# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/61 "2006-05-26T09:02:45Z")
Some of us public school types are lucky not to have any accent at all, **225**! ---
**Author:** ![Twotwofive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Twotwofive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twotwofive)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/62 "2006-05-26T09:12:10Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > Some of us public school types are lucky not to have any accent at all, **225**! You and me both, old chap (although my friends always thought I was posh, while my teacher accused me of sounding “estuary”, so I guess it’s all in the eye of the beholder). Just to get back on topic (ish), that black policewoman out of _Without a Trace_ turns out to be English. To my uneducated ears, she seemed to do a pretty passable “American”. ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/63 "2006-05-26T09:54:07Z")
> [@Twotwofive](#): > > You and me both, old chap (although my friends always thought I was posh, while my teacher accused me of sounding “estuary”, so I guess it’s all in the eye of the beholder). > > Just to get back on topic (ish), that black policewoman out of _Without a Trace_ turns out to be English. To my uneducated ears, she seemed to do a pretty passable “American”. “Without a Trace” is odd, they’ve cast 3 out of the 5 leads with foreigners, that’s not something I would have expected. Anthony Lapaglia - Australian Poppy Montgomery - Australian Marianne Jean-Baptiste - British As for Jamie Bamber in “Battlestar Galactica”, I didn’t recognise him as Archie from “Hornblower”. ---
**Author:** ![Twotwofive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@Twotwofive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twotwofive)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/64 "2006-05-26T10:22:37Z")
> [@Szlater](#): > > “Without a Trace” is odd, they’ve cast 3 out of the 5 leads with foreigners, that’s not something I would have expected. > > Anthony Lapaglia - Australian > Poppy Montgomery - Australian > Marianne Jean-Baptiste - British > As for Jamie Bamber in “Battlestar Galactica”, I didn’t recognise him as Archie from “Hornblower”. Perhaps they’re just cheaper than their home-grown competition? ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/65 "2006-05-26T12:49:57Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > What a lot of American actors do (Benning in _Being Julia_ is a good example) is adopt what is considered to be an upper-class accent, which ends up to a Brit sounding like something from a comedy sketch. In reverse, British actors doing an “American” accent often seem to choose either Brooklyn Italian or Texas Cowboy, both copied from bad movies with American actors doing the same accents badly. Jamie Bamber’s father is American and he grew up in France, so I question if his British accent is his only “native” one. Naveen Andrews’ “real” voice is probably the Anglo-Indian one he used in “Bride and Prejudice”. ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/66 "2006-05-26T14:02:22Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Naveen Andrews’ “real” voice is probably the Anglo-Indian one he used in “Bride and Prejudice”. I think someone commented above, and I can also state from commentaries both on the DVDs of that movie and the television series “Lost”, that his accent is very, er, working-class, not posh at all. It sounded almost like a put-on “chav” accent from comedy sketches to my ignorant American ears. He was raised in South London. ---
**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 26, 2006, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/67 "2006-05-26T14:39:17Z")
> [@Doom Slinger](#): > > I think you mean [Jamie Bamber](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0051397/). Of course; I’ve seen his name before I don’t know [where](http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/characters/index.php?cid=4) I got “Griffith” from. Stupid “last name isn’t really their last name” people … ---
**Author:** ![Chanteuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de053/32.png) [@Chanteuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chanteuse)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/68 "2006-05-26T14:50:34Z")
I’m curious–what do you think about John Hillerman’s (Higgins, _Magnum, PI_) British accent? I confess, I never knew he was a native born Texan until just a couple years ago! I actually thought he was a Brit who did a great Texas accent! ---
**Author:** ![Doom\_Slinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Doom\_Slinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doom_Slinger)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/69 "2006-05-26T16:12:28Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Jamie Bamber’s father is American and he grew up in France, so I question if his British accent is his only “native” one. Good point. I do think that his British accent is his “default,” if not his true or only “native” accent. Whatever it is, he sure ain’t speakin’ Amurican. If you’ve only ever heard his _Battlestar Galactica_ American accent, you should listen to him talking in some of the video blogs posted on SciFi’s website, such as [this](http://video.scifi.com/player.html?dlid=3273) funny one (forewarning: Flash, language NSFW). ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/70 "2006-05-26T16:36:55Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > 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. I vividly remember a radio sketch on BBC World Service marking the 50th anniversary of Glenn Miller’s disappearance. Glenn (a midwesterner, who frequently spoke on recordings) and his drummer Ray McKinley (a Texan, who often sang on them) were voiced by actors who sounded like Bogart and George Raft respectively. And Miller is absolutely _beloved_ in Britain. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/71 "2006-05-26T16:46:08Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > In reverse, British actors doing an “American” accent often seem to choose either Brooklyn Italian or Texas Cowboy, both copied from bad movies with American actors doing the same accents badly. Undoubtedly. The plain truth woiuld appear to be that if you want to sound authentic you aim at an accent that combines two almost opposite qualities: salience and uncommon-ness. Mery Streep is another, in my opinion, very talented actress (and singer), whose English accent, in French Lieut’s Woman was nauseating. Once again, a la Being Julia, with regard to conveying English womanhood, there seems to be an unwritten rule that the woman must be made as blithe and as ethereal as possible. Is this done to distract from the infuriating accent, or does Hollywood seek to perpetuate mythical stereotypes by converging on certain storylines and screenplays? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/72 "2006-05-26T17:13:07Z")
> [@Szlater](#): > > “Without a Trace” is odd, they’ve cast 3 out of the 5 leads with foreigners, that’s not something I would have expected. > > Anthony Lapaglia - Australian > Poppy Montgomery - Australian > Marianne Jean-Baptiste - British Two of the three male leads in _L.A. Confidential_ (already mentioned) were Australian - Guy Pearce and Russell Crowe. LaPaglia, by the way, did an excellent Brooklyn Italian in the Arthur Miller play _A View from the Bridge_ 1998. He gave one of the best individual performances I’ve seen on Broadway and won a Tony for the role. ---
**Author:** ![Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glory)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/73 "2006-05-26T17:46:15Z")
Dominic West and Idris Elba doing American accents in The Wire. I knew Dominic West wasn’t American but had no idea about Idris Elba until I saw the British miniseries, Ultraviolet. ---
**Author:** ![YaWanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/bbce88/32.png) [@YaWanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaWanna)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/74 "2006-05-26T18:08:05Z")
> [@Fern Forest](#): > > It’s funny, in the previous threads about this subject there was one name always mentioned and much praised that has not been mentioned here. > > Curious. Ok, I’ll take the bait. To whom do you refer? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/75 "2006-05-26T19:22:17Z")
The first time I saw _Bridget Jones_, it seemed to me that Zellwegger was doing a pretty good job. On subsequent viewings, I’ve noticed the “working too hard” bit. > [@garygnu](#): > > I was pleasantly surprised when Orlando Bloom correctly pronounced “Oregon” in _Elizabethtown_. I would say that about 80 percent of Americans pronounce it the “wrong” way, so if you’re looking for realism … > [@Push You Down](#): > > 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. I agree with this evaluation. Although I love Hugh Laurie, I can’t watch _House_ because, even though he gets the pronunciation perfect, he talks like he’s always working on a bowel movement. > [@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! I remember this, too. If I recall, part of what made him sound wrong was the British word choice in the script. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/76 "2006-05-26T19:31:45Z")
> [@Pjen](#): > > Rachel Griffiths as Brenda Chenowith in Six Feet Under (compare with Muriel’s Wedding) Excellent American accent. Absolutely convincing to me. > [@Celyn](#): > > [On James Doohan]: If you were Scottish you wouldn’t be at all surprised - terrible accent. I don’t run into a lot of Scots in real life, but I did notice that on television and the movies, there weren’t any Scots speaking in accents like Scotty’s. ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/77 "2006-05-26T19:53:20Z")
> [@Twotwofive](#): > > You and me both, old chap (although my friends always thought I was posh, while my teacher accused me of sounding “estuary”, so I guess it’s all in the eye of the beholder). When I was supply teaching in South-east London, I was told by my class that I “talked posh”. When I laughed and asked they why they thought so (I am english-speaking white South African), they replied “because you finish all your words.” Eye of the beholder indeed… 😉 Grim ---
**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 26, 2006, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/78 "2006-05-26T20:59:25Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > I would say that about 80 percent of Americans pronounce it the “wrong” way, so if you’re looking for realism … Bloom’s character is from Portland, so he’d damn well better say it right. ---
**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:** [May 26, 2006, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/79 "2006-05-26T21:27:38Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > Which, when you think about it, is a bit of a kick in the teeth to the black blokes, who’d presumably love to get beyond the gardener/lawyer/victim roles. Well, to be fair, a black guy can also play a Wrongheaded Commanding Officer (“You’re off the case McGarnigle! If I hear about you poking around that Haunted Bus Stop one more time, I’ll have your badge!”), or the Magical African-American Friend (the wise, soulful, saintly black person, often with literal magic powers, who spends all their time teaching their uptight white friend how to live, laugh, and love). ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2006, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196/80 "2006-05-26T22:05:08Z")
Having read many previous threads on the topic of actors and accents, I have come to a conclusion. The only reliable measure of an actor’s ability to imitate an accent results from a blind test. Allow a selection of “native” speakers to listen to a sampling of the actor’s accented speech a) without identifying the actor, b) without identifying the actor’s nationality/ethnicity, and c) without making the audience aware that the accent is not authentic. Survey the audience with questions designed to elicit a critique of the actor’s accent (as one of many elements, perhaps) – again, without hinting that the accent is not authentic. Gauge how many respondents gave some kind of indication that the accent was “wrong” or “off” or “not from around here.” Tabulate your results as a percentage. Why go to all of this trouble? Because accents are so very subjective, and they are also (much of the time) only registered subconsciously. I think that if you are aware ahead of time that an actor’s accent is “phony”, you’ll be a lot more critical of it. Time and time again I have seen the same actor’s attempt at an accent greeted with acclaim and jeers by native speakers. A successful accent, IMHO, is not one that you remark upon, it’s one that you DON’T remark upon. To illustrate my point. - In preparing for _Bridget Jones’ Diary_, Renee Zellweger lived in London and worked incognito as a shopgirl. Nobody caught on that she wasn’t a local. - Brad Dourif kept up his English accent throughout the shooting of _Lord of the Rings_. As soon as his final scene was in the can, he slipped out of character and began speaking with his normal voice. Various cast and crew members (among whom there were plenty of Brits) asked him what the deal was with the really poorly imitated American accent. Now THAT’s success. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-which-american-actor-has-nailed-your-accent-the-best/358196.md?page=5)