# British, which American actor has nailed your accent the best. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 25, 2006, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196 "2006-05-25T17:19:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/21 "2006-05-25T20:06:19Z")
I was astounded by Jamie Griffith (Sci Fi’s Battlestar Galactica) the first time I heard him in an interview and realized he was British. I would never have guessed from his portrayal of Apollo. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/22 "2006-05-25T20:24:23Z")
> [@shelbo](#): > > The other way around, I was amazed when I first heard Bob Hoskins interviewed (having only ever seen him in Who Framed Roger Rabbit). Years after seeing that movie, I was really shocked to learn that he’s British. I’ve seen plenty of British actors do passable American accents, but not like that. ---
**Author:** ![Uncommon\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Uncommon\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncommon_Sense)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/23 "2006-05-25T20:31:35Z")
Hugh Laurie is British?!? He’s got the American accent nailed then. I saw him on PBS in some type of skit/play/soap and he was speaking with a very good British accent, no wonder. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/24 "2006-05-25T20:32:33Z")
> [@garius](#): > > So basically there’s a difference between sounding British and actually, well, _sounding_ British if you catch my drift 😃 > **That’s exactly what he told me and a mate a few years back when we had drinks with him on a couple of occasions. It was him that first mentioned the vocabulary thing to me actually.** As an example, the bolded part of your post told me you were a Brit without ever having to refer to your “Location.” Word choice. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/25 "2006-05-25T20:50:07Z")
On the flip, a recent episode of Doctor Who had a heroic time-traveling american con man in a couple of episodes. I was convinced that he was a Brit doing a terrible American accent. I ranted to my wife about how fake the accent was, and couldn’t they get a real American in all of England? Then they had an interview clip with the actor. Whaddya know, he’s American! :dubious: He can’t even speak his own accent convincingly! ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/26 "2006-05-25T20:51:36Z")
> [@](#): > > Juliet Landau, however, belongs in the Dick VanDyke school of accents. “Spoike! Spoike!” Interesting, as Juliet Landau lived in London until she was 18. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/27 "2006-05-25T20:54:19Z")
> [@yBeayf](#): > > Interesting, as Juliet Landau lived in London until she was 18. I always thought she was intentionally overdoing it. ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/28 "2006-05-25T20:57:07Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > On the flip, a recent episode of Doctor Who had a heroic time-traveling american con man in a couple of episodes. I was convinced that he was a Brit doing a terrible American accent. I ranted to my wife about how fake the accent was, and couldn’t they get a real American in all of England? > > Then they had an interview clip with the actor. Whaddya know, he’s American! :dubious: He can’t even speak his own accent convincingly! To be fair, [John Barrowman](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0057882/) is a Scot who was brought up in the US and then came back to the UK as an adult. It’s no wonder his accent is messed up. He started his career in the UK as a children’s TV presenter. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/29 "2006-05-25T21:00:29Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > I ranted to my wife about how fake the accent was, and couldn’t they get a real American in all of England? You just got lucky: BBC productions are riddled with British actors doing some of the worst accents in Christendom. There’s a satire of the Bush administration on BBC radio tonight, written by the guy who wrote M_A_S\*H, which just the kind of thing I love, but I just can’t bring myself to listen to it, as I know it’ll be full of people who sound like southern belle cowboys from New York. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/30 "2006-05-25T21:25:45Z")
> [@Szlater](#): > > To be fair, [url=http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0057882/]John Barrowman[/url is a Scot who was brought up in the US and then came back to the UK as an adult. It’s no wonder his accent is messed up. > > He started his career in the UK as a children’s TV presenter. Ahh, that explains it. What tipped me off was his continued mis-pronunciation (for an American) of “barrage” balloon. You see, we say buh-RAHJ. You say BEAR-uhj. It was causing me fits. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/31 "2006-05-25T21:25:55Z")
I was pleasantly surprised when Orlando Bloom correctly pronounced “Oregon” in _Elizabethtown_. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/32 "2006-05-25T21:31:49Z")
Another vote for Gwyneth Paltrow in Sliding Doors; it was excellent; not just the accent, but the whole intonation, cadence and other nuances too absolutely spot on. Of course, there is no single ‘British’ accent, just the same as there is no single American one. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/33 "2006-05-25T21:37:33Z")
Missed this first time around: > [@Sal Ammoniac](#): > > IANAB, but I want to nominate Forest Whitaker in _The Crying Game_. Something of a bit part, but excellently done. I’m afraid to say, his English accent in that movie was absolutely _appalling_. One of the worst I’ve ever heard, just behind Mr Van Dyke. A great disappointment, since I love his acting, and it was an interesting movie. For me, his accent was the weak point in it. ---
**Author:** ![Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troy_mcclure_sf/32/4150_2.png) [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/34 "2006-05-25T22:24:33Z")
> [@shelbo](#): > > The other way around, I was amazed when I first heard Bob Hoskins interviewed (having only ever seen him in Who Framed Roger Rabbit). I’d only seen Kate Winslet in _Eternal Sunshine_ (yes, really) and I was surprised that she was British. Though it did clear up some confusion about the two or three words that sounded weird in the movie. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/35 "2006-05-25T22:25:43Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > You just got lucky: BBC productions are riddled with British actors doing some of the worst accents in Christendom Sometimes this assumtion can backfire…I remember hearing an edition of Feedback, where they’d had lots of complaints about two dreadully-stereotyped fake accents - a Hungarian character on the Archers, and the actor reading _Last Man Down_ as book of the week. Needless to say, it turned out that they were native Hungarian and Brooklyn actors respectively. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/36 "2006-05-25T22:31:03Z")
I remember the Hungarian chap on the Archers, and I have to say, despite his heritage, he did sound like he was straight out of Eton. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/37 "2006-05-25T22:40:16Z")
> [@yBeayf](#): > > Interesting, as Juliet Landau lived in London until she was 18. I always thought Juliet Landau’s accent as Drusilla was supposed to be “complete loony” … Despite strong competition from Mr. Van Dyke, the worst attempt at an English accent I’ve ever heard has got to be Brion James in \Tango and Cash\. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/38 "2006-05-25T22:41:56Z")
> [@Steve Wright](#): > > \Tango and Cash\. Someone’s been hitting the HTML way too hard. (I put vB square brackets round something on a very prominent website yesterday and made it go live. Veh embarrassing.) ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2006, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/39 "2006-05-25T23:45:51Z")
> [@amarone](#): > > And of course there is Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. I recall Hugh Laurie humorously describing that attempt at an accent as a virtual act of war. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/40 "2006-05-26T00:00:15Z")
I find Laurie’s House accent to be just a little strange. Where is the character supposed to be from? To me it sounds like a slightly better version of the John Cleese “American” accent. All clenched in the neck and jaw- and way too precise for my tastes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196.md?page=3)