# Absolute Best Accent In Film **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 16, 2012, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-accent-in-film/628444 "2012-07-16T20:38:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-accent-in-film/628444/1 "2012-07-16T20:38:22Z")
Obviously inspired by [this opposite thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=658599). I think this one is going to be more difficult, because we for the most part already know how most actors sound, so any accent they do has to be 100% perfect for us not to notice. This means the candidates for the thread are likely to be secondary or supporting cast and thus have everyone assume it’s their natural accent since we probably don’t know much about 'em. But if you have any examples of very well done accents in movies, let’s have 'em! ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-accent-in-film/628444/2 "2012-07-16T21:29:54Z")
The fact that Jamie “Apollo” Bamber, from Battlestar Galactica, is British comes as a tremendous shock to anyone hearing him speak in his regular speaking voice for the first time. I have never heard of a reliable case of a person who could tell he wasn’t American from his lines on the show. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-accent-in-film/628444/3 "2012-07-16T21:31:39Z")
Hugh Laurie in House. I don’t think many people knew that he wasn’t from the US until told and even then it’s exceedingly rare for him to slip up on camera. I believe even the casting director, upon seeing his tape, is said to have been glad to have found an American for the role (or something like that). ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-accent-in-film/628444/4 "2012-07-16T22:04:02Z")
Both Russell Crowe and Guy Pierce in LA Confidential. Two Aussies playing 1950’s LA cops. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-accent-in-film/628444/5 "2012-07-16T22:30:55Z")
Sam Neill (a native [New Zealander](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts2bzkE4RBY)) does an excellent American accent. ---
**Author:** ![Full\_Tilt\_Boogie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/2acd7d/32.png) [@Full\_Tilt\_Boogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Full_Tilt_Boogie)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-accent-in-film/628444/6 "2012-07-16T22:36:46Z")
Renée Zellweger in either of the _Bridget Jones_ films. Gwyneth Paltrow in _Shakespeare in Love_. ---
**Author:** ![charmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/53a042/32.png) [@charmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/charmstr)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-accent-in-film/628444/7 "2012-07-16T22:44:52Z")
The number of non-US actors and particularly actresses doing excellent American accents on television and in films these days is surprisingly large. In addition to those already mentioned there’s also Poppy Montgomery (Unforgettable), Yvonne Strahovski (Chuck), Sophia Myles (Moonlight), Simon Baker (The Mentalist), Kevin McKidd (Grey’s Anatomy) and probably a bunch of others I’m forgetting. Cate Blanchett and Nicole Kidman have done good American accents. My favorite though is still Tracy Ullman. She has done American accents in film and on television. I was most impressed many years ago when she did a sketch on her show entirely in a spot-on Baltimore accent. I’ve never heard that done before or since by anyone, American or foreign. It’s harder for Americans to judge how good foreign accents are being done, but Meryl Streep has never been criticized (as far as I know) for the many she’s attempted. Gwyneth Paltrow’s English accent is also quite good. E.T.A. I was too slow on the Gwyneth Paltrow. I think she also did an English accent in _Sliding Doors_. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-accent-in-film/628444/8 "2012-07-16T22:48:56Z")
Toni Collette’s Philadelphia accent in _The Sixth Sense_. Absolutely flawless. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2012, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-accent-in-film/628444/9 "2012-07-16T23:17:26Z")
Gordon Jackson’s speech was so intelligible, even in a loud racket, my mother said he was the world’s best English speaker. A bit more subdued was Lawrence Olivier’s narration of “The World at War” series. ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-accent-in-film/628444/10 "2012-07-17T00:12:44Z")
My Zimbawean friends said Leonardo DiCaprio’s Rhody accent was perfect in Blood Diamonds ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-accent-in-film/628444/11 "2012-07-17T00:21:31Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Sam Neill (a native [New Zealander](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts2bzkE4RBY)) does an excellent American accent. Really? I can’t usually tell if an American accent is real or not, but his often sounds obviously fake to me. Notably in Alcatraz. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-accent-in-film/628444/12 "2012-07-17T00:28:43Z")
Cary Elwes was on _Leverage_ last night, and his US accent on that was pretty good, I thought. ---
**Author:** ![planetcory](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/planetcory/32/1032_2.png) [@planetcory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/planetcory)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-accent-in-film/628444/13 "2012-07-17T00:28:45Z")
Having recently watched Spider-Man, I’d say Andrew Garfield is very good. I can’t remember how he did in the Social Network. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-accent-in-film/628444/14 "2012-07-17T00:31:51Z")
I never would have realized Hugh Laurie from House was not American, and I never would have realized that Rick, the main character in The Walking Dead, was not only not Southern, but not American, either. Jamie Bamber fooled me too. ---
**Author:** ![charmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/53a042/32.png) [@charmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/charmstr)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-accent-in-film/628444/15 "2012-07-17T00:42:23Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > Toni Collette’s Philadelphia accent in _The Sixth Sense_. Absolutely flawless. Ooh, good one! ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-accent-in-film/628444/16 "2012-07-17T00:43:46Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > Toni Collette’s Philadelphia accent in _The Sixth Sense_. Absolutely flawless. Toni Collette is fantastic. She’s Australian, and aside from doing a convincing American accent in several movies, she’s done English accents (e.g. _About a Boy_) that sounded fine to my American ears AND in _Velvet Goldmine_ even pulled off the challenge of doing an American who slides in and out of an affected posh English accent. Thinking of people who were in _Velvet Goldmine_, Christian Bale’s American accent is good enough that I thought he was an American for years and was impressed by how well he did an English accent in _VG_! But I believe he grew up partially in the US, so he may have picked up an American accent pretty early on. ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-accent-in-film/628444/17 "2012-07-17T02:24:12Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > Thinking of people who were in _Velvet Goldmine_, Christian Bale’s American accent is good enough that I thought he was an American for years and was impressed by how well he did an English accent in _VG_! But I believe he grew up partially in the US, so he may have picked up an American accent pretty early on. In the same way, I was impressed with Gillian Anderson’s English accent, right until I read she grew up in London. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-accent-in-film/628444/18 "2012-07-17T02:28:26Z")
Rachel Griffiths in _Six Feet Under_ and Mel Gibson in most of his films. Both Australians. ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-accent-in-film/628444/19 "2012-07-17T02:58:39Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Rachel Griffiths in _Six Feet Under_ and Mel Gibson in most of his films. Both Australians. I’m not too impressed by Gibson’s American accent, as he has spent a heck of time in the US, but he did a flawless English accent in The Beaver despite never living in the UK. ---
**Author:** ![SticksAndString](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@SticksAndString](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SticksAndString)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2012, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-accent-in-film/628444/20 "2012-07-17T03:28:01Z")
Stayed up late the other night watching “Secondhand Lions” which is one of my favorite films. Micheal Caine’s Texas accent in that film is spot freaking ON! 🙂 I didn’t expect him to pull off the accent as well as he did, to be honest. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/absolute-best-accent-in-film/628444.md?page=2)