Actors from other countries who are able to sound totally American

[Anonymous]

If you find this topic interesting, check out dialect coach Erik Singer's videos on YouTube--he has done several with Wired and they are fascinating. (Also, I have a crush on him!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvDvESEXcgE

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hugh Laurie as Dr. House. Perfect American accent. Also Matthew Rhys
In the Americans. I think he is Welsh or Scottish.

Rhys is Welsh. Even more impressive since English is his second language.

DP. A terrific point, PP. While not all Welsh actors were raised speaking Welsh as a first language, many were and are, apparently including Rhys. They do get inundated with English via media as they grow up, and our friends who are Welsh slip easily from Welsh to English and back and can "do" both Welsh-accented English and "English-sounding" English if they want. Maybe all that switching makes Welsh actors especially good at hearing differences in accents and adapting to them?....

Fascinatingly, there are UK TV dramas that are filmed in both English and Welsh--each scene is done twice. Some are on Acorn TV and Bribox right now if you get those. My DH is watching "Keeping Faith" and has found on YouTube some videos of the scenes in Welsh. I think that "Hinterland" did the same thing as have others. The Welsh are extremely proud of their language and strongly committed to keeping it alive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you find this topic interesting, check out dialect coach Erik Singer's videos on YouTube--he has done several with Wired and they are fascinating. (Also, I have a crush on him!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvDvESEXcgE

Thank you! I"m a PP who mentioned Erik Singer but I should have done a link like this.

He's fascinating. And yeah, crush-worthy.

[Anonymous]

This has been happening for years, with Brits taking the roles of Americans. They just seem to be better actors and there are so many of them. But I think OPs original question of which Americans can do the reverse is more interesting and harder to answer since its a much smaller pool. But the mismatch of the title and the OP have made this go wildly off track.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This has been happening for years, with Brits taking the roles of Americans. They just seem to be better actors and there are so many of them. But I think OPs original question of which Americans can do the reverse is more interesting and harder to answer since its a much smaller pool. But the mismatch of the title and the OP have made this go wildly off track.

I also think it is just a hard question to answer. The only American off the top of my head I could think of doing a non-British accent is ScarJo in JoJo Rabbit. I know there must be more, I just can't think of any.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This has been happening for years, with Brits taking the roles of Americans. They just seem to be better actors and there are so many of them. But I think OPs original question of which Americans can do the reverse is more interesting and harder to answer since its a much smaller pool. But the mismatch of the title and the OP have made this go wildly off track.

I also think it is just a hard question to answer. The only American off the top of my head I could think of doing a non-British accent is ScarJo in JoJo Rabbit. I know there must be more, I just can't think of any.

Gwyneth Paltrow, Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, Natalie Portman, Peter Dinklage. They are probably convincing to a lot of Americas, but not to Brits. Much like a lot of Brits do non-distinct American accents that you can't quite place where they would be from. Americans don't attempt the specific regional accents of Britain.

[Anonymous]

John Lithgow as Churchill in the Crown
Gwyneth Paltrow in Shakespeare in Love
Renee Zellwegger in Bridget Jones Diary
😂

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This has been happening for years, with Brits taking the roles of Americans. They just seem to be better actors and there are so many of them. But I think OPs original question of which Americans can do the reverse is more interesting and harder to answer since its a much smaller pool. But the mismatch of the title and the OP have made this go wildly off track.

I also think it is just a hard question to answer. The only American off the top of my head I could think of doing a non-British accent is ScarJo in JoJo Rabbit. I know there must be more, I just can't think of any.

Gwyneth Paltrow, Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, Natalie Portman, Peter Dinklage. They are probably convincing to a lot of Americas, but not to Brits. Much like a lot of Brits do non-distinct American accents that you can't quite place where they would be from. Americans don't attempt the specific regional accents of Britain.

I know these actors have all done British accents. I was thinking of non-British accents, though, like ScarJo's German or Streeps Polish in Sophie's choice. These non-british accents are harder to find.

[Anonymous]

Freddie Highmore - The Good Doctor
Alan Cummings - The Good Wife

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This has been happening for years, with Brits taking the roles of Americans. They just seem to be better actors and there are so many of them. But I think OPs original question of which Americans can do the reverse is more interesting and harder to answer since its a much smaller pool. But the mismatch of the title and the OP have made this go wildly off track.

I also think it is just a hard question to answer. The only American off the top of my head I could think of doing a non-British accent is ScarJo in JoJo Rabbit. I know there must be more, I just can't think of any.

Gwyneth Paltrow, Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, Natalie Portman, Peter Dinklage. They are probably convincing to a lot of Americas, but not to Brits. Much like a lot of Brits do non-distinct American accents that you can't quite place where they would be from. Americans don't attempt the specific regional accents of Britain.

I know these actors have all done British accents. I was thinking of non-British accents, though, like ScarJo's German or Streeps Polish in Sophie's choice. These non-british accents are harder to find.

The examples in the OP were British --> American, so the reverse is American --> British. I personally dislike when English speaking actors go for a clipped accent like German speaking English in they are portraying Nazis or something. Like Ralph Fiennes in Schindler's list. It doesn't seem very authentic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The cop Jimmy from the Wire was a Brit and I couldn't tell. It was hilarious, looking back, when he tried a British accent to go undercover.

Not only is Jimmy McNulty a Brit, but the kind of Brit that has a family home like this (his wife is a viscountess and daugther of a knight):

The actress who played the woman he had the affair with in The AFfair. I can't remember her name, I need to look it up. She's British, and I never knew while watching until I saw her on Luther. Also, Idris Elba on the Wire.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Matthew Rhys! I was shocked when I saw him on an interview a few years ago and realized he was Welsh. He does such a good American accent in everything he’s done.

+1 -- Also Damien Lewis -- though he's not quite as good as Rhys. Lewis has said that the hardest American accent sound for Brits to master is an "r" in the middle of a word. He gave an example if dialogue from Band of Brothers where he had to say "It hurts."

DP. Not to derail, because the OP was about American actors doing other accents (despite the thread title) -- but, YES! This is a great example you give. The hard "R" sound in so much American English is tough for Brits and sometimes a less experienced British actor will bear down too hard on the R and over-emphasize it. I think the flip side is true as well; Americans doing various British accents seem to have a hard time being convincing with the softer, "ah"-like R. Think, "It hurts" but with (let's say) an English received pronunciation accent, like, "It huhts" -- so easy to overdo the lack of the hard R.

There is a terrifically interesting dialect coach who works with a lot of actors and who does very informative YouTube videos. Erik Singer. Look up some of his videos. Fascinating. And he does a lot more than just US-British and British-US dialect coaching. He talks about the Leo DiCaprio "Blood Diamond" accent in one of his videos, I believe.

Yes. And the Americans end up sounding like they're from Georgia or Alabama for a minute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

The cop Jimmy from the Wire was a Brit and I couldn't tell. It was hilarious, looking back, when he tried a British accent to go undercover.

Not only is Jimmy McNulty a Brit, but the kind of Brit that has a family home like this (his wife is a viscountess and daugther of a knight):



The actress who played the woman he had the affair with in The AFfair. I can't remember her name, I need to look it up. She's British, and I never knew while watching until I saw her on Luther. Also, Idris Elba on the Wire.

Idris Elba!!!! IDRIS ELBA! Yes!!! Who knew the Stringer Bell was British (and insanely hot - I guess that we all knew)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This has been happening for years, with Brits taking the roles of Americans. They just seem to be better actors and there are so many of them. But I think OPs original question of which Americans can do the reverse is more interesting and harder to answer since its a much smaller pool. But the mismatch of the title and the OP have made this go wildly off track.

I also think it is just a hard question to answer. The only American off the top of my head I could think of doing a non-British accent is ScarJo in JoJo Rabbit. I know there must be more, I just can't think of any.

Gwyneth Paltrow, Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, Natalie Portman, Peter Dinklage. They are probably convincing to a lot of Americas, but not to Brits. Much like a lot of Brits do non-distinct American accents that you can't quite place where they would be from. Americans don't attempt the specific regional accents of Britain.

I know these actors have all done British accents. I was thinking of non-British accents, though, like ScarJo's German or Streeps Polish in Sophie's choice. These non-british accents are harder to find.

The examples in the OP were British --> American, so the reverse is American --> British. I personally dislike when English speaking actors go for a clipped accent like German speaking English in they are portraying Nazis or something. Like Ralph Fiennes in Schindler's list. It doesn't seem very authentic.

This one is routinely butchered on film. Most people don't realize that Austrians speaking English sound different than Germans speaking English. Schwarzenegger sounds different than Angela Merkel, and not because it's man/woman.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Matthew Rhys! I was shocked when I saw him on an interview a few years ago and realized he was Welsh. He does such a good American accent in everything he’s done.

+1 -- Also Damien Lewis -- though he's not quite as good as Rhys. Lewis has said that the hardest American accent sound for Brits to master is an "r" in the middle of a word. He gave an example if dialogue from Band of Brothers where he had to say "It hurts."

DP. Not to derail, because the OP was about American actors doing other accents (despite the thread title) -- but, YES! This is a great example you give. The hard "R" sound in so much American English is tough for Brits and sometimes a less experienced British actor will bear down too hard on the R and over-emphasize it. I think the flip side is true as well; Americans doing various British accents seem to have a hard time being convincing with the softer, "ah"-like R. Think, "It hurts" but with (let's say) an English received pronunciation accent, like, "It huhts" -- so easy to overdo the lack of the hard R.

There is a terrifically interesting dialect coach who works with a lot of actors and who does very informative YouTube videos. Erik Singer. Look up some of his videos. Fascinating. And he does a lot more than just US-British and British-US dialect coaching. He talks about the Leo DiCaprio "Blood Diamond" accent in one of his videos, I believe.

Yes. And the Americans end up sounding like they're from Georgia or Alabama for a minute.

Interesting. Going back to the Brits doing American accents side of things, Lewis's accent in Band of Brothers sounds to me like Jimmy Stewart, who was raised in PA and went to Princeton, but sounded like a generic American everyman (before Tom Hanks became the generic American everyman).