Keala Settle accent?
Keala Settle accent?
#1Keala Settle accent?
Posted: 2/15/25 at 7:56pm
Worked with Keala in the early 2010s, and her accent couldn’t have been more American. She spoke in so much slang that I had a hard time following and literally had to google some of it.
Followed her career as she worked on Greatest Show and other projects. Just saw an interview from Urinetown and in disbelief that she now speaks with a full British accent. Has this already been discussed? It feels very Hilaria Baldwin to me.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DGGxu3BpPlp/?igsh=bHBsMXQ4ZXh5cXI1
BwayinVan
Broadway Star Joined: 1/24/14
#2Keala Settle accent?
Posted: 2/15/25 at 8:07pm
I noticed it in an interview about a year ago. I know she has been living in London so is likely picking up the accent (I had a full British accent as a kid but now it’s fully Canadian after moving here). It’s crazy that it also sounds lower now as well.
ErmengardeStopSniveling
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/18
#3Keala Settle accent?
Posted: 2/15/25 at 8:22pm
Picking up aspects of an accent or saying certain words differently is understandable when making an international move.
Sometimes people even do a level of "code switching" when ordering in stores or restaurants. Also understandable.
But the sheer severity of her cockney accent (and as mentioned above the octave-drop) is what's jarring and, obviously, deliberate.
I don't really care, to be clear, but I wish a single journalist had the chutzpah to ask her what's up.
Bwaygurl2
Featured Actor Joined: 3/8/22
#4Keala Settle accent?
Posted: 2/15/25 at 8:30pm
She did an interview with Mickey Joe on YouTube. I think she said she consciously chose to use her parents' accent and why that was important to her.
QueenTwinnied
Broadway Star Joined: 6/16/17
#5Keala Settle accent?
Posted: 2/16/25 at 3:04am
That is quite...odd. Especially that last clip saying "to be fair" like someone born and raised in the UK
Midnight Radio
Broadway Star Joined: 5/26/07
#6Keala Settle accent?
Posted: 2/16/25 at 9:12am
I'm trying to find when the switch happened, I see an interview up to 2021 with Richard Ridge and there is no trace of an accept, so this is within the past 3 years or so.
Whoever said Hilaria Baldwin hit the nail on the head 🤣
BwayinVan
Broadway Star Joined: 1/24/14
#7Keala Settle accent?
Posted: 2/16/25 at 10:06am
Bwaygurl2 said: "She did an interview with Mickey Joe on YouTube. I think she said she consciously chose to use her parents' accent and why that was important to her."
kinda interesting since her mom was born in NZ and her Dad is British. She grew up in Hawaii so neither the southern twang or British is her native accent.
Ensemble1704909160
Swing Joined: 1/10/24
#9Keala Settle accent?
Posted: 2/16/25 at 11:09am
BwayinVan said: "Bwaygurl2 said: "She did an interview with Mickey Joe on YouTube. I think she said she consciously chose to use her parents' accent and why that was important to her."
kinda interesting since her mom was born in NZ and her Dad is British. She grew up in Hawaii so neither the southern twang or British is her native accent.
"
She had a kiwi accent for the Greatest Showman press tour in 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNtTrRyPYas
BrodyFosse123
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/27/06
#10Keala Settle accent?
Posted: 2/16/25 at 1:17pm
TotallyEffed said: "The Madonna of Broadway. Camp!"
Madonna was living in the UK during that period so her accent was still American with a slight British flavoring - she didn’t put on a full fledge cockney accent. This happens to countless Americans when they start living in the UK.
Even Carrie Fisher jokes about it. She had been studying acting in London for a few years prior to being cast in the first STAR WARS film and that explains why her Princess Leia has that slight British accent on and off in the film.
#11Keala Settle accent?
Posted: 2/16/25 at 1:24pm
Ensemble1704909160 said: "BwayinVan said: "Bwaygurl2 said: "She did an interview with Mickey Joe on YouTube. I think she said she consciously chose to use her parents' accent and why that was important to her."
kinda interesting since her mom was born in NZ and her Dad is British. She grew up in Hawaii so neither the southern twang or British is her native accent.
"
She had a kiwi accent for the Greatest Showman press tour in 2019:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNtTrRyPYas"
That interview was with a New Zealand outlet, though. This interview she did for ITV(a British outlet) she uses her standard American accent.
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#12Keala Settle accent?
Posted: 2/16/25 at 1:35pm
Willemijn Verkaik similarly code switches her accent. When she was performing in Wicked on broadway her she was definitely emulating a standard American accent for her offstage interviews. When she was in Wicked in the West End she used a British accent for interviews.
Comparatively, Marisha Wallace has been living/working in the west end for nearly 10 years now and doesn’t have a single ounce of a British accent when she speaks.
In our millions, in our billions, we are most powerful when we stand together. TW4C unwaveringly joins the worldwide masses, for we know our liberation is inseparably bound.
Signed,
Theater Workers for a Ceasefire
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#13Keala Settle accent?
Posted: 2/16/25 at 5:54pm
“I’m a person of the globe” is…a response. Reminds me of accent-changing Real Housewife Dorit Kemsley who is a self-diagnosed ‘child of the world’.
A little strange to start using a new accent after about 40 years in, but at least it’s entertaining.
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Globefan
Broadway Star Joined: 10/31/12
#14Keala Settle accent?
Posted: 2/17/25 at 9:33pm
Keala had a stroke and had to relearn how to speak.
#15Keala Settle accent?
Posted: 2/17/25 at 10:14pm
Globefan said: "Keala had a stroke and had to relearn how to speak."
A stroke does not cause one of develop a multitude of accents even if you did have to re-learn to talk. Nor did she have to do that considering she performed at the Oscars the week after it happened...
#17Keala Settle accent?
Posted: 2/18/25 at 8:12am
Jordan, I was sure that was going to be the Pedro Pascal SNL sketch where he wakes up from a stroke with a mush-mouthed effeminate accent for no reason.
#19Keala Settle accent?
Posted: 2/18/25 at 1:56pm
While doing deep dive on her to figure out why she would speak in the accent she does I found out she’s Mormon? Which, does not track to me. Is she still a practicing Mormon?
In our millions, in our billions, we are most powerful when we stand together. TW4C unwaveringly joins the worldwide masses, for we know our liberation is inseparably bound.
Signed,
Theater Workers for a Ceasefire
https://theaterworkersforaceasefire.com/statement
itsahopi
Stand-by Joined: 11/19/06
#20Keala Settle accent?
Posted: 2/18/25 at 2:11pm
TheatreFan4 said: "Globefan said: "Keala had a stroke and had to relearn how to speak."
A stroke does not cause one of develop a multitude of accents even if you did have to re-learn to talk. Nor did she have to do that considering she performed at the Oscars the week after it happened..."
did the stroke happen to you personally? she had brain surgery a few months after the oscars. who is to say what accent feels easier to speak in, it didn’t happen to us and she clearly had a diverse upbringing. maybe she was code switching her American accent the whole time.
BrodyFosse123
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/27/06
#21Keala Settle accent?
Posted: 2/18/25 at 3:00pm
Keala as an all-American:
And at the 3:15 minute mark, Keala the all-English Brit:
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