Many of our favorite Hollywood stars had to learn a new language or master a different accent for their roles. Tom Hardy is no different, but does Spanish happen to be one of the languages he can speak with ease?
No, Tom Hardy doesn’t actually speak any Spanish. We’re pretty sure he wouldn’t mind learning some basic phrases if one of his roles required Spanish-speaking skills since he showed us he has a knack for learning different languages in the past.
So what other languages apart from his native English can the Oscar-nominated actor speak, and is he fluent in any of them?
Learning Twi for “Taboo”
Tom Hardy is primarily known as a movie actor, who starred in some of the most critically-acclaimed action movies of the past decade – including Mad Max: Fury Road and The Dark Knight Rises. That didn’t stop him from giving TV a shot, and after appearing on Peaky Blinders, he went on to accept the lead role on BBC drama Taboo.
Hardy played the part of adventurer and sailor James Delaney, who returned to London after twelve years spent in Africa, in the hope he’ll be able to rebuild his late father’s shipping empire. In addition to speaking English, Hardy had a pretty impressive grasp of Twi language in this series.
Twi originates from African country of Ghana, where it’s mainly used by the Akan people. Despite the fact that Taboo is set in 1812, this language is not extinct and approximately 29% of the Ghanaian population still uses it as either their first or second language.
Hardy Can Also Speak Some French
Tom Hardy often brushed shoulders with French reporters, since some of the biggest hits of his career premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. That was the case with Mad Max: Fury Road and Lawless, and the British actor had a chance to prove he has a grasp of French while promoting these projects.
Judging by the interview he did in 2012 alongside his Lawless co-stars Jessica Chastain and Shia LaBeouf, Hardy feels much more comfortable listening to others speak French than actually trying to do it himself.
It’s possible that the actor learnt a bit of French in his youth, since this happens to be one of the most common languages studied in British schools. If that’s the case, it’s understandable that his French isn’t so perfect after so many years.
Did Hardy Learn Russian for “Child 44”
Not all of Hardy’s films are set in English-speaking countries, and Child 44 is one of the most notable examples. This crime thriller centers on a disgraced Soviet intelligence agent trying to solve a series of child murders, but did Hardy have to learn Russian to star in it?
Like the rest of his Child 44 co-stars, including Gary Oldman and Noomi Rapace, Hardy spoke with a heavy Russian accent throughout the movie. This choice obviously didn’t sit well with some viewers, and Child 44 became a major box office bomb, earning only $13 millions against a $50 million budget.
This wasn’t the first time that Hardy’s voice was difficult to understand. He was unintelligible in many of his movies, leaving viewers puzzled as they tried to figure out what he’s trying to say. The fact his face was mostly covered in numerous projects also didn’t help, but experts agree his commitment to developing different accents for his characters is truly admirable.
“Some of them are unexpected, some are downright weird. But there’s always a reason for [them], even if we might struggle to put that reason into words – as I think Hardy himself sometimes does,” dialect coach Erik Singer told The Hollywood Reporter.
Final Verdict
Tom Hardy doesn’t speak any Spanish, nor is he fluent in any other language apart from English. He’s still ready to give it his all to learn basic words and phrases in new languages, and develop different accents whenever a role calls for it.