UK actors playing Americans

[Captaindemotion]

I've just finished watching The Wire and was pondering how TV companies go about casting. The actors were all superb but it was surprising to see two of the principals were English. Was it an aberration because The Wire was so very classy and the casting went for the perfect actor? Or is this a trend?

There was also the Irish actor Aiden Gillen, who played Carcetti. The original pilot for Life On Mars featured 2 Irish actors in the lead, Jason O'Meara as Sam Tyler (who remained in the series) and Colm Meaney as Gene Hunt.

The late Glen Quinn was Irish American and got to show off his US accent in Roseanne, then his Irish one in Angel.

Funnily enough, Dominic West (who's Anglo-Irish incidentally), McNulty in The Wire, was (tongue in cheek, I think) moaning about US or other non-British actors playing iconic British roles - Russell Crowe as Robin Hood, RDJ as Sherlock Holmes. He said he was playing the Australian inventor of penicillen as a way of getting one back for the Brits. It was reported as a 'rant' on his part, but I'm pretty sure he was just having a joke. BTW, West was the second choice for the role of McNulty - the first was another Brit, Ray Winston. West also recently played Jigsaw in The Punisher - War Zone opposite fellow Brit Ray Stevenson, while the role of Jigsaw was also offered to their countryman Paddy Considine.

Interestingly enough, The Wire's Clarke Peters, aka Lester Freamon, is now based in the UK.

 

[RoJoHen]

And as shocking as it may sound, not one of the actors who's played Superman was actually Kryptonian!

I knew it! None of them could ever get the accent quite right.

 

[Deckerd]

Can Ray Winstone do an American accent? I don't believe it! [/Victor Meldrew]

Dominic West may have Oirish ancestry but he describes himself as English. I had no idea the Carcetti actor was Irish though. What a stellar cast they was.

 

[Ethros]

I love Stephen Graham (Combo in This Is England etc,) but in regards to his Amercian "accent" in the recent Public Enemies... Ich don't think so

 

[Captaindemotion]

Can Ray Winstone do an American accent? I don't believe it! [/Victor Meldrew]

Dominic West may have Oirish ancestry but he describes himself as English. I had no idea the Carcetti actor was Irish though. What a stellar cast they was.

I think Winstone did an American accent in The Departed. Bit wobbly as I recall, but adequate enough.

West is English all right, I'm not trying to steal him. But he did say in an interview that when he played Oliver Cromwell (still reviled in Ireland), his Irish mother fell out with him and wouldn't talk to him for a week! He also went to Trinity College Dublin, so he seems to have retained some links with his parents' country.

 

[nevermore]

I've just finished watching The Wire and was pondering how TV companies go about casting. The actors were all superb but it was surprising to see two of the principals were English.

Yeah, but Dominic West's attempt at a Baltimore accent was distractingly bad, especially in the first season. He sounded like he was from Boston at best. Of course, this was probably only noticeable of you're from Baltimore...and then it was .

Idris Elba, on the other hand, was right on for the part.

 

[Aragorn]

Anyone remember "The Nanny"? When the show aired in the UK, Charles Shaughnessy (from London) got criticized for his phony British accent and it was suggested that he should work on it with someone who does a good accent -- co-star Daniel Davis (from Arkansas).

 

[Captaindemotion]

^ I read an interview with the Jonah Hex panel at comic-con yesterday and Josh Brolin said that when he showed rushes of the movie to a friend, the friend reckoned that co-star Michael Fassbender didn't do a very convincing Irish accent. Guess where Fassbender is from? Answers on a postcard to County Kerry, Ireland Contest, PO Box ...

 

[TerriO]

You've got a New Zealander playing a doctor from Atlanta

Yeah, but that's Karl. The man played Cupid as a Valley boy in Xena. This is not unusual for him.

There's also Claire Danes (a New Yorker) plays a fallen star with a fairly good generic English accent in Stardust.

Sienna Miller, who always seems to be playing a British character every time I see her in a movie, is also from New York City.

Never underestimate the power of a good dialect coach.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Sienna Miller, who always seems to be playing a British character every time I see her in a movie, is also from New York City.

Sienna Miller was born in New York City, but she she was raised in the UK. Her English accent is her natural accent. She has, however, put on an American accent at times, most notably in Factory Girl.

 

[sidious618]

Idris Elba, on the other hand, was right on for the part.

Idris Elba is right for any part.

 

[Flibble]

I've seen Peter Wingfield (who is Welsh?) playing Americans a few times, most recently in 24.

 

[TerriO]

Sienna Miller, who always seems to be playing a British character every time I see her in a movie, is also from New York City.

Sienna Miller was born in New York City, but she she was raised in the UK. Her English accent is her natural accent. She has, however, put on an American accent at times, most notably in Factory Girl.

In which case the dialect coach would be adjustment to the new surroundings.

 

[DevilEyes]

more Brits playing Americans:

Lena Headey in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

Lennie James in Jericho

Eamonn Walker in Oz

Anna Friel in Pushing Daisies

Joely Richardson in Nip/Tuck

 

[captcalhoun]

i still have a hard time believing James Marsters and David Anders aren't English. their accents are so nailed on...

and then of course, you've got John Barrowman who was born in Scotland, raised in America and switches accents at will.

and of course, Christian Bale's actually Welsh but does press for the Bat flicks in his American accent to avoid confusing people...

 

[Kirby]

Then there is Patrick Stewart. An Englishman, who played a Frenchman and he didn't even try to alter his natural English accent.

Yeah... let's get into this debate again...

 

[ITL]

Then there is Patrick Stewart. An Englishman, who played a Frenchman and he didn't even try to alter his natural English accent.

Yeah... let's get into this debate again...

That "natural" accent is a learned one - for Mr Stewart is a Yorkshireman, who don't speak all posh like Picard...

 

[Christopher]

Sienna Miller was born in New York City, but she she was raised in the UK. Her English accent is her natural accent.

A similar biography to the late Patrick McGoohan, born in Queens, raised in Ireland and England.

i still have a hard time believing James Marsters and David Anders aren't English. their accents are so nailed on...

Marsters' English accent in his first few Buffy appearances was pretty lame. We have Anthony Stewart Head to thank for helping him improve it.

Juliet Landau's Cockney accent in Buffy was also fake, and I don't think she ever quite got it right.

 

[Dorian Thompson]

Two of the Wire's principals were English? I knew that Idris Elba was English. Who's the other one?

 

[cultcross]

Juliet Landau's Cockney accent in Buffy was also fake, and I don't think she ever quite got it right.

It was dire. She competes with some of the accents of the Potentials in the 7th season for the worst British accents I've ever heard on screen.