able to talk to someone about this, something very specific,” says Oh. “I was like, ‘Listen, I want my Korean not to grate your ears, because when you suddenly hear your parents' language or a language that you know being completely butchered, it throws you out of the show.’”