# Actors who a very good at imitating accents. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 25, 2007, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-a-very-good-at-imitating-accents/401533 "2007-04-25T00:01:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BluePitbull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@BluePitbull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BluePitbull)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-a-very-good-at-imitating-accents/401533/1 "2007-04-25T00:01:37Z")
[I thought the main character for House MD](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_Laurie) is an American. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-a-very-good-at-imitating-accents/401533/2 "2007-04-25T00:09:14Z")
It was some good length of time after I saw Who Framed Roger Rabbit that I realized that Bob Hoskins _isn’t_ American. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-a-very-good-at-imitating-accents/401533/3 "2007-04-25T00:18:12Z")
[QUOTE=norinew] It was some good length of time after I saw Who Framed Roger Rabbit that I realized that Bob Hoskins _isn’t_ American. [/QUOTE] Same for Paul Blackthorne in _The Dresden Files_. Whether or not his Chicago accent is any good is up for debate, but at worst he sounds like an American trying to sound Chicagoan. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-a-very-good-at-imitating-accents/401533/4 "2007-04-25T00:23:40Z")
I know people think Bronson Pinchot sucks. I personally love the man and think he does accents \*very \*well. ---
**Author:** ![Elysium](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@Elysium](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elysium)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-a-very-good-at-imitating-accents/401533/5 "2007-04-25T00:36:33Z")
Christian Bale has an amazing American accent. And the fact that he chooses to maintain his accent when interviewing and doing publicity circuits in America make it even crazier. He’s just amazing overall, anyway. Sigh. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-a-very-good-at-imitating-accents/401533/6 "2007-04-25T00:37:39Z")
Robert Duvall does a great good ol’boy accent (_The Apostle_, _Family Thing_), western (_Lonesome Dove_) and German _The Men Who Captured Eichmann_, and while I’ve no idea how “accurate” his was his “mick Kraut” guy raised in a Sicilian household in Brooklyn was convincing to me in _The Godfather_. Patrick Stewart does great accents. I’ve seen him play American, a variety of English social classes, French, German, and most hysterically the outrageously gay British director in _Jeffrey_ (“ooooh… get her!”). I was surprised to see [Daniel Davis](http://www.nndb.com/people/796/000108472/daniel-davis-1-sized.jpg) as the English judge in _The Prestige_ even though I loved his English accent as the butler on _The Nanny_. In real life he’s from Arkansas. When the show was on he used to get fan mail asking him to help co-star Charles Shaughnessy sound convincingly English (Shaughnessy’s English). Marion Ross of _Happy Days_ fame is great: she does a convincing Texan, Bronx, Jewish immigrant grandmother, and Southerner in addition to Mrs. C’s non-accent. The least impressive accents to me come from dialect coaches like [Robert Easton](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0247691/) and Howard “Major Hochstadter” Caine from _Hogan’s Heroes_ (he was a dialect coach in addition to being an actor). They sound like cartoons. Johnny Depp fired a dialect coach who was training him to sound Irish on a movie that was ultimately dumped because he said _none_ of the people in the place where they were shooting (which was where the movie took place) sounded a thing like the guy. Oh, and another least impressive to me: Meryl Streep. She has two stock accents: “not-from-here” and “Jewish-not-from-here”. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-a-very-good-at-imitating-accents/401533/7 "2007-04-25T00:46:33Z")
[QUOTE=Elysium] Christian Bale has an amazing American accent. And the fact that he chooses to maintain his accent when interviewing and doing publicity circuits in America make it even crazier. He’s just amazing overall, anyway. Sigh. [/QUOTE] Wait, Christian Bale’s not American? The guy from Batman Returns? And from wikipedia, he was also the kid from Empire of the Sun! Who knew? I never would have pegged him as non-American. Wow. > **[Christian Bale](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Bale)** > > Christian Charles Philip Bale (born 30 January 1974) is an English actor.\[a\] Known for his versatility and physical transformations for his roles, he has been a leading man in films of several genres. His accolades include an Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards, in addition to four British Academy Film Awards nominations. He was one of the highest-paid actors in 2014, and The Independent later named him one of the greatest actors of the 21st century. Born in Wales to English parents, B... ---
**Author:** ![Caridwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c89c15/32.png) [@Caridwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caridwen)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-a-very-good-at-imitating-accents/401533/8 "2007-04-25T00:48:55Z")
Two great accents on _The Wire_. Dominic West is from the UK, and Councilman Tommy Carcetti played by Aidan Gillen is from Ireland. Great Baltimore accents. Forgot to mention “Stringer Bell” is also from the UK. ---
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-a-very-good-at-imitating-accents/401533/9 "2007-04-25T01:01:35Z")
I had no idea that Christian Bale was British (Welsh?) either. Thinking that he was American, I thought he -like many Yank actors-did a lousy job with his Englishy accent in **The Prestige**. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-a-very-good-at-imitating-accents/401533/10 "2007-04-25T01:09:28Z")
[QUOTE=minlokwat] I had no idea that Christian Bale was British (Welsh?) either. Thinking that he was American, I thought he -like many Yank actors-did a lousy job with his Englishy accent in **The Prestige**. Go figure. [/QUOTE] Well, the particular English accent he was attempting in **The Prestige** may have been far from his own natural one, and thus he might well have ended up producing something lousy. So perhaps your criticism was still accurate. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-a-very-good-at-imitating-accents/401533/11 "2007-04-25T01:11:10Z")
[QUOTE=Caridwen] Two great accents on _The Wire_. Dominic West is from the UK, and Councilman Tommy Carcetti played by Aidan Gillen is from Ireland. [/QUOTE] Whoa. That’s amazing - I’m going to have listen closer to them next time. And that’s _Mayor_ Carcetti to you :D. - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-a-very-good-at-imitating-accents/401533/12 "2007-04-25T01:12:42Z")
[QUOTE=Caridwen] Two great accents on _The Wire_. Dominic West is from the UK, and Councilman Tommy Carcetti played by Aidan Gillen is from Ireland. Great Baltimore accents. Forgot to mention “Stringer Bell” is also from the UK. [/QUOTE] …I’m going to walk around in a daze for the rest of the day, muttering “Holy shit” softly to myself every now and then. (Stringer Bell, maybe, I could understand. But McNulty? Holy shit… Holy shit… I cannot believe it. Holy shit…) ---
**Author:** ![solkoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@solkoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solkoe)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-a-very-good-at-imitating-accents/401533/13 "2007-04-25T01:25:18Z")
Most Australian actors seem to be good at accents. Nicole Kidman, Anthony Lapagia, Russel Crowe, Heath Ledger. Why is that? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-a-very-good-at-imitating-accents/401533/14 "2007-04-25T01:34:46Z")
James Marsters as Spike on _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ was an actor I was surprised to learn was American. He said he based Spike’s accent on Anthony S. Head’s real voice (i.e. not the one he used for Giles). ---
**Author:** ![DataZak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@DataZak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataZak)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-a-very-good-at-imitating-accents/401533/15 "2007-04-25T01:40:45Z")
[QUOTE=solkoe] Most Australian actors seem to be good at accents. Nicole Kidman, Anthony Lapagia, Russel Crowe, Heath Ledger. Why is that? [/QUOTE] You wanna work in H’wood (where the real money is)? You gotta have a convincing American accent. And a slight hijack on Christian Bale…he also played the young boy in Kenneth Branagh’s adaptation of _Henry V_. The one who told Pistol et al. that Falstaff was dying. ---
**Author:** ![Caridwen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c89c15/32.png) [@Caridwen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caridwen)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-a-very-good-at-imitating-accents/401533/16 "2007-04-25T01:44:34Z")
[QUOTE=Indistinguishable] …I’m going to walk around in a daze for the rest of the day, muttering “Holy shit” softly to myself every now and then. (Stringer Bell, maybe, I could understand. But McNulty? Holy shit… Holy shit… I cannot believe it. Holy shit…) [/QUOTE] I know! I was even more shocked by the mayor being from Ireland. [http://www.hbo.com/thewire/cast/characters/tommy\_carcetti.shtml](http://www.hbo.com/thewire/cast/characters/tommy_carcetti.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-a-very-good-at-imitating-accents/401533/17 "2007-04-25T01:51:43Z")
Brad Pitt and Carey Elwes do pretty good accents. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-a-very-good-at-imitating-accents/401533/18 "2007-04-25T01:53:13Z")
[Minnie Driver](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0000378/) does a pretty good job with accents. A native of London, she did a standard American accent in _Grosse Pointe Blank_, and she is doing a pretty good Southern accent on _The Riches_ (on FX). [Leo DiCaprio](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0000138/) did a fine Southern accent in _The Aviator_, seemed to handle the African accent well (to my ears anyway) in _Blood Diamond_, and handled the Boston accent in _The Departed_. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-a-very-good-at-imitating-accents/401533/19 "2007-04-25T04:14:02Z")
[QUOTE=spoke-] [Minnie Driver](http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0000378/) does a pretty good job with accents. A native of London, she did a standard American accent in _Grosse Pointe Blank_, and she is doing a pretty good Southern accent on _The Riches_ (on FX). [/QUOTE] It must be interesting when she and Eddie Izzard break character on the set. Although I concede Eddie doesn’t really sound American when he’s filming. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2007, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-a-very-good-at-imitating-accents/401533/20 "2007-04-25T04:22:38Z")
[QUOTE=Sampiro] James Marsters as Spike on _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ was an actor I was surprised to learn was American. He said he based Spike’s accent on Anthony S. Head’s real voice (i.e. not the one he used for Giles). [/QUOTE] Even more impressive to me is Alexis Denisof, another American, who did one of the best English accents I’ve ever heard as Wesley Wyndham-Pryce (my favorite fictional character) on _Buffy_ and _Angel_. He studied in England and probably honed it over there, but you would NEVER know the guy is American until you see him as the sleazy newscaster on _How I Met Your Mother_. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-a-very-good-at-imitating-accents/401533.md?page=2)