Arnold Schwarzenegger did radio interviews so people would get used to his accent.
The 73-year-old actor moved from his native Austria to America to pursue a bodybuilding career before becoming an actor, and has said he made sure to book plenty of radio interviews at the start of his Hollywood career, so that people could hear his voice and get used to his accent.
Arnold’s accent is now what sets him apart from other stars, but at the time he was worried his iconic voice would be impenetrable to the average American.
He said: "I like to think I broke the mould a bit on that one. It was really just a matter of being out there enough to have people hear my voice – that’s why I did so many radio interviews where people didn’t see me but heard the voice. Eventually it became so identifiable the directors like John Milius [who directed 1982’s ‘Conan the Barbarian’] came out and said, ‘If we didn’t have Schwarzenegger we would have to build one!’ "
The ‘Terminator’ star also bemoaned young stars who are "permanently in audition mode", as he says the invention of the internet and social media means people can record audition tapes in the bedrooms, rather than having to travel across the world like he did.
He added: "We have a problem where everyone is permanently in audition mode. You can style your persona to an agent just by recording something in your own bedroom, yet this show reel isn’t authentic. In my day you had to get up and go somewhere!"
But no matter how aspiring actors secure roles, Arnold says the most important thing is having the "determination" to keep going.
Speaking to Sorted magazine, he said: "Determination in anything in life or see you climb out of a place where you are fighting to get noticed. It doesn’t matter what you do – have a vision, believe in your vision 100 percent and remove doubt, because if you have a doubt about yourself, how are you going to expect other people to believe in you? Trust you are special – I always believed that from my bodybuilding days; I have this vision of becoming world champion in bodybuilding and everyone told me it couldn’t be done. Then five years later, in London, I became the youngest ever Mr. Universe. I just trained every day like hell and did it."