Acting in English: How I Found My Voice as a Danish Actress

When I first moved abroad at sixteen, I didn’t think much about my accent. I was focused on fitting in at school, learning to navigate a new place, and making friends. But somewhere along the way, my voice began to shift.

Liv Hansen — Danish actress with an American accent, between languages and landscapes.

The rhythm, tone, and sounds of American English became second nature — not something I tried to adopt, just something that happened as I lived daily life in a new language.

Today, I work as an actress and voice artist in English, and I often reflect on how those early experiences shaped both the way I speak and the way I work. My accent developed naturally — I didn’t train it — and over time, English became the language I move in. Danish remains the language I share with family: my Danish family and friends in Denmark, and at the same time, I have close ties to my American family — both relatives by blood and my former host family, who are like family in every way. We stay close, travel together, and they’ve been part of my life ever since we first met at a small airport in Eureka.

The view in Santa Monica — a place that shaped my voice and my work.

Acting in English has given me a way to explore different aspects of myself. Whether I’m working on a film set or recording voiceover, I’m drawn to characters who have a subtle intensity — people who hold something beneath the surface, whether quiet or not. I think part of that comes from living between languages and between places.

Danish actress Liv Hansen, known for roles requiring an American accent.

For me, the voice is more than how I sound. It’s how I connect to a character’s inner life, and how I bring small, human moments to the surface. Whether I’m playing a scene or working on a narration, I’m always listening for that truth in the voice — the place where accent, emotion, and story meet.

➡️ Explore more of my work on IMDb or follow along on Instagram. I also wrote about that journey — from Denmark to LA — and what it taught me here.