Accents of some famous stars

The New York accent can be recognized by a few characteristics:
1. The dropping of "r"'s at the ends of words like the British (although middle class New Yorkers often will pronounce these r's like standAme)
2. An extremely drawn out way of pronouncing words like "bought" or "caught" ("bawuht" and "cawuht")--even more so than the British
3. "ar" words like "cart" and "hard" are often pronounced with a rounded vowel, almost like "court" and "horde" (similar to some South Africans)
4. "o" words like "pot" and "not" are pronounced in the standard American way--"paht" and "naht"--seperating this accent very strongly from any British dialect
In addition, there are a few variations on the accent based on the specific location or ethnicity:
1. Jewish speakers in Brooklyn have an accent slightly similar to that of East London (not suprishing, since both areas have large yiddish populations)--the dipthongs tend to be very drawn out--"royt" for "right," "dye" for "day," etc.
2. In some areas (esp. Brooklyn & Staten Island), there a slightly residual influence from when New York was controlled by the Dutch, so that the word "bad" almost rhymes with the word "bed"
3. Black New Yorkers tend to speak with a mixture of New York and Black Vernacular Dialects
4. Irish and Italian New Yorkers maintain some of the musicality of their ancestor's accents

Also, Matt LeBlanc, who plays Joey from Friends, is actually from Boston, not New York. I think he tries to fake a New York accent for the show, though.

well, he fakes it very well :)

Sex and the City girls don't sound like Joey. Do they?

The Sex and the City actresses don't sound anything like Joey, but Joey does that accent to make himself funnier.
It's too bad they've stopped Sex and the City and they're ending Friends.

What accent does Johnny Depp have? Does anyone know?

Disney pirate.

Johnny's American, but since he's an actor, it depends on whichever role he plays. He's had a Spanish accent in "Don Juan de Marco," a British one in "From Hell" and "Pirates," probably a French one in "Chocolat" though I have yet to see that movie, plus more that I've forgotten.

I though everyone in New York speaks like the characters in Sex and the City. You know, GenAm. But that the way Joey speaks is restricted to certain groups, classes of people in New York.

ie.
Godfather (Italian mafiosi speech)
The Nanny (Jewish speech, I think)
etc, etc...

No, there definitely is a New York accent, but it takes on different characteristics with the groups that Juan mentioned....NY/Jewish, NY/Italian etc.

The women on "Sex and the City" don't have New York accents, number one because they're actresses speaking GenAm, number two because many Manhattanites are "transplants," i.e. people from other parts of the U.S. that moved to Manhattan because of their careers, for more excitement, etc. You'll hear the stereotypical New York accent a lot more in what are called the "outer boroughs," Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island.

We New Jerseyans also have an accent which can be similar to the NYC accent in some parts of the state.

Manhattan doesn't really have an accent because the residents of Manhattan are from all over the place. Not just other parts of the U.S., but Europe and Asia as well.

People on American TV never speak with a definable accent anyway. Nobody on ER sounds like they're from Chicago, and nobody on The Practice sounds Bostonian. This is a huge difference, I think, between British and American television--the cast of UK's "Queer as Folk" sounds Mancunian, whereas the cast of the American version of the same show definitely does NOT sound like they're from Pittsburgh.

Native Manhattan residents definitely have an accent. I've heard it before. It kind of sounds like a weaker version of New York accents you hear in other boroughs, though.

Yeah, those who grew up in Manhattan definitely have the accent. It's probably strongest in Brooklyn and the Bronx. Long Islanders (Nassau and Suffolk Counties) also have their own NY accent.

Hi all,
I think she was mentioned before, but can anyone tell me for sure whether Jennifer Lopez has a New York City accent?

Yes, she does. She is originally from the Bronx. While her's is prominent, there are others with stronger NYC accents. Jennifer Lopez's accent can be classified as NYC-latina.