Non-American actors playing American roles

[bcla]

I'll throw out Canadians off the bat since their accents can be almost indistinguishable from a neutral American accent. But I've been watching quite a few TV shows where actors come from other places and have to work on an American accent.

I got hooked on FBI: Most Wanted starring Australian actor Julian McMahon. I guess his character is supposed to be from New York and it's reasonable although sometimes he breaks up and there's a hint of his Australian accent. And that cast has more, including Keisha Castle-Hughes (Whale Rider) from New Zealand and Roxy Sternberg from England.

Anyone really notice? I see some actors who look like they're trying a little bit too hard, like David Harewood on Supergirl. However, his character is an alien shapeshifter masquerading as a human, so I guess that could account for it.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Literally a huge chunk of anyone on The Walking Dead, Fear The Walking Dead and The Walking Dead World Beyond. It’s always funny seeing interviews of them the first time they are interviewed post debuting on the show because its like WHOA! I think of all the British and others not born in America on the show, the only one that wasn’t shocking was Samantha Morton because I had seen her in other things with her natural British accent.

 

[Jennasis]

It's ok. Kristen Stewart is playng Princess Di...it all works out in the end.

Also, it's why it's called acting.

 

[mrodgers]

... the only one that wasn’t shocking was Samantha Morton because I had seen her in other things with her natural British accent.

Kind of off topic, but I always have to look up actor/actress's names to see who most of you are talking about. So had to look up Samantha Morton and the first picture was with her daughter mentioning she was the girl on Hanna the series. She was excellent in the series and the series was excellent as well. I enjoyed that then went looking for the movie, finding it on Prime and didn't like the movie at all.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Paul Blackthorne, who played Captain Lance in Arrow, is British. I had no idea.
David Tennant played American in Gracedale (which was a US remake of Broadchurch)
Benedict Cumberbatch as the very American Dr. Stephen Strange. Benny feels like he's trying a little too hard, too.
And of course, there's House.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

There's all kinds of British actors putting their US accents on. Bob Hoskins (in Who Framed Roger Rabbit,) John Boyega, Tom Holland, Chiwitel Eijofor, Daniel Day-Lewis, Karen Gillan (Nebula is actually Scottish), Idris Elba, Christian Bale, Daniel Kaluuya, Andrew Lincoln, Peter Sellers.

 

[Kennywood]

I think the one that shocked everyone was Bob Hoskins in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit". His character spoke with a New York accent. It was really surprising when you heard him doing interviews using his British Cockney accent.

 

[cobright]

I'll throw out Canadians off the bat since their accents can be almost indistinguishable from a neutral American accent. But I've been watching quite a few TV shows where actors come from other places and have to work on an American accent.

I got hooked on FBI: Most Wanted starring Australian actor Julian McMahon. I guess his character is supposed to be from New York and it's reasonable although sometimes he breaks up and there's a hint of his Australian accent. And that cast has more, including Keisha Castle-Hughes (Whale Rider) from New Zealand and Roxy Sternberg from England.

Anyone really notice? I see some actors who look like they're trying a little bit too hard, like David Harewood on Supergirl. However, his character is an alien shapeshifter masquerading as a human, so I guess that could account for it.

I think every Australian and Kiwi are coached from birth to give a passable American accent. The first time I saw that dumb older brother character from TrueBlood give an interview I was shook.

 

[bcla]

There's all kinds of British actors putting their US accents on. Bob Hoskins (in Who Framed Roger Rabbit,) John Boyega, Tom Holland, Chiwitel Eijofor, Daniel Day-Lewis, Karen Gillan (Nebula is actually Scottish), Idris Elba, Christian Bale, Daniel Kaluuya, Andrew Lincoln, Peter Sellers.

I've never seen Idris Elba in anything other than his everyday accent.

So I looked up one of his scenes from The Wire, and there's just this hint of his working class English accent.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has more than a hint of Aussie accent, but he hid it better when playing Captain Kirk's father...was yelling most of the time though.

 

[kdonnel]

People move all over the world as kids and adults so much now that it is easy enough to believe that someone with a non American accent might still be an American.

 

[bcla]

Thor (Chris Hemsworth) has more than a hint of Aussie accent, but he hid it better when playing Captain Kirk's father...was yelling most of the time though.

In the 2015 version of Vacation he tried to sound like a Texan. Going over the top helps.

 

[Moliphino]

Anna Friel took me by surprise. I only knew her from Pushing Daisies.

 

[PezRuth]

I always forget that Christian Bale is British.

 

[Wakey]

Anna Friel took me by surprise. I only knew her from Pushing Daisies.

Anna Freil is best known in the UK for the famous and gritty soap Brookside set in Liverpool. She had the first lesbian kiss on mainstream TV here in the UK in that show back in about 1994. I once saw her and many of the other cast in a nightclub in Liverpool.

 

[Jonfw2]

David Tennant played American in Gracedale (which was a US remake of Broadchurch)

Gracepoint. It was as bad as Broadchurch was good. They decided to get super cute with the ending.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

My problem with non-American actors playing American roles only crops up if I know in advance that they're really british or whatever. I'm a huge Cumberbatch fan, but I know his beautiful voice and accent so well that when he's playing an American I always imagine that I can hear it creeping in.

 

[Karin1984]

Can't leave out Hugh Laurie as House.

 

[Sinder]

There's all kinds of British actors putting their US accents on. Bob Hoskins (in Who Framed Roger Rabbit,) John Boyega, Tom Holland, Chiwitel Eijofor, Daniel Day-Lewis, Karen Gillan (Nebula is actually Scottish), Idris Elba, Christian Bale, Daniel Kaluuya, Andrew Lincoln, Peter Sellers.

I had no idea Christian Bale British! Wow, I really had no idea.
I've only ever seen him playing an American so I just assumed. I guess that makes him a pretty good actor

 

[WDWJDS]

First saw Cynthia Erivo on Broadway in The Color Purple. I had no idea! Those British actors are so versatile.