# Worst American accents in mainstream roles **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 19, 2015, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357 "2015-03-19T04:43:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/61 "2015-03-19T19:40:14Z")
I’ll add to the parade of dismal British attempts by nominating the entire RSC cast in their recent premiere of Tom Morton-Smith’s (somewhat overly acclaimed in my opinion) _Oppenheimer_. I’ll grant some leeway for it being theatre rather than film (though you presumably don’t have to project that much in the Swan at Stratford), but none of them were remotely convincing. Throw in some hammy German and Hungarian accents as well. There’s exactly one character in the play who’s English. And they did him with a fake sounding Thirties accent. ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/62 "2015-03-19T19:52:31Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > When did Liam Neeson ever try to do an American accent? Well, I don’t know whether you’re joking–I see your post has already received what seem to be a couple of joking replies–but as **bump** said, in the _Taken_ movies, as well as _Non-Stop_, he’s supposed to be American. If you’re saying it sounded like he wasn’t even trying, what **bump** said. It certainly sounded to me like he was trying. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/63 "2015-03-19T19:56:59Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > I still laugh because Jason O’Mara, who is Irish, played an American in the series “The Agency”, and there was a plot where he went under cover with the IRA, and audiences were complaining about his “terrible” Irish accent. This doesn’t really qualify for this thread, because her accents all sound great to me, but in _Orphan Black,_ Tatiana Maslany plays many clones, from different countries, who sometimes have to pass themselves off as other clones. So, this Canadian actress plays an American clone with a flawless American accent, but she adopts a total Eliza Doolittle cockney accent to try to pass herself off as the lower-class British clone, or the Ukrainian clone tries to pass herself as American, and it’s just hilariously bad. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/64 "2015-03-19T19:57:36Z")
I was aware that Gillian Anderson does sound British when at home in England but I was under the impression it was a very mild accent and not as pronounced as her native American accent. She specifically pointed out that her children have very strong British accents. As was mention earlier John Barrowman grew up with a Scottish accent but worked very hard at sounding American when his family moved to the US in his teens. He can switch back and does when he is around his family. To me his Scottish accent sounds over exaggerated. Another one similar to that is Fraiser’s Dad John Mahoney. He grew up in Blackpool and emigrated to the US when he was college age. After joining the Army he worked hard at losing his accent to keep from being teased by the other soldiers. I have never heard him attempt to speak with an English accent. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Lowry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Sam\_Lowry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Lowry)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/65 "2015-03-19T20:56:00Z")
> [@chaika](#): > > A Scottish accent _is_ a British accent. Oops, I do know the difference, I meant his native Scottish accent, or an English one. If I’m remembering correctly, he did an English accent like everyone did in 300 and that was fine. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/66 "2015-03-19T21:07:00Z")
A lot of folks disagree with me, but I thought Brad Pitt’s Hillbilly accent in Inglorious Basterds was pretty bad. He sounded like an outsider unsuccessfully trying to imitate East Tennessee dialect. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/67 "2015-03-19T21:08:14Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > To me his Scottish accent sounds over exaggerated. It does to this Scot too. His American accent also sounds a bit exaggerated to my ears, but then he’s an old-fashioned song and dance man at heart, and he’s kinda always “on” anytime I’ve seen him on TV. ---
**Author:** ![GovernmentMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9c0ed/32.png) [@GovernmentMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GovernmentMan)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/68 "2015-03-19T21:10:42Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Gillian Anderson? She is American. I know she spent portions of her childhood in the UK and lives there now but her natural accent is American. She was recently on The Nerdist podcast and you can hear her natural accent. Which sounds just like she did on the X-Files. She grew up in England. Why would her natural accent be American? “Spent portions of her childhood in the UK” - You make it sound like she was there only intermittently. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/69 "2015-03-19T21:21:52Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > A Cajun accent doesn’t sound remotely French. Thick Cajun accents don’t even sound like English. People think that coach in “The Waterboy” was a joke, but if they’d ever really heard real Cajuns, they’d realize that it’s closer to the mark than not. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/70 "2015-03-19T21:26:27Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > His American accent also sounds a bit exaggerated to my ears Nah, it’s pretty heavily Midwestern (he did partially grow up in Illinois), but not really exaggerated, at least not to my ears. Exaggerated would be most British actors trying to speak in an American accent and getting the vowels and sounds right, but still overenunciating for the accent in question- usually sounds like they’re overdoing the pronunciation in a way that a native never would. Barrowman doesn’t do that at all. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/71 "2015-03-19T21:45:24Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Nah, it’s pretty heavily Midwestern (he did partially grow up in Illinois), but not really exaggerated, at least not to my ears. It just seems like he’s using a stage voice, projecting a bit, if that makes any sense? It’s maybe just his way though, he’s got a fairly unusual history and job after all. 🙂 > [@](#): > > Exaggerated would be most British actors trying to speak in an American accent and getting the vowels and sounds right, but still overenunciating for the accent in question- usually sounds like they’re overdoing the pronunciation in a way that a native never would. Barrowman doesn’t do that at all. That’s what Barrowman does with his Scottish accent I think. He’s not in Lulu or Sheena Easton territory though. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/72 "2015-03-20T00:23:00Z")
> [@Ethilrist](#): > > This doesn’t really qualify for this thread, because her accents all sound great to me, but in _Orphan Black,_ Tatiana Maslany plays > > many clones, from different countries, who sometimes have to pass themselves off as other clones. So, this Canadian actress plays an American clone with a flawless American accent, but she adopts a total Eliza Doolittle cockney accent to try to pass herself off as the lower-class British clone, or the Ukrainian clone tries to pass herself as American, and it’s just hilariously bad. That’s ridiculous, her accent as the British (main character) clone is really very good. Not as good as the chap that plays the male lead though, his English accent is phenomenal. Probably the best I have ever heard. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/73 "2015-03-20T00:26:47Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > I still laugh because Jason O’Mara, who is Irish, played an American in the series “The Agency”, and there was a plot where he went under cover with the IRA, and audiences were complaining about his “terrible” Irish accent. IIRC. There was a scene in Buffy or Angel where Spike had to try and fake an American accent, so it was an American doing an intentionally silly English accent pending to do an American accent. It was as amusing as it sounds. I had a good old chuckle. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/74 "2015-03-20T00:42:22Z")
The UK spy series Spooks (broadcast as MI-5 in the US) had a character of a female CIA agent. It’s been a couple of years since I watched the show, but I remember the accent being pretty bad. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/75 "2015-03-20T00:54:06Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I’ve heard David Tenant’s was bad on the American version of Broadchurch. It was bad; I was distracted and couldn’t watch the show, and I’m completely drooly David T fangirl. I know Americans have a much “flatter” accent than people from England/Ireland/Scotland/Wales, but his was really laughably flat. I wish the show’s writers had come up with a backstory and let him use a British accent. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/76 "2015-03-20T00:56:39Z")
I think the worst American accent in the history of bad American accents was Nicola Bryant as Perpugilliam “Peri” Brown in classic Doctor Who. She was a companion for the Fifth and Sixth Doctors, and her voice was so annoying she was almost unwatchable for me. I suspect the only female Americans she’d ever heard were brassy diner waitresses. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/77 "2015-03-20T01:06:35Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > A lot of folks disagree with me, but I thought Brad Pitt’s Hillbilly accent in Inglorious Basterds was pretty bad. He sounded like an outsider unsuccessfully trying to imitate East Tennessee dialect. He was born in Oklahoma. What little I’ve heard from him in that movie sounded authentic as far as a southeastern kind of accent goes. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/78 "2015-03-20T01:22:04Z")
> [@Infovore](#): > > I think the worst American accent in the history of bad American accents was Nicola Bryant as Perpugilliam “Peri” Brown in classic Doctor Who. She was a companion for the Fifth and Sixth Doctors, and her voice was so annoying she was almost unwatchable for me. I suspect the only female Americans she’d ever heard were brassy diner waitresses. She talked? I swear to Rassilon, I never noticed. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/79 "2015-03-20T01:23:58Z")
> [@xizor](#): > > Andrew Lincoln (Rick from _The Walking Dead_) gets plenty of grieve for his accent. Especially since he is trying to play a southern Sheriff, which would be hard to pull off even for an American. Speaking as a small-town Southerner (in origin, at least), I’d say he does the accent reasonably well. Not perfectly, but passably. There are a lot worse fake Southern accents out there. Weirdly, British actors seem better able to do fake Southern accents than American actors who are not from around here. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/80 "2015-03-20T01:31:16Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > The UK spy series Spooks (broadcast as MI-5 in the US) had a character of a female CIA agent. It’s been a couple of years since I watched the show, but I remember the accent being pretty bad. I watched a couple of episodes on Netflix. Did you notice that it was Danny playing MLK in _Selma_. I too noticed the CIA agents peculiar accent. Perhaps it’s mid-Atlantic as the role was played by an [American](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0230155/) who moved to the UK in the late 90’s. The was an American character on _Luther_ played by Scottish actor Ross McCall. His accent was so bad I think it might have been intentional. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357.md?page=5)