# 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:** 5
**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, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/81 "2015-03-20T01:32:19Z")
In my experience, the biggest sin of British actors trying to do American accents is that their “American” accents often tend to be pretty New-York-ish, whether or not that is appropriate to the character. Dominic West as McNulty in _The Wire_ is an example of this. He sounded more “New York” than “Baltimore.” ---
**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, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/82 "2015-03-20T01:35:42Z")
The accents of the [stereotypical fat American tourists in **In Bruges**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaPzN2gD3PQ) are pretty awful. ---
**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 20, 2015, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/83 "2015-03-20T01:57:19Z")
> [@GovernmentMan](#): > > 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. And your definition of “grew up” is exaggerated. She was in England basically from 2 to 11. Then she lived in The U.S. From 11 into adulthood. So by the time she was in the X-Files she had lived in the U.S. 16 out of 25 years. > [@bump](#): > > 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. I wouldn’t say exaggerated exactly. Maybe he is trying a bit too much to have a neutral American newsman accent. But to me it doesn’t sound unnatural. > [@Spoke](#): > > In my experience, the biggest sin of British actors trying to do American accents is that their “American” accents often tend to be pretty New-York-ish, whether or not that is appropriate to the character. Dominic West as McNulty in _The Wire_ is an example of this. He sounded more “New York” than “Baltimore.” Yeah I never thought West’s accent was great. Not the worst but not exactly natural. Unlike Idris Elba on The Wire. I never would have thought he was not American. Or Eamon Walker on Oz. Perfect. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/84 "2015-03-20T02:25:26Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > Anybody else remember when Lucy Lawless had a flawless fake “generic” American accent on _Xena_, while Renee O’Connor, who was from Texas, had a regional accent, and was actually harder to understand (for people not from Texas) than Lawless? No. But I remember LL having an accent that wasn’t particularly easy to place, but not quite right for “generic American”, and nothing notable about Renee O’Connor’s accent at all. Certainly didn’t sound very Texan to me (not that I could likely accurately place the various south western accents anyway), nor was it in any way hard to understand. If either of them sounded “generic American” it was Renee. For me, the worst “American” accent by a non-American actor was in some show called Demons they ran briefly on BBCA. Philip Glenister’s accent on the show was so non-American, it makes me wonder if he’s ever even met an American or listened to an American speak in his life. Also, his character was named Rupert… How many Americans are named Rupert? I’m sure there may be an outlier or two, but it has to be approaching zero. The character was quite explicitly supposed to be American, though. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/85 "2015-03-20T02:30:54Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > 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. Heh, “Ihm uh frennd of Xandurr’s” ---
**Author:** ![Daffyd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/daffyd/32/8923_2.png) [@Daffyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daffyd)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/86 "2015-03-20T03:04:17Z")
Archie Panjabi who plays Kalinda on The Good Wife drives me crazy… She’s supposed to be American, but constantly loses her accent and sounds British… ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/87 "2015-03-20T03:12:09Z")
> [@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. This is my answer as well. I had actually seen quite several of the stories featuring Peri before **Rhiannon8404** informed me that she was supposed to be American. ---
**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:** [March 20, 2015, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/88 "2015-03-20T03:18:18Z")
My viewing is so split between American and British shows, plus calling all over the English-speaking world for work, that I’ve mostly stopped noticing that anybody has an accent. Plus people’s accents are getting homogenized. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/89 "2015-03-20T03:43:32Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Good choice. Although many BBC shows over the years didn’t pay too close attention to American accents. > > 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. > > Band of Brothers was filed with actors doing incredibly good American accents. Many of them I couldn’t tell were British until I looked it up later. The one that stood out as spectacularly bad was Marc Warren as Albert Blithe who was the main character in one of the episodes. > [@Alessan](#): > > She was a guest on\* Top Gear\* a few weeks ago, and spoke with an English accent. [Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ndCFtjenWg&t=1872). > [@planetcory](#): > > She uses her American accent in America and her English accent in England. > [@MrAtoz](#): > > Gillian Anderson’s accent varies, depending on where she is. As noted, she was born in the U.S., but spent much of her childhood in England. > > When she’s in England, she speaks with an English accent. When she’s in the U.S., she speaks with an American accent. She’s talked about this herself, and claims that this is not any kind of affectation. It’s just something that happens to her voice, often without her even realizing that her accent has changed until someone points it out. > [@MrDibble](#): > > Anderson is bi. > -[dialectal](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/bidialectal), that is. > > I know the word because I am, too. > [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > On the other hand, I’ve seen her on _Top Gear_, speaking with a British accent. I think she’s a reverse John Barrowman - American native, but spent enough time in the UK in her childhood to pick up a British accent and can code-switch on demand. Damn. Quintuplely ninja’d. That’s a personal record. ---
**Author:** ![Scruff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Scruff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruff)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/90 "2015-03-20T06:10:32Z")
Philip Glenister (the much-loved DCI Gene Hunt in _Life on Mars_ and _Ashes to Ashes_) played an American of some kind in _Demons_. The accent was diabolically bad. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/91 "2015-03-20T07:21:52Z")
> [@TCMF-2L](#): > > As it happens I believe I know the answer to this one. > > Horror film _ **The Devil’s Tomb** _ starring (former Oscar winner) Cuba Gooding junior has a cameo by Ray Winstone who for unknown (and very misguided) reasons attempts to adopt his notoriously London accent into what I’m guessing is supposed to be American. Truly, stunningly bad. > > He also picks up bonus points for portraying a ‘Special Forces Soldier’ with a pronounced beer gut. > > An odd film. Gooding is on autopilot and just frowns the whole film. Ron Perlman also has a cameo which he phones in. Henry Rollins - tattoos and all - is a priest and hams it up to pantomime levels possibly thinking he is in another film althogether. > > TCMF-2L I’m surprised no-one has picked up on this, because just the thought of Ray Winstone trying to battle the unstoppable force of his east end brogue made me grimace. I couldn’t actually find a clip from that movie, but in [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIxQFUV_AcA&spfreload=10) Adam & Joe youTube audio file, they play various clips of him trying to do an American accent (note: there’s a long intro. The first example is at **1:50** ) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/92 "2015-03-20T08:03:11Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > That’s ridiculous, her accent as the British (main character) clone is really very good. No, he’s saying that her accent _when being Alison imitating Sara_ (or Helena imitating (I think) Beth) is hilariously (intentionally) bad. And it was in Dick Van Dyke territory. Which is great acting. > [@](#): > > Not as good as the chap that plays the male lead though, his English accent is phenomenal. Probably the best I have ever heard. I know, right? I was sooo shocked when I heard his natural accent. ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/93 "2015-03-20T09:34:13Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > I’m surprised no-one has picked up on this, because just the thought of Ray Winstone trying to battle the unstoppable force of his east end brogue made me grimace. > > I couldn’t actually find a clip from that movie, but in [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIxQFUV_AcA&spfreload=10) Adam & Joe youTube audio file, they play various clips of him trying to do an American accent (note: there’s a long intro. The first example is at **1:50** ) No one has picked up on this because: 1. It is a thread killer. The question: The worst American accent? The answer: Ray Winstone in _ **The Devil’s Tomb** _. The children can squabble over Gillian Anderson all they like. The Daddy has spoken. The OP has their answer. 2. Probably no one else has actually watched _ **The Devil’s Tomb** _. It is a horror film and is, appropriately, quite gory. It has high (-ish) production values. But the script and the acting are dreadful. As for Ray he only has a cameo in the film (and his role adds very little to the narrative) so he doesn’t appear in the trailer. He pops up regularly in flashbacks although he only really speaks in an extended appearance towards the very end of the film. TCMF-2L ---
**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, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/94 "2015-03-20T16:37:41Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > No, he’s saying that her accent _when being Alison imitating Sara_ (or Helena imitating (I think) Beth) is hilariously (intentionally) bad. And it was in Dick Van Dyke territory. Which is great acting. Yeah, I totally misread that. In my defence, I totally misread a lot of things. ---
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/95 "2015-03-20T19:16:44Z")
Re: Gillian Anderson. Before I knew any of the above tidbits, I just assumed she was Canadian. I guess that’s my go-to when a U.S. accent seems a little “off.” Plus, I think most of the show was filmed in B.C. or thereabouts. Part of that is my own experience. I’ve lived in several regions of the U.S., including Chicago, Arizona, Houston, and rural Georgia, plus I lived with people off and on from Eastern Europe and England, so (esp. as a teenager) people would try to guess my accent. Inevitably someone would say I must be from Canada, and other people would say, “Oh, yeah, duh.” LOL. Apparently I enunciated too crisply for everyone, but drawled the wrong things, too. But I am the worst person for unconsciously mimicking accents. I imagine Anderson has a similar issue. As such, the other actors mentioned above–those I’m familiar with–I don’t really see issue with. Peri from Doctor Who sounded pretty Midwestern to me (had to look up some clips, **AncientHumanoid** …she was distractingly cute). The problem is, the writers still gave her plenty of British constructs in her speech that she had to work around. People make fun of Andrew Lincoln, but he also doesn’t sound too off to me. I never, ever, would have guessed that he was English. Maybe someone from Kentucky trying to sound more Deep South, but that’s about it. For fun: [Accent Tag - Atlanta, Georgia - Authentic Atlanta Native Accent - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGxsH6SgKYk) (some lady from Georgia) [Andrew Lincoln on Developing Rick's Accent for The Walking Dead - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhE0qdJT-Ek) (Lincoln talking about his accent shift) Hugh Laurie sounds natural to me, also. In fact, his “House” accent sounds like a lot like me, except that he doesn’t round his vowels enough. And the gender disparity, of course. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/96 "2015-03-20T19:33:10Z")
I know people from the part of New Jersey where House’s hospital is supposed to be, and they talk like that. I really think Hugh Laurie must have been imitating a particular person, his accent was so good. I watched a little of _Gracepoint_ to see the fuss about David Tenant. My husband said he thought the accent was OK, but weird, coming from Tenant. I’m not a _Doctor Who_ watcher, so that meant nothing to me, but I thought his vowels were fine, he didn’t trill his Rs, and so forth, but there was still something about his manner of speaking that wasn’t American. Maybe it was his intonation, or maybe his character just didn’t come across as an American cop. I should watch more of the show, probably, I just watched about 30 minutes of clips. Still, it seemed to me that if he’d been playing something else, like the headmaster of a private school in Boston, or a district attorney, or something, he could have pulled off the accent, but there was something all wrong, almost uncanny valley about him as an American in that particular show, in that role. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/97 "2015-03-20T19:49:00Z")
Madonna apparently lives somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. ---
**Author:** ![GovernmentMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e9c0ed/32.png) [@GovernmentMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GovernmentMan)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/98 "2015-03-20T19:50:31Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > And your definition of “grew up” is exaggerated. She was in England basically from 2 to 11. Then she lived in The U.S. From 11 into adulthood. So by the time she was in the X-Files she had lived in the U.S. 16 out of 25 years. Years 1.5 - 11. The ages you actually learn to speak. Her British accent is her natural accent. The American one was acquired later. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/99 "2015-03-20T20:51:31Z")
:smack: I must have a terrible ear because I thought Hugh Laurie did fine on House (except for maybe an off word very infrequently) and David Tennant did fine on Gracepoint. ---
**Author:** ![planetcory](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/planetcory/32/1032_2.png) [@planetcory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/planetcory)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2015, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357/100 "2015-03-20T23:41:24Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Unlike Idris Elba on The Wire. I never would have thought he was not American. Once you _do_ know, though, you can hear the English accent leaking out all over the place. He struggled with the R’s sometimes. Like how he pronounces ‘work’ here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGgRtiCVo2w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGgRtiCVo2w) Also how he says ‘do it.’ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-american-accents-in-mainstream-roles/715357.md?page=6)