Few German-language actors have been ridiculed for their accent as much as Arnold Schwarzenegger. In turn, he managed to market his accent like no other. Today, the Austria native and former California governor says he only pretends to have an accent, because it's what his audience expects.

He barely knew a word of English when he first moved to the US. That didn't matter much, because in Jim Jarmusch's 1991 film "Night on Earth," he played a taxi Driver from eastern Germany who couldn't speak English. Armin Mueller-Stahl is good at accents - he can do Jiddish and Russian. But his English is still rather poor, he says - a fact that never harmed his career.

Her English was far from perfect, but with charm and sex appeal, the German actress and singer succeeded in Hollywood. Though she worked hard at it, she never quite managed to lose her German accent. For her fans, however, how she spoke was part and parcel of the wicked appeal of the "Blue Angel."

His biggest success, the role of a submarine captain in "Das Boot," catapulted Prochnow all the way to Hollywood. Initially, acting in English was difficult for the stage actor, but in the end, his tenacity and fastidiousness garnered him numerous roles. He was often cast as the bad guy, including in "Air Force One" and "The English Patient."

In the role of Nazi Hans Landa in Quentin Tarantino's "Inglorious Basterds," he even overshadowed Brad Pitt. It garnered the Austrian actor his first Oscar and the hearts of Hollywood. Christoph Waltz is said to speak English with barely the trace of an accent - which hardly matters anymore, since the 59-year-old can pick and choose the roles he wants to play. He is also fluent in French.