Anya Taylor-Joy Credits Jack Black With Teaching Her English
Anya Taylor-Joy’s native tongue is not English, which has come as a shock to many of her fans. Taylor-Joy’s parents are of Argentinian, Spanish and English descent. The actress was…
Anya Taylor-Joy and Jack Black attend a Special Screening of Universal Pictures’ “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” at Regal LA Live on April 1, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.
Amy Sussman/Getty ImagesAnya Taylor-Joy's native tongue is not English, which has come as a shock to many of her fans. Taylor-Joy's parents are of Argentinian, Spanish and English descent. The actress was born in Florida but raised in Argentina until she was six years old, moving to London after.
Anya, 26, recently went viral after doing an interview in fluent Spanish. While discussing her role as Princess Peach in the newly released Super Mario Bros. Movie, she said she was “super starstruck” meeting Jack Black, who plays Bowser in the animated film.
Because the two didn't meet while recording their parts individually, Taylor-Joy met Black during the premiere for the first time. "I very seldom get like that," Taylor-Joy said of her starstruck moment. "But I was just running around earlier like, 'Oh my God, Tenacious D, this is amazing.'"
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The school she attended when she first moved to London would play 2003's School of Rock every Friday. "I didn't really speak much English, if any," she told Buzzfeed UK. "Harry Potter, School of Rock, Jumanji. That's how I learned English."
Her Love For Jack Black
Her love for Jack Black runs deep, as she told the publication that one of her go-to karaoke songs is "Tribute" by Tenacious D. "I do all the voices," she said. "That's always awesome." If she were ever given the chance to perform the song with Black, she said, "I'd die. Literally. I think part of the reason why my best friend and I decided we were friends in the space of an evening was because she started singing it once, and I leapt up from the dining room table and was like, 'We got this, we're gonna perform the hell out of this right now!'"
Being fluent in Spanish, Taylor-Joy says she would like her next project to work with "any Spanish-speaking directors" to make a movie in Spanish. "I'd love to do that."
These Celebrities Speak Another Language Fluently
Some celebrities have made it obvious that they speak another language. Whether it is from a thick accent or speaking in another language in films or music, we can easily tell when someone is multilingual. However, there are some stars we would have never guessed spoke in anything besides their native tongue. The biggest surprise of all is when our favorite actor or musician speaks more than two languages!
Due to their cultural heritage, some stars have picked up a second language due to where their family is from. Others have found a love for language in their travels or a genuine interest in linguistics. Whatever the reason, it is impressive when a person can dedicate themselves to adding another language to their repertoire. If you needed a reason to pick up another language, these celebrities' success is inspiring.
Take a look below at which celebrities can speak two or more languages:
Tom Hiddleston
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for DisneyBesides English, the 'Loki' star can speak Spanish, French and Greek. The British actor has been fascinated with language since his school days and found he was gifted with the affinity of learning languages.
Mila Kunis
Momodu Mansaray/Getty ImagesThe Ukrainian-born actress can understand and speak Russian, as she lived there until the age of seven.
Timothée Chalamet
Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images for BFIThe actor, whose name is very French, speaks fluent French. He grew up speaking both French and English since his father is from France.
Lupita Nyong'o
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Gotham Film & Media InstituteThe Mexican-born actress speaks an impressive four languages: English, Spanish, Swahili and Luo.
Sebastian Stan
Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesThough he used to speak 3 languages fluently, Stan can only understand German a little now. He is fluent in English and Romanian.
Salma Hayek
Arturo Holmes/Getty ImagesThe Mexican-born actress can speak both English and Spanish fluently. Her father is of Lebanese descent and her daughter's father is French, so she can speak some of both of the languages.
Bradley Cooper
Jamie McCarthy/Getty ImagesThe actor lived in France for six months and can speak French fluently. He also can speak some Italian, as his mother taught him.
Sandra Bullock
Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesBesides English, the actress can also speak German fluently. She was raised in Nuremberg, Germany and Austria, as her mother is German and her father was in the army.
Ben Affleck
Jon Kopaloff/Getty ImagesThe actor first learned how to speak Spanish when he made his acting debut on 'The Second Voyage of the Mimi.' The show was filmed in Mexico and that's where he picked it up.
Michelle Yeoh
Arturo Holmes/Getty ImagesBorn in Malaysia, the actress can speak Malay, Cantonese, Hokkien, Mandarin and English.
Jackie Chan
Jamie McCarthy/Getty ImagesThe actor can speak an impressive 9 languages! English, Spanish, German, Mandarin, Cantonese, Thai, Japanese, Korean and American Sign Language.
Natalie Portman
Jon Kopaloff/Getty ImagesThe actress can speak a number of languages including Hebrew, German, Japanese, Spanish and French.
Leonardo DiCaprio
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for NetflixThe actor was born in Los Angeles, but he speaks German and Italian fluently. His parents are Italian and German and he spent a lot of time in Germany growing up.
Shakira
Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty ImagesThe Colombian singer can speak a whopping seven different languages. She speaks Spanish, English, French, Italian, Arabic, Catalan, and Portuguese.
Oscar Isaac
Jamie McCarthy/Getty ImagesThe Guatemalan-born actor can speak both English and Spanish.
Celine Dion
Pascal Le Segretain/Getty ImagesThe singer is fluent in both English and French. However, she has sung in languages including Spanish, Italian, German, Latin, Japanese and Mandarin.
Hugh Jackman
Jeremy Chan/Getty ImagesThe Wolverine actor is fluent in French and Spanish.
Dua Lipa
Jon Kopaloff/Getty ImagesDua Lipa is bilingual and speaks both English and Albanian due to her heritage.
Bruno Mars
Rich Fury/Getty Images for The Recording AcademyThe Hawaiian-born singer can speak both English and Spanish.
Lady Gaga
Arturo Holmes/Getty ImagesThe musician can speak both English and French fluently. Though she knows some Italian words and phrases, she isn't fluent in the language.
Phil Collins
Chris Jackson/Getty ImagesThe musician can speak four languages: English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. He even sang and recorded the entire 'Tarzan' soundtrack in all of the aforementioned languages.
Selena Gomez
Jon Kopaloff/Getty ImagesThe singer can speak both English and Spanish. Her Spanish was more fluent as she was growing up and some of it has faded away.
Jodie Foster
Pascal Le Segretain/Getty ImagesThe actress is fluent in English, Italian and French. She can also speak Spanish and German.
SZA
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/VogueThe singer can speak both English and Spanish. She can understand Portuguese and Italian, a little bit of French, and some German from her mother (who is also multilingual).
Gwyneth Paltrow
Kevin Winter/Getty ImagesThe actress is fluent in English and Spanish. She lived in Spain as a teenager and fell in love with the language.
Anya Taylor-Joy
Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesThough she was born in Florida, Anya's parents raised her in Argentina until she was 6 years old and speaks fluent Spanish. She learned English when they moved to London by watching 'School of Rock,' 'Harry Potter,' and 'Jumanji,'
