UK actors playing Americans

[IndyJones]

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

Meh. It didn't bother me as a 30's Chicago gangster accent. <shrugs> But what do I know? I would have called him Stephen Graham from Snatch.

On Fringe:

Anna Torv is Australian
John Noble is Australian
Joshua Jackson is Canadian

Except Canadians don't have an accent (unless you happen to live on the east coast), so typically they don't have to change the way they speak.

I know a girl from Manitoba that jas a Hell of an accent.


I'll add Kevin McKidd to the list, he's been on Journeyman and Grey's Anatomy.

Another Rome castmember on an American show (filmed in Canada) is Polly Walker on Caprica - though I don't think she faked an accent in the pilot. Also in Rome is Paula Malcomson, who was amazing in Deadwood.

 

[Skywalker]

A lot of actors in Band of Brothers were Brits playing Americans, though I suppose that makes sense since it was co-produced by the BBC and filmed in England. I'm sure there will be a lot of Australians playing Americans in The Pacific.

Then there's Buffy/Angel's Alexis Denisof, who was born in Maryland, grew up in Seattle, and went to prep school in New Hampshire before moving to London. I've never heard him speak with anything other than the English accent he used as Wesley Wyndam-Pryce and Lord Rossendale (in the Sharpe movies), though. Maybe I should listen to some of the commentaries on my Angel DVDs or something.

 

[captcalhoun]

Connery's never done anything other his natural accent. check out 'The Longest Day', he plays an Irish soldier with his natural accent and that pre-dates Doctor No.

 

[Skywalker]

Did he use his natural accent in Darby O'Gill and the Little People? I haven't seen that movie in like twenty years, so I can't really remember.

 

[Sci]

I can't really remember.

"That's not what your mother said about me last night, Trebek!"

 

[Skywalker]

I can't really remember.

"That's not what your mother said about me last night, Trebek!"

 

[Deckerd]

Connery's never done anything other his natural accent. check out 'The Longest Day', he plays an Irish soldier with his natural accent and that pre-dates Doctor No.

Gerard Butler is the same. He just doesn't bother because presumably he would sound terrible.

 

[BigFoot]

^ Butler does an American accent in The Ugly Truth.

 

[Deckerd]

Well that's me told!

 

[BigFoot]

^ It didn't take long did it?

 

[Christopher]

I think its safe to say that us BRITS make better AMERICANS than you yanks .

Hah. I've seen Brits trying to do American accents in old Doctor Who episodes, and it could get pretty dire. For that matter, some of the faux-American accents in the new series haven't been much better, though some have been excellent.

 

[Captaindemotion]

Re Connery: he did very bad Irish accents in Darby O'Gill and in The Untouchables. They basically consisted of throwing in the odd 'Begorrah' and more or less speaking in his usual accent. In my experience of being in the US, many Americans can't tell Irish or Scottish accents apart, so he probably didn't care. Mind you, I was amazed that in The Rock, Connery left in the line when one of the bad guys called him 'you English prick.' I was sure that when Connery floored him, he would then say 'Scottish, actually' but nope, the line went uncorrected. Incidentally, the only time I recall Connery trying to do an American accent was in The Anderson Tapes.

To be fair, thinking about this thread, a lot of British and Irish actors are worse at doing other British or Irish accents than they are at doing US ones. Gerard Butler's Oirish accent in PS I Love You has already achieved mythic status (no wonder they wanted him to play the young version of the Connery character in the prequel to The Untouchables). This, even though the Irish and Scottish accents are hardly totally dissimilar to begin with.

Christopher Eccleston's Scottish one in GI Joe is apparently equally bad and he comes from the North of England (Manchester). Funny enough, his successor as Dr Who, David Tennant, is Scottish and does a pretty good Estuary English accent to my ears.

Liam Neeson did a pretty crummy Scottish accent in Rob Roy. The bizarre thing is that in the town he comes from, Ballymena, everyone speaks with a friggin' Scottish accent to begin with - it's more way Scottish than Irish. It actually takes an effort for a Ballymena man not to speak with a Scottish accent! IIRC, his Cockney in The Dead Pool was pretty ropey too. Then again, Liam did an excellent Cork accent in Michael Collins and that's a notoriously hard accent to get right.

Sean Bean did woeful Irish accents in The Field and Patriot Games (who the hell asked him to reprise his Oirish accent?!).

The only good Irish accents by British actors I can think of offhand were Ken Stott in Mickeybo and Me, Robert Carlyle in Angela's Ashes and Ian Hart in Michael Collins. I'm sure plenty of British BBSers will be able to point out woeful English, Welsh and Scottish accents done by Irish actors, though.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I think its safe to say that us BRITS make better AMERICANS than you yanks .

Hah. I've seen Brits trying to do American accents in old Doctor Who episodes, and it could get pretty dire. For that matter, some of the faux-American accents in the new series haven't been much better, though some have been excellent.

Good old Peri. There seems to be a school of thought with British actors that if you sound nasally and flat, you're doing an American accent.

 

[Christopher]

I think its safe to say that us BRITS make better AMERICANS than you yanks .

Hah. I've seen Brits trying to do American accents in old Doctor Who episodes, and it could get pretty dire. For that matter, some of the faux-American accents in the new series haven't been much better, though some have been excellent.

Good old Peri. There seems to be a school of thought with British actors that if you sound nasally and flat, you're doing an American accent.

I wasn't referring to Peri. Nicola Bryant had dual English-American citizenship, and I'm pretty sure she was using her natural accent (or if not "natural," the hybrid accent she'd developed over years of living in both countries). I was thinking more of the guy from one of the early Jo Grant stories ("The Mind of Evil," maybe) who was playing an American agent and just sounded ridiculous. And there were some pretty dire American accents in "Daleks in Manhattan" as well. Not to mention that early Big Finish audio adventure with Paul McGann that was set in pre-WWII New York. Not only did the accents suck, but the research was inept too, such as having the CIA exist before WWII. I think they eventually retconned that by claiming it was the result of someone tampering with history.

For whatever reason, English people doing bad American accents often seem to end up doing a Southern or Western drawl. Maybe that's easier for a Brit to approximate, or maybe they've just seen too many Westerns. (Ironically, I've seen British novelists describe the American accent as a drawl and American novelists describe the British accent as a drawl.)

 

[Captaindemotion]

^I thought Patterson Joseph, who was tipped to be the 11th Doctor, did an awful American accent in Jekyll. I like him in Peep Show, but after seeing him in Jekyll, couldn't bear the idea of him as The Doctor (even though that wouldn't require a US accent).

 

[Nerys Myk]

Hah. I've seen Brits trying to do American accents in old Doctor Who episodes, and it could get pretty dire. For that matter, some of the faux-American accents in the new series haven't been much better, though some have been excellent.

Good old Peri. There seems to be a school of thought with British actors that if you sound nasally and flat, you're doing an American accent.

I wasn't referring to Peri. Nicola Bryant had dual English-American citizenship, and I'm pretty sure she was using her natural accent (or if not "natural," the hybrid accent she'd developed over years of living in both countries). I was thinking more of the guy from one of the early Jo Grant stories ("The Mind of Evil," maybe) who was playing an American agent and just sounded ridiculous. And there were some pretty dire American accents in "Daleks in Manhattan" as well. Not to mention that early Big Finish audio adventure with Paul McGann that was set in pre-WWII New York. Not only did the accents suck, but the research was inept too, such as having the CIA exist before WWII. I think they eventually retconned that by claiming it was the result of someone tampering with history.

For whatever reason, English people doing bad American accents often seem to end up doing a Southern or Western drawl. Maybe that's easier for a Brit to approximate, or maybe they've just seen too many Westerns. (Ironically, I've seen British novelists describe the American accent as a drawl and American novelists describe the British accent as a drawl.)

Peri was just the first one to come to mind. According to wiki, Nicola Bryant grew up in a village in Surrey, near Guildford. They mention she was married to an American, so that might account of the dual citizenship but not the bad accent.

 

[Christopher]

I knew I had this... I just went through my old copies of The Whovian Times, a tabloid fanzine published by the Doctor Who Fan Club of America back in the days before the Web. The back page of Vol. 12/13, a double issue from 1985, has an interview with Nicola Bryant, in which she says:

I have dual nationality, British/American. I have relations and friends in the States, but I currently live in England as do my parents; and I've travelled back and forth between both countries and lived in both. I'm what J[ohn] N[athan]-T[urner] calls a long-distance commuter.

I'd call that more authoritative than Wikipedia.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I knew I had this... I just went through my old copies of The Whovian Times, a tabloid fanzine published by the Doctor Who Fan Club of America back in the days before the Web. The back page of Vol. 12/13, a double issue from 1985, has an interview with Nicola Bryant, in which she says:

I have dual nationality, British/American. I have relations and friends in the States, but I currently live in England as do my parents; and I've travelled back and forth between both countries and lived in both. I'm what J[ohn] N[athan]-T[urner] calls a long-distance commuter.

I'd call that more authoritative than Wikipedia.

What would she know!!!!
ETA: Though her bio on her official website makes no mention of an American connection.

I grew up in a small Surrey village just outside Guildford. My parents, Sheila and Denis had two daughters. I came along first and then three years later, my little sister Tracy arrived. Both sets of grandparents and many aunts and uncles all lived in the same village. It was a great way to grow up. It gave both my sister and I such freedom. Only once you reached your teens did the cosiness start to feel a little claustrophobic but that's all a part of growing up.

curiousier and curiouser

 

[captcalhoun]

^I thought Patterson Joseph, who was tipped to be the 11th Doctor, did an awful American accent in Jekyll. I like him in Peep Show, but after seeing him in Jekyll, couldn't bear the idea of him as The Doctor (even though that wouldn't require a US accent).

yeah, i never got that accent, it was just... W...T...F...!

 

[Christopher]

I knew I had this... I just went through my old copies of The Whovian Times, a tabloid fanzine published by the Doctor Who Fan Club of America back in the days before the Web. The back page of Vol. 12/13, a double issue from 1985, has an interview with Nicola Bryant, in which she says:

I have dual nationality, British/American. I have relations and friends in the States, but I currently live in England as do my parents; and I've travelled back and forth between both countries and lived in both. I'm what J[ohn] N[athan]-T[urner] calls a long-distance commuter.

I'd call that more authoritative than Wikipedia.

What would she know!!!!
ETA: Though her bio on her official website makes no mention of an American connection.

I grew up in a small Surrey village just outside Guildford. My parents, Sheila and Denis had two daughters. I came along first and then three years later, my little sister Tracy arrived. Both sets of grandparents and many aunts and uncles all lived in the same village. It was a great way to grow up. It gave both my sister and I such freedom. Only once you reached your teens did the cosiness start to feel a little claustrophobic but that's all a part of growing up.

curiousier and curiouser

I don't see any inconsistency. "Grew up" refers to her childhood and adolescence, not her entire life. And just because she spent most of her time there while growing up doesn't mean she never left it.

Also, in the Whovian Times interview, she was specifically responding to a question about her nationality and how American she was. In her website, she's just talking in broad terms about her formative years. They're different subjects, so she emphasizes different aspects of her history. Nothing strange about that.