"My accent depends on whom I'm around"
About this Quote
The intent lands as disarming self-awareness. She doesn’t posture about authenticity; she lets authenticity look messy, responsive, and situational. That’s culturally potent because “realness” gets marketed as a fixed asset, particularly for women in public view. Forlani punctures that myth with a human truth: our voices are porous. We mirror. We blend. We pick up rhythms the way we pick up slang.
Subtext: being “around” someone is never neutral. It implies power dynamics - whose speech gets accommodated, whose gets corrected, whose gets exoticized. In acting, accent is a tool; in life, it can be a shield or a bridge. If Forlani is a British actress working in American media ecosystems, the line also nods to an industry that rewards flattening difference into a more “marketable” sound, while still craving just enough foreignness to read as interesting.
The quote works because it treats identity less like a tattoo and more like a weather system: responsive, relational, sometimes beyond conscious control.
Quote Details
| Topic | Witty One-Liners |
|---|---|
| Source | Verified source: Vanity Fair: Opening Acts (Claire Forlani, 1998)
Evidence: “My accent depends on whom I’m around,” says Forlani, who this summer stars opposite Brad Pitt in Martin Brest’s Meet Joe Black.. This line appears in the "Opening Acts" package in the April 1998 issue of Vanity Fair (the item about Claire Forlani is credited to Evgenia Peretz on the archive page). This is a primary-source interview quote (Forlani speaking to Vanity Fair), and it is the earliest verifiable publication I located for this exact wording. I did not find evidence that it originated as movie/TV dialogue; it is presented as Forlani’s spoken comment in the magazine. Other candidates (1) Vanity Fair (1998) compilation95.0% FORLANI'S HAIR PRODUCTS FROM MATRIX : MAKEUP FROM CHRISTIAN DIOR BLANCHETT'S ... Claire Forlani ( wearing a John Gall... |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Forlani, Claire. (2026, February 19). My accent depends on whom I'm around. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-accent-depends-on-whom-im-around-167192/
Chicago Style
Forlani, Claire. "My accent depends on whom I'm around." FixQuotes. February 19, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-accent-depends-on-whom-im-around-167192/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"My accent depends on whom I'm around." FixQuotes, 19 Feb. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-accent-depends-on-whom-im-around-167192/. Accessed 21 Feb. 2026.




