# Worst attempts at British accents by American actors **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 23, 2016, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-attempts-at-british-accents-by-american-actors/746884 "2016-02-23T16:04:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-attempts-at-british-accents-by-american-actors/746884/21 "2016-02-23T19:24:04Z")
> [@Superdude](#): > > Part of the problem with doing an “American” accent is that that’s vague. There really isn’t a standard American accent. The regional dialects sometimes sound fake even to us. I was born in Southern Indiana. Spent my entire life in this area. Yet I consistently get told that I sound like I’m from Michigan (a state to which I’ve never been). > > It may be too broad for a Brit to try an American accent, since there are many different variations of that accent to be believable. are you under the impression that there is only one “British” dialect? If you think the USA accents are varied you ain’t heard nothin’ yet. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-attempts-at-british-accents-by-american-actors/746884/22 "2016-02-23T19:45:39Z")
Cannot stand listening to Angelina Jolie butcher the English accent. ---
**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:** [February 23, 2016, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-attempts-at-british-accents-by-american-actors/746884/23 "2016-02-23T19:51:27Z")
> [@BubbaDog](#): > > I would agree with you until I heard Andrew Lincoln call his screen son Carrrrroool. (Carl) - The Walking Dead And Sullivan Stapleton in Blindspot. I know that’s not the same because he is Australian but he is really bad. I knew he wasn’t American but didn’t know he wasn’t a Brit until I looked him up. To me it seems that too many Brit and Australian actors think whispering in a husky voice sounds American. Stapleton sounds like he is always out of breath. On the other end Damien Lewis is amazing with accents. ---
**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:** [February 23, 2016, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-attempts-at-british-accents-by-american-actors/746884/24 "2016-02-23T19:58:05Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > > [@sachertorte](#): > > > > Can we discuss the reverse too? It seems to me that British actors tend to do fine with American accents (House MD). I have trouble thinking of examples of bad fake American Accents. > > If you’re British and you’re good enough to get cast as an American on American television, I bet you’re spectacular. If you’re British and you’re working on British television, I bet they just needed to settle for someone who wouldn’t mangle it too embarrassingly and would show up on time for the latest DOCTOR WHO episode. > > My evidence is various DOCTOR WHO episodes. Another series with bad American accents was Spooks, a spy drama that was aired in the US as MI-5. In particular there was an actress playing an American who had a horrible accent. ---
**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:** [February 23, 2016, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-attempts-at-british-accents-by-american-actors/746884/25 "2016-02-23T19:59:26Z")
Don Cheadle in the Oceans 11+ movies. Great actor, horrible accent. And there really was no reason for him not to be American. ---
**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:** [February 23, 2016, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-attempts-at-british-accents-by-american-actors/746884/26 "2016-02-23T20:09:31Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Another series with bad American accents was Spooks, a spy drama that was aired in the US as MI-5. In particular there was an actress playing an American who had a horrible accent. Can you be more specific? I stopped watching past the first few seasons. The recurring role of a CIA agent in the first few seasons was played by Megan Dodds who is from California but has lived in the UK for years. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-attempts-at-british-accents-by-american-actors/746884/27 "2016-02-23T20:11:57Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > If you’re British and you’re good enough to get cast as an American on American television, I bet you’re spectacular. If you’re British and you’re working on British television, I bet they just needed to settle for someone who wouldn’t mangle it too embarrassingly and would show up on time for the latest DOCTOR WHO episode. > > My evidence is various DOCTOR WHO episodes. as I’ve remarked before, Leo McKern, who was undoubtedly great (He was Rumpole of the Bailey. And played The Village’s No. 2 more times than anyone else. And had tons of roles in movies from **Help!** to **A Man for All Seasons** to **The Blue Lagoon** and **The French Lieutenant’s Woman** ), couldn’t handle a North American accent to save his soul. His way of portraying a Canadian was to s-p-e-a-k v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y. ---
**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:** [February 23, 2016, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-attempts-at-british-accents-by-american-actors/746884/28 "2016-02-23T20:15:21Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Can you be more specific? I stopped watching past the first few seasons. The recurring role of a CIA agent in the first few seasons was played by Megan Dodds who is from California but has lived in the UK for years. The Irish actress Genevieve O’Reilly played a CIA agent later on in the series. Her accent was…unusual. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-attempts-at-british-accents-by-american-actors/746884/29 "2016-02-23T20:15:57Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I was watching Cinema Sins the other day and they sinned Robert Downey for his accent in _Sherlock Holmes_. This surprised me. I’m not British so I can’t really judge how good his accent is. But my understanding is that even British people found it authentic. I’m English and thought Downey was fine. (Maybe Jude Law helped him - they made a great team.) P.S. Great Britain is made up of England, Scotland and Wales. Sherlock Holmes was English. > [@Superdude](#): > > Part of the problem with doing an “American” accent is that that’s vague. There really isn’t a standard American accent. The regional dialects sometimes sound fake even to us. > [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > are you under the impression that there is only one “British” dialect? If you think the USA accents are varied you ain’t heard nothin’ yet. See above about the non-existence of a ‘British’ accent. You can argue that there’s an ‘educated’ English accent, but here’s some of the English accents I can easily tell apart: North London South London West Country Birmingham Liverpool Newcastle ---
**Author:** ![Scougs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scougs/32/3158_2.png) [@Scougs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scougs)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-attempts-at-british-accents-by-american-actors/746884/30 "2016-02-23T20:24:57Z")
The attempt to portray Robert Plant in the first episode of Vinyl was absolutely woeful: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdAwCLkpgUc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdAwCLkpgUc) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-attempts-at-british-accents-by-american-actors/746884/31 "2016-02-23T20:26:06Z")
> [@glee](#): > > I’m English and thought Downey was fine. (Maybe Jude Law helped him - they made a great team.) > > P.S. Great Britain is made up of England, Scotland and Wales. Sherlock Holmes was English. > > See above about the non-existence of a ‘British’ accent. > You can argue that there’s an ‘educated’ English accent, but here’s some of the English accents I can easily tell apart: > > North London > South London > West Country > Birmingham > Liverpool > Newcastle I was at a meeting over the weekend where one of the participants observed that “Americans think I have a British accent. Australians think I have an American accent. Only the British seem to realize that I have an Australian accent, although it’s not a standard one.” ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-attempts-at-british-accents-by-american-actors/746884/32 "2016-02-23T20:39:18Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I was at a meeting over the weekend where one of the participants observed that “Americans think I have a British accent. Australians think I have an American accent. Only the British seem to realize that I have an Australian accent, although it’s not a standard one.” Slight derail, but: recently I started watching an Australian show made in Melbourne: _Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries_. I’m intrigued by the way that accents are handled–only a few cast members sound (to my American ears) Australian, while most of the cast use what sounds like a generic sort of Oxbridge accent. (Perhaps they film more than one version, for sale to differing markets…?) ---
**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:** [February 23, 2016, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-attempts-at-british-accents-by-american-actors/746884/33 "2016-02-23T20:45:47Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > If you’re British and you’re good enough to get cast as an American on American television, I bet you’re spectacular. If you’re British and you’re working on British television, I bet they just needed to settle for someone who wouldn’t mangle it too embarrassingly and would show up on time for the latest DOCTOR WHO episode. > > My evidence is various DOCTOR WHO episodes. QFT. My first thought when I read **sachertorte** ’s post about bad American accents was “Daleks In Manhattan”. Those were some _awful_ attempts at American speech. Marc Sheppard wasn’t bad in “The Impossible Astronaut”, but really the only actor on _Doctor Who_ who sounds like an American is John Barrowman. And he got his Midwestern accent honestly: by growing up in Normal, Illinois. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-attempts-at-british-accents-by-american-actors/746884/34 "2016-02-23T20:50:26Z")
Elisabeth Moss attempting a Sydney accent in **Top of the Lake**. It seemed like they tried to keep her dialog to a minimum, as she was hopeless. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-attempts-at-british-accents-by-american-actors/746884/35 "2016-02-23T20:54:23Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Slight derail, but: recently I started watching an Australian show made in Melbourne: _Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries_. I’m intrigued by the way that accents are handled–only a few cast members sound (to my American ears) Australian, while most of the cast use what sounds like a generic sort of Oxbridge accent. (Perhaps they film more than one version, for sale to differing markets…?) I could be wrong, but wasn’t that once upon a time a class marker in Australia? That is the “standard” Australian accent ( to American ears ) was that of the hoi polloi, while the wealthy spoke in an accent much closer to the Queen’s English? ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-attempts-at-british-accents-by-american-actors/746884/36 "2016-02-23T21:36:26Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > I could be wrong, but wasn’t that once upon a time a class marker in Australia? That is the “standard” Australian accent ( to American ears ) was that of the hoi polloi, while the wealthy spoke in an accent much closer to the Queen’s English? Come to think of it, that _does_ seem to be the rule for who ‘sounds Australian’ (to Americans) in the show, and who doesn’t–that is, it’s the working-class characters who have the Aussie sound. (And the show _is_ set in the 1920s.) ---
**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:** [February 23, 2016, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-attempts-at-british-accents-by-american-actors/746884/37 "2016-02-23T21:43:44Z")
The reason Carrie Fishers accent ‘melts away’ is because she’s not addressing Imperials after she’s rescued. Dinklage’s accent is so bad he REALLY isn’t doing an English accent. It’s basically Dinklage doing an affected voice. I’ve done the same in a few plays where the character is ‘European’. I just throw out a voice and by the time the show starts its just taken on a life of its own. A few observations. Costner in JFK, not bad. Costner in Thirteen Days? “Oh GOD is he going to talk like this the whole show”?? Best American doing a British accent? Forrest Whitaker of all people in The Crying Game. ---
**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:** [February 23, 2016, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-attempts-at-british-accents-by-american-actors/746884/38 "2016-02-23T22:16:57Z")
I dunno. Gwyneth Paltrow’s RP in _Shakespeare In Love_ and _Sliding Doors_ sounded authentic to me. But I’m not British, so my opinion might not have much value. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2016, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-attempts-at-british-accents-by-american-actors/746884/39 "2016-02-23T22:29:22Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > I dunno. Gwyneth Paltrow’s RP in _Shakespeare In Love_ and _Sliding Doors_ sounded authentic to me. But I’m not British, so my opinion might not have much value. Renee Zellweger got an office job in England, passing as a Brit among Brits, to hone her accent for BRIDGET JONES’ DIARY (for which she was BAFTA-nominated). ---
**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:** [February 23, 2016, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-attempts-at-british-accents-by-american-actors/746884/40 "2016-02-23T23:06:15Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Renee Zellweger got an office job in England, passing as a Brit among Brits, to hone her accent for BRIDGET JONES’ DIARY (for which she was BAFTA-nominated). She pretty much nailed that accent, impressively so. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-attempts-at-british-accents-by-american-actors/746884.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-attempts-at-british-accents-by-american-actors/746884.md?page=3)