Chris Pine
Variety magazine has tipped Chris Pine, who plays Captain Kirk in a new movie version of Star Trek out in May, as one of Hollywood’s most promising up-and-coming actors. But what many people do not realize is that this 28-year-old blue-eyed blonde, Los Angeles native and stereotypical WASP at first glance also has a good command of Spanish.Q. Why did you learn Spanish?
A. I chose Spanish as my second language in high school and I studied it for six years. But it sounds like book (Spanish).
Q. A trip to Spain would help your fluency.
A. I did that, but it was six years ago. It was too long ago. I studied in London and traveled all across the Spanish coast, beginning in Portugal and ending up in Italy. It was my “Euro-trip.”
Q. Do you read in Spanish?
A. I speak better than I read. The grammar is difficult. But I’ve read Gabriel García Márquez and Pablo Neruda. I don’t have the language skills to go any further.
Q. What about films?
A. I want to make a movie in Spanish. I’d really like that. I know that Gary Oldman made a film in Spain and I’d like to as well. It would be really fun, and difficult. I worked with the Pastor brothers in Carriers but they didn’t let me practice Spanish with them because I speak really slowly.
Q. Now you can practice with the “trekkies.”
A. “El espacio, la última frontera” (Space, the last frontier). I’ll have to practice. I’ll start in Los Angeles, where it’s easy to speak it at any restaurant.
Q. What kind of Spanish food do you like?
A. Paella, but ay, yai yai, it’s very difficult to make.
