# Actors from outside the Southeastern U.S., or even the country doing Southern accents--do they usually do it well?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [July 7, 2020, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563 "2020-07-07T02:28:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2020, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/1 "2020-07-07T02:28:20Z")
At the moment we’re watching _Devil’s Advocate_ starring Canadian Keanu Reeves and South African-born Charlize Theron, and recently we binged through _True Blood_, starring among others England-born Stephen Moyer and New Zealander Anna Paquin. All of their characters in these shows have very noticeable Southern accents.
My question is, how good are their accents? I don’t mean to suggest there’s only one single Southern accent, but for those of you who are from that part of the country, do their movie accents seem reasonably accurate?
---
### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2020, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/2 "2020-07-07T02:36:03Z")
My opinion is: Its debatable. To me a fake southern accent sound affected.
Sometimes an British actor can do a very good imitation. A bunch of them acted in ‘The Walking Dead’ with good accents.
---
### Author:  [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2020, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/3 "2020-07-07T02:52:08Z")
They are terrible, an embarrassment. I recently watched
'Dead Man Walking", the first five names in the credits were northern, for a Louisiana prison picture. I started laughing out loud. Really, I mean Sarandon (NYC) and Penn (LA).
If actors are going to get $10M a picture, they could at least reflect a little credible Authenticity.
“Whoa, they’re wa-ay over-Southerning!”-- MST3K, which is where those actors belong.
---
### Author:  [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2020, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/4 "2020-07-07T11:10:16Z")
[Ryan Kwanten](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0477127/?ref_=ttfc_fc_cl_t4) in HBO’s series [True Blood](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0844441/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt) was born in Sidney Austrailia. As Jason Stackhouse, he sounded exactly like my nephew who was born and raised in Memphis TN.
---
### Author:  [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2020, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/5 "2020-07-07T11:54:38Z")
The only good fake Southern accent I’ve ever heard in a movie was Brad Pitt in _Inglorious Basterds_. It was so good I checked to see if he’s really from East Tennessee. Turns out he’s from Oklahoma, so he knew how to do the accent right.
---
### Author:  [@Pantastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pantastic)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2020, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/6 "2020-07-07T12:06:19Z")
British actors usually do a reasonable southern US accent, but American actors are almost universally awful unless they’re actually from the region or have spent time there. I think it’s because in the UK there are a lot of regional, local, and class-based accents, and it’s important to get the right accent to pull off a character convincingly. Meanwhile in the US the only accents that usually get a lot of attention are ‘southern’ and specific ethnic or foreign accents, so most actors don’t train to do accents well and just stick to ‘generic American’.
---
### Author:  [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2020, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/7 "2020-07-07T12:19:51Z")
I often miss fake southern accents in acting performances. Bad fakes are so common that I automatically overlook them. Good fakes don’t catch my attention unless they’re pointed out, or I know the actor’s bio. Like, if I didn’t know Kevin Spacey, I’d think he did OK in House of Cards. But I know it’s not his native accent, so I watch for the tells and of course I find them.
I think actors outside of North America do a better job of the accent. I think they’re more attuned to the natural range of variation among English accents, and they don’t add a lot of distracting sterotype and hyperbole.
---
### Author:  [@Author\_Balk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Author_Balk)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2020, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/8 "2020-07-07T12:47:44Z")
I moved to the south and so the southern accent is just normal talking. I was watching The Blind Side. Toward the end of the movie Sandra Bullock said something and then I realized she was doing a southern accent. I guess that’s a good sign for a good southern accent - I don’t notice it.
---
### Author:  [@Hermitian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermitian)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2020, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/9 "2020-07-07T12:49:20Z")
I think accusing people of bad accents is overdone. There are a lot of accents in the South. Even people from the same region have a range of “depths” in their accent. How can we point to a particular person’s accent and say it is “wrong.”
Yea, some of the really bad ones are bad, but I think people wince too easily if it doesn’t match up with what they THINK is the right accent. Truthfully, if they met someone in the area that talked like that, they probably would barely notice. I doubt they would think “this guy must be from Colorado and is trying to do a Southern accent badly!”
---
### Author:  [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2020, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/10 "2020-07-07T13:59:16Z")
> British actors usually do a reasonable southern US accent
I disagree. I can’t count the number of British shows I’ve turned off because the actors tried and failed to do a Southern American accent. Way over-Southerning doesn’t even begin to cover it.
---
### Author:  [@Krispy\_Original](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krispy_Original)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2020, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/11 "2020-07-07T14:15:45Z")
Not related to actors but when ordering a biscuit in the Bojangles drive-thru when asked to repeat my order, it seems to work if I invoke my bad southern accent.
---
### Author:  [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2020, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/12 "2020-07-07T14:21:15Z")
Like most accents, it’s much better now than 20 years ago. I assume voice coaches have gotten a lot more helpful.
---
### Author:  [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2020, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/13 "2020-07-07T14:29:23Z")
> [@jtur88](#):
>
> They are terrible, an embarrassment. I recently watched
> 'Dead Man Walking", the first five names in the credits were northern, for a Louisiana prison picture. I started laughing out loud. Really, I mean Sarandon (NYC) and Penn (LA).
Which shows that the director / producer were much more concerned with having NAME actors than having regional authenticity.
[tongue firmly in cheek] Where’s the outrage over regionalism in animation? Why didn’t Kathy Najimy quit from King of the Hill and let a real southerner voice Peggy? We don’t need no foreigner from California![/tongue firmly in cheek]
---
### Author:  [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2020, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/14 "2020-07-07T14:41:14Z")
That shows how people can hear things differently. I thought Pitt’s accent was pretty bad, and I’m from East Tennessee.
---
### Author:  [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2020, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/15 "2020-07-07T15:58:50Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#):
>
> My question is, how good are their accents?
The examples you’ve chosen were pretty meh in terms of accents. A show that had great Southern accents was the Sundance Show “Rectify” - where the lead actor is Canadian and one of the main actresses is an Aussie.
True Blood is pretty campy, so I figured the exaggerated accents just played into that. Although I did think that Ryan Kwanten (who played Jason Stackhouse), who is Australian, did a pretty good job.
---
### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2020, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/16 "2020-07-07T16:11:32Z")
I just watched the movie _The Town_, which is set in Boston, particularly the Charlestown area. The accents are jarring at times. I just read a few reviews of the movie and the one thing people seem to agree about is that the accents were spot on. I will stay out of Boston!
---
### Author:  [@raspberry\_hunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raspberry_hunter)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2020, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/17 "2020-07-07T16:18:36Z")
Not about movies, but my local opera house put on a production of _Cold Mountain_, which I had never read, and I didn’t even realize it was set in the South until afterwards because almost all the singers’ accents were much more Midwestern than they were South! (One singer/actor made a credible play at a Southern accent.)
---
### Author:  [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2020, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/18 "2020-07-07T16:29:38Z")
Wow, all this time I assumed Anna Paquin was a southerner. That’s slightly embarrassing. I knew Ryan Kwanten was not American and I thought he did a phenomenal job.
I will admit, the farthest “south” I’ve ever been to regularly is west Virginia (I lived right across the border in Maryland panhandle), and I could barely detect an accent out there besides some regional word usages.
I think an issue here is there is no singular “southern accent.”
---
### Author:  [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2020, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/19 "2020-07-07T16:47:22Z")
I thought Connor Trinneer, from Walla Walla Washington, did a convincing Florida accent in ST: Enterprise, and couldn’t believe he was the same actor who played the scary human/wraith hybrid in Stargate Atlantis.
---
### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2020, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563/20 "2020-07-07T16:52:46Z")
As noted above, the big problem is “over-Southerning,” no matter what the supposed accent. To really pull it off, you just have to round out a few vowels and adjust your rhythm. Every area has a key distinguisher. Do that right and you’ll sound good even if the rest isn’t quite right.
Good actors will go live in the area they are supposed to be from for a month or so, just to soak up the accent and rhythm.
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-from-outside-the-southeastern-u-s-or-even-the-country-doing-southern-accents-do-they-usually-do-it-well/914563.md?page=2)