# Non-US accent actor using completely different non-US accent **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 4, 2008, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-accent-actor-using-completely-different-non-us-accent/447994 "2008-05-04T11:44:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2008, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-accent-actor-using-completely-different-non-us-accent/447994/21 "2008-05-05T21:52:23Z")
In a thread like this I’m always afraid that I’ve somehow missed the point, so forgive me if I’m getting this wrong, but… Naveen Andrews (a Brit) on **Lost** playing an Iraqi guy who speaks English. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-accent-actor-using-completely-different-non-us-accent/447994/22 "2008-05-07T11:26:02Z")
[QUOTE=1920s Style “Death Ray”] Actually I’m not, I’ve never been there. I have no vested interest in my nitpick. [/QUOTE] Whoa - should I have used a smiley? I was totally joking. (How’s _that_ for a US adverb)? ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-accent-actor-using-completely-different-non-us-accent/447994/23 "2008-05-07T16:39:55Z")
Judy Davis has played English many times, though I believe she’s from New Zealand. Wendy Hiller was Russian in _Murder on the Orient Express_. Laurence Olivier was Polish (or some other indeterminate Easter European type) in _The Boys from Brazil_ and I think he played German in _Marathon Man_, although I haven’t seen it. Apparently every U.K. actor with even slightly non-pasty-white skin has played Indian or Middle Eastern roles complete with accents – Ben Kingsley, John Rhys Davis, Alfred Molina, and Alexander Siddig, for a start. Conversely, the actors _with_ pasty-white skin get to play Teutonic. Jeremy Kemp owns the Nazi subcategory all by himself. Also Alan Rickman and Jeremy Irons as the Gruber brothers had German accents, I believe; at least, I know Rickman did. All the Monty Python folks have done Australian accents, most notably in the “Bruces” sketch. And of course, for years Patrick Stewart astounded us with his awesome French accent playing Jean-Luc Picard. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-accent-actor-using-completely-different-non-us-accent/447994/24 "2008-05-07T17:53:36Z")
To be fair, Kingsley’s father was of Gujarati descent and was an Ismaili Muslim, though how he ended up with the first name of Krishna (originally named Krishna Bhanji) is beyond me. Siddig (full name Siddig El Tahir El Fadil El Siddig El Abderahman El Mohammed Ahmed El Abdel Karim El Mahdi) is half Sudanese. Alfredo Molina is Spanish and Italian, so he came by his Mediteranean looks naturally. Rhys-Davies is, well, Welsh on both sides, but he spent some of his youth in Africa, so he STILL has more claim to playing non-European roles than did, oh, Marlon Brando (nee “Marlon Brando, Jr” and a typical US Western-European mutt) playing a Japanese gent in “Teahouse of the August Moon.” Or Iron Eyes Cody (born Espera de Corti and all Sicilian) playing a Native American. (all factoids courtesy Wikipedia, the most fabulous trove of useless and possibly incorrect information since \*The Book of Lists \* and _The People’s Almanac_.) ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-accent-actor-using-completely-different-non-us-accent/447994/25 "2008-05-07T19:32:00Z")
[QUOTE=choie] Conversely, the actors _with_ pasty-white skin get to play Teutonic. Jeremy Kemp owns the Nazi subcategory all by himself. Also Alan Rickman and Jeremy Irons as the Gruber brothers had German accents, I believe; at least, I know Rickman did. [/QUOTE] I came in here to mention Alan Rickman. Someone in another thread about accents not too long ago mentioned the scene in Die Hard where his character faked an American accent. So we have a British actor speaking with a German accent pretending to be an American! ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-accent-actor-using-completely-different-non-us-accent/447994/26 "2008-05-07T22:07:39Z")
[QUOTE=choie] Apparently every U.K. actor with even slightly non-pasty-white skin has played Indian or Middle Eastern roles complete with accents – Ben Kingsley, John Rhys Davis, Alfred Molina, and Alexander Siddig, for a start. [/QUOTE] Two of the people you list are actually qualified to play the roles for more than just their skin tone. Ben Kingsley, real name _Krishna Bhanji_, father Muslim Indian and mother English. Alexander Siddig, real name _Siddig El Tahir El Fadil El Siddig El Abderahman El Mohammed Ahmed El Abdel Karim El Mahdi_ and was born in the Sudan to a Sudanese father and English mother and hisuncle was Sudanese Primeminister. He’s also a practicing muslim. You have a point with Rhys-Davies, even though he was raised in Africa, he’s welsh through and through, and Alfred Molina who whilst Spanish-Italian by descent isn’t nearly as qualified as Krishna or Siddig. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-accent-actor-using-completely-different-non-us-accent/447994/27 "2008-05-07T23:19:39Z")
[QUOTE=choie] Judy Davis has played English many times, though I believe she’s from New Zealand. [/QUOTE] Australian says wiki… but you know… we do actually speak English over here (and I have it on some authority that even some of the Australians speak it too). 🙂 Smart-assing aside, not everyone in NZ says “fush and chups” nor Aussies “feesh and cheeps”… my speech / accent has been mistaken for English a number of times both in NZ and abroad, and I’m Kiwi through and through – I just speak proper. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2008, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-accent-actor-using-completely-different-non-us-accent/447994/28 "2008-05-07T23:37:24Z")
[QUOTE=Apollyon] Australian says wiki… but you know… we do actually speak English over here (and I have it on some authority that even some of the Australians speak it too). 🙂 Smart-assing aside, not everyone in NZ says “fush and chups” nor Aussies “feesh and cheeps”… my speech / accent has been mistaken for English a number of times both in NZ and abroad, and I’m Kiwi through and through – I just speak proper. 🙂 [/QUOTE] If I could train myself to speak in accent other than my own, I’d like either RP or Kiwi.. Stereotypical Kiwi sounds cool. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-accent-actor-using-completely-different-non-us-accent/447994/29 "2008-05-08T00:02:53Z")
[QUOTE=Szlater] If I could train myself to speak in accent other than my own, I’d like either RP or Kiwi.. Stereotypical Kiwi sounds cool. [/QUOTE] Mmmm… 🙂 Two Youtube clips with good stereo-typical Kiwi accents: [Lynn of Tawa](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZe4O7Ct8mo) [Fred Dagg singing “Gumboots”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X2b2x7Fw4o) ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-accent-actor-using-completely-different-non-us-accent/447994/30 "2008-05-08T00:13:19Z")
[QUOTE=Apollyon] Mmmm… 🙂 Two Youtube clips with good stereo-typical Kiwi accents: [Lynn of Tawa](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZe4O7Ct8mo) [Fred Dagg singing “Gumboots”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X2b2x7Fw4o) [/QUOTE] Hmm… Maybe I’ll have to re-evaluate. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-accent-actor-using-completely-different-non-us-accent/447994/31 "2008-05-08T00:42:12Z")
Lynn of Tawa! Argh! Now there’s something I never wanted to be reminded of. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-accent-actor-using-completely-different-non-us-accent/447994/32 "2008-05-08T02:29:14Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] Or Iron Eyes Cody (born Espera de Corti and all Sicilian) playing a Native American. [/QUOTE] WHAT?!? Oh for Christ’s sake… :smack: I always think of John Hillerman, an American actor whom I was first exposed to on _Magnum PI_, where he had a passable British accent. Imagine my surprise when he faked such a great American accent in _Bazing Saddles_! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-accent-actor-using-completely-different-non-us-accent/447994/33 "2008-05-08T09:24:56Z")
A few off the top of my head: Paul Freeman (British) plays French in _Raiders of the Lost Ark_; in fact, he seems to make a something of a specialty of playing non-British Europeans Ben Kingsley (already mentioned), Ralph Fiennes (British) and Liam Neeson (Irish) all play German in _Schindler’s List_ Liv Ullman (Norwegian, born in Tokyo) plays Dutch in _A Bridge Too Far_ Paul Scofield (British) plays German in _The Train_ Jack Hawkins (British) plays, er, Danish(?) in _Zulu_ Half the cast of _Casablanca_ seems to be playing nationalities other than what they were. Claude Rains (British) plays French; Sydney Greenstreet (British) and Peter Lorre (Austria-Hungary, now Slovakia) play Italian, and I’m probably forgetting a few others. _Dr. Zhivago_, being set in Russia and all, has a raft of non-US actors playing Russians: Omar Sharif (Egyptian, listed as ‘Franco-Egyptian’ on IMDB), Julie Christie, Alec Guinness, and Tom Courtenay (all British), among others. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-accent-actor-using-completely-different-non-us-accent/447994/34 "2008-05-08T09:38:31Z")
There’s a thorough discussion of the actors in _Casablanca_ and what their real nationalities are versus what nationality they play in Wikipedia: > **[Casablanca (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casablanca_(film))** > > Casablanca is a 1942 American romantic drama film directed by Michael Curtiz, and starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, and Paul Henreid. Filmed and set during World War II, it focuses on an American expatriate (Bogart) who must choose between his love for a woman (Bergman) and helping her husband (Henreid), a Czechoslovak resistance leader, escape from the Vichy-controlled city of Casablanca to continue his fight against the Germans. The screenplay is based on Everybody Comes to Rick's, ... Only three credited actors in the film are American. ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-accent-actor-using-completely-different-non-us-accent/447994/35 "2008-05-08T17:39:04Z")
[QUOTE=Szlater] Two of the people you list are actually qualified to play the roles for more than just their skin tone. [/QUOTE] Yep, I know all that, of course! 🙂 But the thread’s about accents, and all of the above speak with British accents, and have been cast in a plethora of non-UK-accents that aren’t just their own (or relatives’) backgrounds. Their appearance and talent allow them this flexibility. Siddig may be part Sudanese, but he’s played Syrian, Algerian, Carthaginian, and, erm, Heavenese (as the Angel Gabriel :)). Molina’s roles have included Iranian, Russian (both ‘regular’ and Yiddish accent flavors), Mexican, Belgian, Egyptian. And Ben Kingsley’s played Indian, Polish, Austrian, Italian, Egyptian, and Russian! Pretty amazing, really. (Of course, whether they play them all believably is a different story – I’m not qualified to judge how accurate their accents are.) ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-accent-actor-using-completely-different-non-us-accent/447994/36 "2008-05-08T18:11:00Z")
[QUOTE=Raza] The winner must be **Sean Connery** , playing a Soviet submarine commander with a Scottish accent in **Hunt for Red October**. [/QUOTE] Actually, I don’t think so. I think his accent is used as a deliberate reminder that he’s not an ethnic Russian but a Balt. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-accent-actor-using-completely-different-non-us-accent/447994/37 "2008-05-08T19:57:16Z")
Well, in that case how about Sean Connery’s “Egyptian” accent in the original \*Highlander \*movie? ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2008, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-accent-actor-using-completely-different-non-us-accent/447994/38 "2008-05-08T23:19:30Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] Actually, I don’t think so. I think his accent is used as a deliberate reminder that he’s not an ethnic Russian but a Balt. [/QUOTE] Oh, that was _brilliant_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-us-accent-actor-using-completely-different-non-us-accent/447994.md?page=1)