Emily Blunt says she once planned a UN translation career
The actor told BBC Radio 2 she wanted to become a Spanish translator before an Edinburgh school production led her toward acting.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
3 min read
Emily Blunt told BBC Radio 2 that she once aimed for a very different career: working at the United Nations as a Spanish translator. The revelation stands in sharp contrast to the paydays Fortune reported for her current film work, including $15 million for Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day and $12.5 million for The Devil Wears Prada 2.
Fortune reported that Blunt’s net worth is estimated at $80 million and that her film résumé now runs to more than 45 movies. Variety was cited for the $15 million Disclosure Day figure.
Blunt said on BBC Radio 2 that she had long been drawn to languages and credited her mother, whom she described as highly gifted with them, as an early influence. Spielberg, who appeared in the same interview, said he was pleased she did not pursue the translation path, according to the BBC segment; Blunt agreed.
Her language interest has still appeared in her screen work. Fortune reported that for Disclosure Day, Spielberg’s science-fiction thriller, Blunt helped create an alien language built from clicking and humming sounds and also learned Russian and Korean for the role.
Fortune also noted an earlier example from Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, the 2011 romantic comedy, in which Blunt learned Mandarin dialogue related to riverbeds and fishing.
The career she considered
Fortune compared Blunt’s acting earnings with income available in translation work. The outlet reported that freelance monthly rates begin around $6,727, with variation based on location and Social Security requirements.
An expired United Nations job listing cited by Fortune advertised an English interpreter post with pay between $131,084 and $171,644. Fortune reported that Blunt would not have met the requirements for that role because it called for fluency in at least three languages.
Blunt has said her Spanish ambitions were still developing when acting took over. In an interview with Howard Stern cited by Fortune, she said she had been studying Spanish for one of her A-levels and had planned to spend a year in South America to become fluent.
Microsoft research cited by Fortune found that interpreters and translators had a 98% overlap with artificial intelligence tools. Fortune said that placed the occupation at the top of a list of 40 jobs most exposed to AI, as reported by Sky News.
How acting began
Blunt has said acting was not initially a career plan. According to Fortune, she took part in school plays as a way to help manage a severe stutter.
Her route changed in 2000, when the head of drama at her school put her in a rock opera at the Edinburgh Theater Festival, Fortune reported. An agent attended the performance and later offered to represent her.
Blunt said in the Howard Stern interview cited by Fortune that she had not seriously considered acting as a profession when the agent asked whether she wanted to pursue it. She accepted the offer, began auditioning after finishing school the next year and went on to build the film career she is known for today.
This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.