Jean Reno Quotes

I learned to change my accent; in England, your accent identifies you very strongly with a class, and I did not want to be held back.

I wish I could adjust my voice, but it's just what's happened to me. It's because I've lived abroad for a long time, and my wife is English and my kids all have English accents, and every voice I hear is English. I've never intentionally changed my accent at all.

I was going to be living there and I didn't want to sound like a foreigner all my life.

An agent once told me that if I would lose my English accent, I would never stop working in America.

Some people say to me, 'You don't sound very Irish.' It's because I have this tendency to iron out my accent: not because I'm ashamed of it but because it makes my life easier if I don't keep having to repeat myself.

There are certain situations, when you're in America, when people understand you better without an Australian accent.

When I went to London, they told me I spoke with a funny accent - English with a Chinese accent.

I'm already really aware and self-conscious of my accent.

It's a challenge getting rid of your accent.

I suppose that was my first bit of acting, the acquisition of an English accent. It was really just an attempt to be understood.

My accent has changed my whole life. When I was younger, it was very Nigerian, then when we went to England, it was very British. I think I have a very strange, hybrid accent, and I've worked very hard to get a solid American accent, which is what I use most of the time.

I came here when I was almost 22. I'm perfectly bilingual, but I'm never going to sound like Sandra Bullock.

This happens to a lot of kids from different backgrounds - they lose a lot of their parents' and grandparents' teachings, language and culture because they have to deal with another language and culture 24/7. By the time I was 44, I was terrible at Spanish. I was always intimidated whenever I had to speak it.

I never would have guessed that I would get a job for the way I sound. I would get notes about how I should lose my accent, and part of me thinks, 'How dare you! This is who I am! Millions of people want to sound like me!' But it's sensitive, and I have tried to change it, with little to no success.

I still have an accent. But when I return to Prague, I speak the language yet do not know what they are talking about.

I've never worked in my natural accent, having studied so hard to get rid of it when I moved to England as a child where I was bullied at school for 'talking funny.'

When I first came to the States, I thought I had a perfect American accent, and then I was abruptly becoming aware that it wasn't. So I did have to work on it a little bit, but I was hesitant working on it because I thought it was good.

I don't want to lose my accent, I just want it to become smaller.

My mum won't speak to me unless I speak properly on the phone. I have to speak 'American' for work, so often the accent comes through when I'm not at work.

The accent of a man's native country remains in his mind and his heart, as it does in his speech.

Can I eventually take classes and eliminate my accent? Sure. I guess anybody could. But this is who I am, and this is what I got. And there are millions of people who sound just like me. Millions. It's not like this is some novelty.

I went to an English school and was brought up in English. So I don't feel Czech.

I started acting when I was really young. I came to the States and didn't know anyone, and I spoke with a weird Irish accent.

Despite his South Indian connection, my husband Rohit doesn't have an accent at all.

I used to have an Australian accent for school and an Irish accent for home.