10 Celebrities You Didn't Know Speak English as a Second Language

Before terrifying audiences as Le Chiffre in Casino Royale and Dr. Hannibal Lecter, Mads Mikkelsen grew up speaking Danish in Copenhagen. He was a professional gymnast and dancer before learning fluent English, later mastering distinct Swedish, German, and French accents for international roles.

Christoph Waltz spent over thirty years acting in Austrian and German television before Quentin Tarantino cast him as Hans Landa in Inglourious Basterds. Born in Vienna, German is his mother tongue, but Waltz speaks fluent English and French, dubbing his own dialogue in international releases.

Born in Hong Kong, Jackie Chan's native language is Cantonese. When he attempted his first crossover into Hollywood with 1980's The Big Brawl, he did not understand English at all and had to memorize scripts phonetically, practicing line delivery alongside rigorous stunt choreography.

Raised in Alcobendas, Spain, Penélope Cruz grew up speaking Spanish and studied French at school. When cast in 1998's The Hi-Lo Country, her English was so limited she reportedly only knew how to say 'How are you?' and 'I want to work with Johnny Depp', memorizing dialogue sound-by-sound.

When Antonio Banderas was cast in the 1992 drama The Mambo Kings, he could not speak a single sentence of English. The Málaga native learned all his English dialogue by listening to audio tapes phonetically, taking intense immersion classes while filming to achieve fluency.

Born in Coatzacoalcos, Mexico, Salma Hayek was already a telenovela superstar in Spanish before moving to Los Angeles in 1991. Facing severe dyslexia, she enrolled in daily English immersion classes, braving studio rejection to build one of cinema's most celebrated careers.

Arriving in America in 1968 from Thal, Austria, Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke almost no English. In his 1970 debut Hercules in New York, producers dubbed over his voice entirely. Undeterred, Schwarzenegger took intensive speech therapy and English lessons to forge the most iconic voice in action history.

Growing up in Santa Cruz del Norte, Cuba, Ana de Armas spoke only Spanish when she moved to Los Angeles in 2014. Refusing to audition exclusively for stereotypical roles, she took full-time English classes seven hours a day for four months until she could read scripts with total fluency.

Born in Chernivtsi, Ukraine, Mila Kunis immigrated to Los Angeles at age seven speaking only Russian. She famously described her first year of American school as feeling completely deaf and blind, learning English by watching game shows before landing That '70s Show at just fourteen.

Raised on a farm in Benoni, South Africa, Charlize Theron grew up speaking Afrikaans as her mother tongue. Though she heard English as a school subject, she was not conversational until moving to the United States at nineteen, adopting an American accent while watching soap operas.