Ever wonder if any famous Americans speak French? For your viewing pleasure, here are a few videos of American celebrities speaking French.
GO!
American celebrities who speak French
Anyone who’s learned another language knows it takes hard work, dedication, tons of time, and major courage. That goes triple if you start learning as an adult. Then add on the fact that you’re being interviewed in public and recorded? Oh man, I’d be so nervous! But these celebs take it in stride.
Here are some American celebrities who speak French:
Serena Williams
Serena is a tennis superstar but you may not know that she’s also been working on her French. Serena gets an A for effort and spoke with reporters in French after her Roland Garros win over the weekend.
Bradley Cooper
Everyone loves Bradley and the French are so impressed with his confidence while speaking their language. He speaks really naturally! I wrote an entire post on what we can learn from Bradley Cooper speaking French.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Joseph Gordon-Levitt studied French poetry among other things at Columbia University which sparked his love for all things French.
Jodi Foster
Actress Jodi Foster started learning French young and went to Lycée Français de Los Angeles. She speaks with barely any discernible accent and pretty much sounds like a native speaker. So since she’s pretty much a native speaker, I almost left her off my list.
John Malkovich
American actor John Malkovich lived in France with his family but apparently left in 2003 over a tax dispute. His French is still intact.
John Kerry
Former United States Secretary of State John Kerry shows off his French skills… did you know he speaks French? He’s definitely worthy of being on my list of American celebrities who speak French.
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I was watching Serena’s match and when she was having her interview I got really confused! At first I thought it was just a voice over and she was speaking English, but then I realized it was her speaking French. But then I thought maybe I had her confused with somebody else? I eventually figured it out..I just had no idea she spoke French! lol and the rest of your list the only person that I knew spoke French was Bradley Cooper, but daaaang Jodie Foster speaks so well!
Yup, I think she started learning a few years back and she always tries to speak a little in interviews or after wins in France.
And yessssss Jodie is great. I almost wasn’t going to put her on the list because she grew up speaking French at school. What IS impressive is that she’s managed to retain the language as an adult and not get rusty — at all!
I wanted to stand up and applaud when I heard Jodie speak, but I’m gonna have to go with Bradley Cooper as my favorite 😉
And I’m really scared that I sound like John Malkovich! His accent is painful for me – I couldn’t even listen long enough to judge his grammar.
Awww, well the most important thing is that one’s accent is understood. It’s hard not to have any accent at all, but as long as people understand, that’s all that matters. Love Bradley too and had to include him!
This was really fun. I think it’s interesting that some have even adopted the appropriate French body language to go along with their words. Serena seems to have that back of the throat sound down better than any of the others.
Glad you enjoyed the post! Out of my list, Jodie Foster speaks with pretty much no accent so her pronunciation would be spot on. I think sometimes Americans who learn French focus on the R sound/back of throat noise that doesn’t exist in English and then tend to overemphasize it — when a native French speaker does not pronounce it to the same extent. Jodie is on point, so copy her. 😉
That was really interesting! I think Americans are way better at speaking French than the British!
Thanks for checking out the post, Holly! I should do a similar roundup of British folks speaking French. There are a bunch!
Oh this was fun, thanks! Man, after living in France, it’s almost comical to hear such strong American accents (like John Malkovich, oh dear). I hope my accent is better than that at least. I was definitely impressed with Bradley Cooper!
As long as the person is understood by the French… that’s the important part!
I didn’t know they spoke french! I was really impressed with Jodi Foster’s french! She’s really good, completely fluent!
Yup, she’s great! But she learned French when she was young so that majorly helps.
Bradley Cooper (sigh)….so cute! I could listen to him all day!
I would expect Johnny Depp to be pretty good too.
And not exactly fluent but for sheer laugh: Matt Leblanc (Joe in Friends) learning French.
Yah, Bradley is a cutie. Very natural, very confident. Love him. I could only find a few videos of Johnny saying a few lines in French. I think he’s at least conversational though.
My favorite would be the late Robin Williams. Near the end of his interview on “Inside the Actor’s Studio” he held a quick conversation with a couple of audience members and could hold his own quite well in French or Russian (which he learned for his role in “Moscow On The Hudson”).