Johnny Depp has been accused of “overacting” during his defamation trial with Amber Herad, with confusion about his real accent.
For many who hear Depp v Heard defamation lawsuit, this may be the first time they have heard Johnny Depp’s actual voice and accent. And it has caused some confusion.
After decades on screen, Depp has brought to life dozens of characters, each with unique and remarkably precise accents.
Perhaps, however, his most famous is the British drunkard who put Captain Jack Sparrow in it and many convinced him that in fact it was British.
He has also perfected a cockney accent like Sweeney Todd, Scottish Looking for the country of never, and an icy accent that twists the tongue like the Mad Hatter Alice in Wonderland.
The man is a Hollywood chameleon; curiously, he even gave voice to one in the 2011 animated film. Rank.
After giving voice to so many characters throughout his decades-long career, his “real” accent seems to have turned into a mix of European and American that, amid a publicly brutal defamation trial, some critics they have said it is less than convincing.
It begs the question: what is Johnny Depp’s real accent and has his career made him forget how to speak “normally”?
What accent does Johnny Depp have?
Depp was born in Owensboro, Kentucky on June 9, 1963. He said Rolling rock magazine moved more than 40 times throughout his childhood.
At the age of seven, his family moved to Miramar, Florida, where he lived until he left high school and moved to Los Angeles to become a rock musician and eventually an actor.
In short, he (and at least his basic accent) is as American as they are.
Has your accent changed?
Throughout his career, Depp has been accused of changing his accent or immersing himself in and out of British, Scottish, even venturing into an Australian touch from time to time.
During a promotional interview for his 2015 film Too black on NBC Today’s showDepp tore through a series of accents, including the Boston touch he put on while playing gangster Whitey Bulger.
It seems that having to pick up different accents non-stop has had a certain impact on his way of speaking, as well as on his lifestyle that has seen him travel around the world and live in several different countries.
Do you have speech problems?
Some have suggested that Depp has a stutter, due to the way he spoke during the trial.
He seemed to find it difficult to say certain sentences, but this could be because he felt uncomfortable talking about such a sensitive and traumatic subject in public.
It has also been speculated that Depp has developed Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS) which, according to Marca, causes a sudden change in the speech of a person who is perceived as a foreign accent.
Only about 100 people have been diagnosed with FAS, and most have developed as a result of a traumatic head injury, so Depp is unlikely to have it.
Critics are not convinced by his “real” accent.
U.S. shocker Howard Stern has criticized Depp for “exceeding” during the defamation trial.
Speaking of the trial on his SiriusXM radio show, Stern pointed to Depp’s “difficulty speaking English” and his accent.
“First of all, isn’t he (Depp) like the Southwestern? Johnny Depp was born in Kentucky. Sounds like a Kentucky boy?” said Stern