Gary Oldman does a pretty good American accent, too, especially in Romeo Is Bleeding. He sounded weird in True Romance, but I think he was trying to play it over the top.
If you were Scottish you wouldn’t be at all surprised - terrible accent.
Sorry - cannot contribute to the OP, being televisionless and not a cinema-goer.
How is Johnny Depp’s English accent, btw? It seems pretty good to me, but I’m a Yank, so I need an expert opinion.
I didn’t know Guy Pearce was Australian, so you can count him as a good American accent in both L.A. Confidential and Memento.
Oh, wait - not in the spirit of the OP. OK, what about Brad Pitt’s Gypsy accent in Snatch?
(Slight) hijack: I’m trying to remember back to Titanic and place her accent there, but I’m having troubles. Does she start out with a posh upper-class intonation that flattens into basic American as the movie wears on?
The "Without A Trace" lead actor Anthony LaPaglia is also Australian
Oh, well, I must have a tin ear. Though I should say in my defense that my mother, who was born and raised in England, actually thought he was English.
I think Robert Downey Jr did a great Brit accent in Chaplin.
The worst I’ve ever heard was Dick Van Dyke trying to sound like a cockney in either Mary Poppins or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - not sure which it was.
As a kid in the UK, I remember Spitting Image being full of bad Yank accents. One of the voices on the show was actually Harry Enfield!
Harry Enfield’s virtually unknown on these shores but has two high-profile voice gigs: the “Travelling Gnome” for Travelocity and “Dr. Angus” for Burger King. I think he’s brilliant so I actually pay attention to the Dr. Angus spots. Surely he’s going to get a shot at a show in the States?
On A Bit Of Fry and Laurie Stephen and Hugh played American oilmen in the most over-the-top fake Yank accent, always punctuating their sentences with “Damn!” Really funny stuff. So I was blown away when I heard Hugh on House.
To actually answer the OP, no-one comes to mind. Haven’t seen Sliding Doors. Madonna’s accent is crap as well.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Ian McShane, who is starring in HBO’s Deadwood. Great “American” accent – I’ve had to tell people he’s actually from the British Isles and starred in Lovejoy, amongst other shows.
I think you mean Jamie Bamber. I agree, though; I was as surprised as you to find out he is British. There are some links online to streaming video of a British soap opera he starred in, which I’ll post if I can locate them. It’s really kind of jarring to hear him speak in his native accent if you’ve only seen him on Battlestar Galactica.
Again, the other way around, how about:
Rachel Griffiths as Brenda Chenowith in Six Feet Under (compare with Muriel’s Wedding)
and
Adrian Lester as Henry Burton in Primary Colors (compare with Hustle).
Most Americans attempting to act as Brits will adopt an accent that doesn’t exist in reality - a stereotypical amalgam. In other words, an idealised accent that will have “I am English” written all over it for the benefit of the viewing public - the majority of whom live in the US, are easily pleased, are not very well educated and have never left the States. (The kind of people who vote in huge numbers for Idol.)
Paltrow’s accent is pretty decent as an attempt at Standard British English (a term to be be preferred to Received Pronunciation, as the latter has connotations of “upper-class” lacking from the former). 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.
I wondered about her accent too when I saw Being Julia. It sounded so plummy that I thought it was meant to be a send-up.
I’ve never heard a non-Australian actor/ress do a convincing Australian accent.
Naveen Andrews who plays Sayid on Lost has the most cockneyed accent I’ve ever heard. It was shocking since I’d only heard him speak as Sayid. Watch the first season DVD extras if you don’t believe me. :eek:
What about Mel Gibson? He spent his teens to early 20s in Australia but is actually American.
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.
I’d hate to know who you’re talking about.
I think one can blame films like Chariots of Fire and Passage to India. By establishing the stereotype of the foppish aristo male and the batty, or indigeno-philic (as in, “into a bit of Indian”), aristo female, it gave Hollywood full rein to assail us with the kind of portrayal that Benning gives. I much prefer the if-British-then-villain stereotype, because at least you get to see usually very decent actors, like Alan Rickman, Robert Carlyle and the fellow from Mi:2, cashing in on the fact that the black guy isn’t allowed to be the baddie any more. 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.
What the #@!’#~ is a “British accent”?? Christ, if I hear that one more time, I’m starting a pit thread. Anyone on here have a “North American accent”?
Actually, I withdraw that. I refer to “American accents” all the time. As you were.