Learning languages is such a valuable professional and personal skill that even celebrities appreciate its importance when pursuing international careers. Understanding different cultures and being able to communicate well is very helpful when performing a job, and with film stars it is no different.

Showing us that multilingualism is a very relevant element of success, here’s a list of 6 celebrities who can speak a foreign language.

Natalie Portman

Few people know that Natalie’s last name is actually Herslag. She was born in Israel and raised bilingual, having learned both English and Hebrew at home. She’s also a keen traveller and the other languages she speaks are German, French, Spanish and Japanese – being conversational in all of them – and is now learning sign language. Oh, and let’s not forget that she also holds a Psychology degree from Harvard University.

Bradley Cooper

Bradley fell in love with the French language when watching the movie ‘Chariots of Fire’ and improved his skills when he spent a period in the country as an exchange student, during which he travelled extensively. This fact came as a surprise to his fans when, in 2011, he was able to give an interview in French to promote his film ‘The Hangover 2’.

Jodie Foster

Jodie has had many accomplishments in her career, including being a film star, a successful director, and holding a degree from Yale. What’s little known is that she also speaks flawless French after attending a French-speaking school in Los Angeles. Her language skills are so good that she’s acted in French films and dubbed many of her own films into French. It doesn’t stop there either: she also speaks Spanish, Italian and German.

Penélope Cruz

Penélope was born and raised in Spain but attended a French school and is now fluent in Spanish, French, Italian and English, having learned the latter two languages to play certain roles and have more opportunities in her acting career. Her Italian became so good when preparing for a role in the movie ‘Non Ti Muovere’ that, in 2012, she impersonated Mario’s voice on the Nintendo ad for the game ‘New Super Mario Bros 2’.

Colin Firth

Colin decided to learn Italian when he met his wife, the film producer and director Livia Giuggioli. He’s now not only fluent in the language but has also adopted typical Italian gestures when he communicates in the language.

Mila Kunis

Mila was born in Ukraine and moved to Los Angeles at the age of seven with her parents. Despite having difficulties at first and struggling to understand the language, she is now fully bilingual, speaking both Ukrainian and English. A fun fact is that she speaks Russian in one episode of the TV show ‘Family Guy’, playing the character Meg.

These celebrity cases prove that it’s never too late to learn a language and benefit from being bilingual, so what are you waiting for?