# In theory could anyone be a master impressionist?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-theory-could-anyone-be-a-master-impressionist/782828>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [March 23, 2017, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-theory-could-anyone-be-a-master-impressionist/782828 "2017-03-23T12:52:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-theory-could-anyone-be-a-master-impressionist/782828/1 "2017-03-23T12:52:14Z")

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Making the rounds on Facebook is this video of “The Walking Dead”'s Ross Marquand doing astounding impressions of actors in the wrong movie:

> **[WATCH: 'Walking Dead' Star Does Absolutely Killer Impressions](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ross-marquand-impressions-casting-remix_n_58d3711be4b0b22b0d19d626)**
>
> You've got to see this.

You can find more videos of Marquand doing impressions, but the long and short of it is that he’s amazing. Half of his impressions are really good, and the other half are better. He does impressions of people you rarely see impressions of; his Kevin Spacey and Ewan McGregor are absolutely unbelievable.

What I’m curious about is… can anyone in theory do this with practice, or does a person have to be born with a voice (and ear) conducive to this skill?

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**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2017, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-theory-could-anyone-be-a-master-impressionist/782828/2 "2017-03-23T13:02:50Z")

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I have always wondered this same thing. Anecdotally I can think of a few instances in my life or friends lives where for some reason a series of events put the mind in the right set to do a near perfect imitation of someone else. I suspect that actors have the ability to put themselves into this state at will where a normal person might just stumble onto this mindset now and then. If it is in fact the mind set that allows this to happen then theoretically someone could train themselves to get into this mindset.