Accents of some famous stars

jlo's accent is totally vulgar and low class, but hey wait...so is she!

Hi mjd,
thank you for your reply. That was very helpful.

Viele, viele bunte Smarties! Viele, viele bunte Smarties! Soooooooo viele bunte Smarties. Ooooooh!

high jackman, sarah wynter, naomi watts, heath ledger, nicole and antonia kidman, melissa george, kylie and danii minogue, the list goes on don't you just love them. they sound so aussie, but are so talented they can slip right into another accent. i've heard the aussie accent is the hardest to learn or to act, but an aussie can learn another accent like that. do you agree.

Naomi Watts' American accent is superb. I didn't know she was Australian till I read it.

she is excellent isn't she! sorry i'm just a really proud aussie, i don't mean to offend anyone. this refers to some of my previous posts.

I though she had British parentage. She arrived in oz when she was around 14 didn't she? She then went on to work in a cheesy aussie soap called home and away before embarking on her acting career in LA. Or it could be that her parents were originally from oz, in other words ex-pats working in the uk and naomi was born there and then they decided to head back home when she was a teenager. That could be it. Althoug i don't know for sure just speculating.

Portai de Rossi and the blond beauty from Withoug a Trace do a good job at an GenAm accent too.

To whoever asked a coule of days ago about Johnny Depp's accent in Chocolat, he wasn't French, but Irish, (and oh-so-charming!).

"i've heard the aussie accent is the hardest to learn or to act, but an aussie can learn another accent like that. do you agree."

Actually, an Aussie accent is by far the easiest dialect of English for an American to learn. This is because of two reasons. First, an Aussie accent has the same resonance and jaw placement as an American. Second, both accents share the same vowel sounds, even though they're used in different ways. That's why Meryl Streep and Robert Downey Jr. have done nearly flawless Aussie accents in movies, but would probably have a rather hard time with modern British dialects.

The same is true in reverse: Aussies can do perfect American accents, while Brits tend to have trouble.

oh, and for those who wanna hear a clear New York accent might wanna watch The King of Queens.

thanks for bens reply. i really had no idea, i was really interested in seeing someone elses point of view. what about this. i have relatives in new zealand and to me they remind me of the british. very proper and well spoken. not that aussies and americans aren't. just in a different way. but i think aussies and americans are quite similar. what do you think?

What about connecticut'a accent? do you remember Angela from Who's the boss ? the contrast with Tony's accent was quite noticeable, wasnt it ? does conecticut have a more stylish accent? what do you think?

I have the feeling that young Australians feel more and more admiration for Americans. That wasn't the case, growing up in Australia back in the seventies, when prestige was still more towards Britain than the US. I still remember one of my Australian English class teacher telling me "How American!" if I' dared say "OK" or "movies".
It's the same feeling I have when I presently listen to Australian radio on the Internet. Older speakers tend to sound more "British" than younger ones although they all sound Australian, obviously. You've only got to hear the Australian voices giving the news on ABC National Radio, you can do so through the Internet, to realise that although the tone and some vowels are quite Australian the language sounds much closer to Southern English than American. Linguists say that there is an Educated, General and Broad Australian. Educated would be closer to English RP and Broad would be further away from it. Most people speak "general" Australian. Would Australians now living in Australia tell me if I'm right or wrong. I've been out of the country many years and I haven't been back. By the way, I grew up in Sydney and there could be regional differences. Do people now speak in a more "posh" way according to the city or place where they live? Thanks for all the information. Anyway, the Australian accent isn't close to American at all and it's becoming quite distinct to English.

in any case, Johnny lives in France now so he can probably fake the French accent.

"What about connecticut'a accent? do you remember Angela from Who's the boss ? the contrast with Tony's accent was quite noticeable, wasnt it ? does conecticut have a more stylish accent? what do you think? "

The actress who played Angela (Judith Light) was born in Trenton, New Jersey. If I remember correctly, her accent was not your stereotypical Jersey accent nor was it Connecticutian or any other New England accent. She spoke GenAm like every other actor who adopts the American standard to increase his/her chances of getting hired for a variety of roles. Her character was very WASPy though. Tony Danza, on the other hand, will always be known as that loveable lug from Brooklyn because of his regional accent and "guido" mannerisms.

Speaking of which, I've heard that Andie MacDowell's South Carolinian accent was so strong and unintelligible in her first film, "Greystoke" that her voice had to be entirely dubbed by the Connecticut-born actress Glenn Close. So getting back to your original question, I don't know whether the Connecticut accent is considered more "stylish" but it is thought of as patrician and upscale.