Which British actors do you notice slipping up with their American accent?
Posted by SpiritualBathroom937@reddit | AskAnAmerican | View on Reddit | 532 comments
A lot of British actors get credit for pulling off convincing American accents, and many of them do a great job. But every now and then, you catch a moment, a vowel sound, a dropped “r,” or just a weird rhythm where the accent slips and the Britishness sneaks through.
Mistermxylplyx@reddit
I think on a whole, Brits do far better imitating American accents than the reverse. Half the Americans who’ve tried seem to be channeling Oliver Twist.
But Gary Oldman’s southern-ish accent in Fifth Element grated on me. I’ve just chalked it up to he’s playing a despicable character and that bad accent works for the movie, but it was jarring the first go round.
ke3408@reddit
I think playing criminally insane characters is the only time it really works. Robert Pattinson American accent is not that convincing but his weird accent in Devil all the time worked well for the character
ke3408@reddit
So many. Jude law in midnight in the garden was comically bad. the southern accents are pretty atrocious across the British spectrum though. The bad accents in Devil all the time for example. But even the passable accents throw off the performance. It is like they are trying to chew through a second mouth. It's distracting, especially recent actors they keep pushing into roles. They aren't skilled enough to pull off a fake accent in a performance that lets you forget they are acting. Personally I don't see why they don't change the story to better fit the desired cast. Like the "Americans" in Midsommer, they didn't have to be Americans, it wasn't crucial to the story, and the off accents felt cheesy. why bother?
peege636@reddit
Rebecca Ferguson in the most recent season of Silo. The first two seasons were tolerable but I think she just gave up in the most recent.
Belisama7@reddit
I haven't even seen the most recent season and she was my first thought. At first I thought maybe she was doing a silo accent, like maybe language had changed while they were all down there. But nope, it's just her.
alcarcalimo1950@reddit
Well she’s Swedish
peege636@reddit
lol whoops
Adelaidey@reddit
Jude Law. The way he strings words together is just inescapably British, like if he calls something "fucked up" he'll pronounce it "fuck tup".
ke3408@reddit
Jude Law is a repeat offense. Midnight in the Garden is the American equivalent to Dick Van Dike in Mary Poppins and the fact he and repeat offender Nicole Kidman played the leads in Cold Mountain....my gawd. It is nuts when you hear non Americans talk about how 'easy' our accents are because clearly they have no idea what the accent sounds like
theFrenchBearJr@reddit
Not British, but Mason's VA in CoD: Black Ops gets hilariously muddled with his native Australian and the generic angry American voice he chose for the role
44035@reddit
There's a scene in Contagion where Kate Winslet uses a weird pronunciation for "Taco Bell." She puts the emphasis on the wrong syllable.
thatswacyo@reddit
Did she not emphasize "Bell"? That's the mistake I hear foreigners make the most often.
MattieShoes@reddit
I dunno, but Brits say tack-ohs which hurts my soul.
They also seem to try French pronunciations for Spanish. Like instead of tres, they say trez.
thatswacyo@reddit
The funny thing is that the American pronunciation of "tock-o" is just as incorrect as the British pronunciation of "tack-o". The correct Spanish pronunciation is about halfway between the two. Americans just mispronounce it in one direction and Brits mispronounce it in the other.
For example, listen to this:
https://youtube.com/shorts/4K7glaoT3oQ?si=P8sabDz_elWIKFys
MattieShoes@reddit
Maybe it depends on where you live in the US, because we say it just fine. But I've lived within 100 miles of the border too.
A lot of Americans do tend to round off vowels though -- aw instead of ah, ow instead of oh, etc.
thatswacyo@reddit
Obviously different people will be closer or farther from the correct pronunciation in Spanish, but the generic American pronunciation of "taco" uses the same "a" sound as "father", which is not the sound that "a" makes in Spanish.
username_redacted@reddit
They seem to delight in ignoring the original pronunciation of any non-English word that has entered their lexicon.
terryjuicelawson@reddit
I think some culinary words can have a pass, they aren't bordering Mexico. If you ask a Brit how they perceive Americans using French terms it can be met with similar hilarity.
Repulsive-Ad-8558@reddit
But they do practically border Spain.
bonvoyageespionage@reddit
I was watching Kitchen Nightmares once and Ramsey said "nachos" like "natch-ahs" (first syllable of natural, ahs rhymes with loss), I legit thought I was about to learn about some other random ethnic dish.
e_ipi_@reddit
On the Great British Bake Off, they pronounced churros like churross (rhymes with across). And they referred to one curro as a churross. It was crazy
bonvoyageespionage@reddit
GBBO "Mexican" week was my 13th reason
masoleumofhope@reddit
That episode was so, so funny. I still cannot believe multiple people greenlit that choice.
JonAmonster@reddit
Yeah, I don't get it - like their language doesn't use a soft A sound. Every time they pasta...
Icy_Consideration409@reddit
How about a deal?
Americans stop emphasizing “Robin” and start emphasizing “Hood” in Robin Hood.
And the UK will mirror the Americans preferred emphasis for Taco Bell.
roadsidechicory@reddit
Americans pronounce Robin Hood both ways, with Robin emphasized and with Hood emphasized. It just depends.
Icy_Consideration409@reddit
Having lived here for a couple of decades, the vast majority seem to place the primary emphasis on Robin, extending the first syllable. Then truncate Hood to Hud.
roadsidechicory@reddit
Emphasis on Robin is definitely the majority, especially in the media, but it's said with emphasis on the Hood as well. I've heard it many times. It's a huge country!
djninjacat11649@reddit
Honestly I don’t give enough of a shit about Taco Bell for it to matter lol
terryjuicelawson@reddit
That is how the A renders in many British accents as quite short, the "posh" way would be "tah-co". I find if anything many Americans extend it too much. Neither are exactly Mexican.
Khajiit_Has_Upvotes@reddit
I say it that way just being a dingus.
Imaginary-List-4945@reddit
People emphasize "Bell?" I've lived in the U.S. my whole life (to be fair, I've moved around a lot) and I don't emphasize either word. It's just "Taco Bell."
thatswacyo@reddit
There's always going to be emphasis on some syllables. Here's what I mean.
Normal pronunciation:
https://youtu.be/lOaasF2xbDU?si=bycS0zS7Ld9XJm5I
https://youtube.com/shorts/2PeqFuuCQls?si=dBD6XrpPU1ZRCKs0
Foreigner pronunciation:
https://youtube.com/shorts/o0gvuykPjQs?si=MOC6JNGCAe4ravrO
https://youtube.com/shorts/KVLD1J08G3c?si=pGBhVCTg_LabecHj
Think of it as if you were pronouncing Kristen Bell. You would put a little emphasis on the last name. It's the same for Taco Bell.
Imaginary-List-4945@reddit
Interesting! just said it out loud to myself about 10x in a row, and I think if anything I pronounce it the "foreign" way.
44035@reddit
She emphasized the first syllable of Taco. I noticed it immediately.
dicedance@reddit
Which dialect emphasises the second syllables of "taco"?
44035@reddit
I don't think I'm explaining it well.
djninjacat11649@reddit
Short a and not long a “tacko” when it should be “tahcoe”
thatswacyo@reddit
Well, the first syllable of "Taco" should be emphasized. It's just that "Bell" should also be emphasized.
Khajiit_Has_Upvotes@reddit
It's TAH-co-bell. I think it's been decades since I've heard TAH-co BELL.
wyn13@reddit
Latter pronunciation is all I hear in Milwaukee USA
poop_pants_pee@reddit
Tacoble
effersquinn@reddit
That's definitely the right one to emphasize though, for Americans, British and in Spanish
Significant-Emu1855@reddit
I feel like even in America, depending on where you’re from people say Taco Bell with the emphasis on different syllables
RedSolez@reddit
But yet her Delco accent on Mare of Easttown was shockingly good. My in laws have that accent and she could do it way better than I can despite listening to them for years LOL
LL8844773@reddit
Yes! Kate winslet’s accents isn’t “wrong” but often times it’s just off. like the cadence? She just doesn’t speak naturally
SevenSixOne@reddit
Emphasizing the "wrong" word in a phrase (or syllable in a word) is almost always what gives it away for me too, though it's harder to tell in older movies or with older actors sometimes-- plenty of Boomer and older Americans really do say "school BUS" or "blue JEANS" or "peanut BUTTER" or whatever
BroughtBagLunchSmart@reddit
Which is funny because she nailed the Philly accent in Mare of Easttown.
spooky_upstairs@reddit
Yeah but Easttown doesn't have a Taco Bell. Just a CHUHPOTELOY.
mdp300@reddit
Matthew Macfayden similarly had one slip up in Succession: "she looked like she caught a foulball at Yankee Stadium!" With the emphasis on "foul".
Raibean@reddit
It’s not emphasis, it’s using the a as in cat sound instead of a as in call
DecemberPaladin@reddit
I couldn’t deal with Cumberbatch in Doctor Strange. I get that coming with a non-rhotic accent he’d have to do some work, but he way overcompensated, like he was getting paid by the R.
“DoRRRRmammu! I’ve come to ba**RRRRRgain!”
He must have gotten some dialect coaching, because it was very much improved in subsequent appearances.
ilanallama85@reddit
They should’ve just let him be British. Yeah the character is crucially living and working in NYC at the start of the story but there’s zero reason he couldn’t be from the UK originally. They take huge licenses with some things in these films, I dunno why they get so hung up on details like that that don’t matter.
Athnyx@reddit
I say that same thing with so many movies! Like, people move around the world. You are not required to have the ‘proper’ accent for the area you are in. Sincerely, a dual citizen who uses a hodge podge of English and American words
LowCress9866@reddit
If they can make the Ancient One a middle aged white woman i don't see why Strange couldn't originally be British
ilanallama85@reddit
This is what I’m saying.
JadeHarley0@reddit
He sounded really f-ing odd in "12 years a slave" too, but that might be just because I'm not used to hearing that kind of deep-south accent
bjanas@reddit
Oh he was BAD for a while. It's a bummer, his voice is so great in his natural habitat, as long as you don't ask him to pronounce "penguin."
Tashimo@reddit
Pingwing
Swurphey@reddit
He somehow throws an L in there too
metdear@reddit
Penwing
DecemberPaladin@reddit
Like asking a native German speaker to say “squirrel”.
Major-Regret@reddit
This is also McNulty in The Wire.
“Pagerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr”
Major-Regret@reddit
This is also McNulty in The Wire.
“Pagerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr”
quietcoyoti@reddit
I only watched Black Mass once and the most memorable thing about that movie is how absurd his accent was
justlkin@reddit
That's the most common thing I hear from Brits doing an American accent, way too much accent on every R. We don't stress them as much as they think and they forget that we also don't pronounce them sometimes.
I have no idea who the actress was, but I cringed so hard when she pronounced the surname Goddard as god-ahhrrrd. She sounded a bit like a Texan most the time rather than her role of a top notch scientist in Colorado.
Ganymede25@reddit
This reminds me of Andrew Lincoln (Rick Grimes in the Walking Dead). He emphasized the R's despite playing a character from Georgia which is less rhotic than much of the south.
justlkin@reddit
Whadya mean Carrrrl? LOL
I think even most Americans usually do pretty poorly with southern accents. It usually sounds like a comical mish mash of the various southern accents instead of the specific one they're supposed to be going for.
Yggdrasil-@reddit
Watching The Leftovers right now and the way Christopher Eccleston pronounces his R's makes me grit my teeth
Upstairs-Catch788@reddit
I thought he did well!
DecemberPaladin@reddit
God, who am I to criticize Big Benny Cumbas? It’s got to be hard, knowing exactly how hard to lean on a phoneme. To say nothing about dialect—if I’m doing a British accent, I wouldn’t know if I’m doing London, Scouse, Midlands, I’d be all over the map!
And like I said, he nailed it in the Avengers flicks and Multiverse of Madness. It was just something I noticed, and once I noticed it I couldn’t un-notice it, if you can dig that.
justlkin@reddit
I added my additional comment more so others wouldn't come at me in the comments. Sorry for the misunderstanding.
DecemberPaladin@reddit
No misunderstanding! I got you and agree—I’m not busting balls on Cumberbatch, and I didn’t get that sense from your post.
We’re all fine here.
Primaveralillie@reddit
I don't think it's so much they think Americans really emphasize the Rs, it's more that the R is the hardest to avoid sounding British with so they have to put concentrated efforts into doing it. Unfortunately it does sound odd.
BoopleBun@reddit
Speaking of MCU characters based in NYC, I thought Tom Holland did pretty darn good, especially considering how easily actors often fuck up the American accent as soon as they have to add some regionality to it. (NY and the South in particular, they tend to go way too hard.)
DecemberPaladin@reddit
“M-Mistuh Stawwk—?! I don’t feel so good…”
JenniferJuniper6@reddit
And the thing is, Strange is a New Yorker. There’s no reason he even has to have a rhotic accent.
DecemberPaladin@reddit
Shit, you’re right. Not that I would want him to be all “Ayyyy, I’m castin spells ovuh heee, fancul’!” But they could have gone a step in the Northeastern upper-crust accent.
bloobityblu@reddit
Weirdly, I found his Okie accent in August: Osage County, several years before Doctor Strange, to be spot on. Even though I agree with you on the Doctor Strange one.
He stayed in accent the whole time he was filming and apparently some of his co-actors and the locals didn't realize he was british (somehow!!).
totaltvaddict2@reddit
I can’t believe I had to scroll this far. It is so bad I wish they’d just made the character British.
I like him as an actor, but the accent totally throws me every time.
ionthrown@reddit
I had honestly assumed he was supposed to be playing a British doctor who’d worked in America for some time.
GeneralLoofah@reddit
This is who I was looking for. He’s mostly okay, but it’s some weird uncanny valley situation where you know he’s just not quite right.
DejaBlonde@reddit
Having seen him in August: Osage County, I thought his accent in Doctor Strange was downright acceptable.
MyUsernameIsUhhhh@reddit
Whenever Tom Hardy yells or speaks aggressively
butt_honcho@reddit
It's not so much "minor slipup" as "hilariously terrible," but pretty much all of the Pythons. Even Gilliam had trouble sometimes, he'd been living in England for so long.
Cacafuego@reddit
I'm trying to think of bits where they do American accents and all I can come up with is the Grim Reaper skit in Meaning of Life. Those accents were clearly exaggerated to be irritating, but also they were just bad! Any others you remember that I can watch at work since nobody is in, today?
On_my_last_spoon@reddit
The American accents on British TV can be hilarious! They’re often pretty terrible on Doctor Who as well. And the couple of times on Grantchester I was like noooooooo!
luckylimper@reddit
The episode with the black civil rights minister and his children made me want to cry. Couldn’t they find black actors who could do better accents? It was like a bad “MLK doing Shakespeare” accent. Black American and Black Caribbean have such different intonation plus it was a period piece so it was baaaaaadddddd all around.
On_my_last_spoon@reddit
That’s the first one I thought of! The American accents were awful!
There was one in the movie theater too. Ugh
IneffableOpinion@reddit
Craig Ferguson did a horrible American accent on Red Dwarf. Like truly horrible. He got really good at it by the time he had his own show though
Khajiit_Has_Upvotes@reddit
Intrusive R does exist in some American accents, but he probably wasn't doing one of those.
IneffableOpinion@reddit
Older generations in Washington state are known for intrusive R. All my grandparents did it. They were always “warshing” the car, “warshing” the clothes. It’s jokingly referred to as the Warshingtonian accent. I don’t hear young people do it though.
butt_honcho@reddit
My Indiana grandparents did that, too. But what I hear from Llewellyn puts it at the end - pronouncing "data" as "dater," for example. I'm not aware of any North American accents that do that, but some British ones do.
IneffableOpinion@reddit
I think Boston area does it
My grandparents were children of people who migrated west in the 1800’s so it’s entirely possible the intrusive R was brought from Indiana which I believe some of them came from
terryjuicelawson@reddit
I read he was supposed to be doing a Canadian accent...
TechnologyDragon6973@reddit
Robert Llewellyn also used the British pronunciation of Ma’am from what I remember.
djninjacat11649@reddit
Wait hold on, the pronunciation of ma’am is regional? As in ma’am or madam? If so that actually kinda makes sense but I never picked up on it
TechnologyDragon6973@reddit
The A sounds different in American English compared to RP. For us it’s the same A as “cat”. For England it sounds like the A in “father”, so that makes it sound like “mom” to American ears.
IneffableOpinion@reddit
Doesn’t he always say marm?
Mogster2K@reddit
Sounds like "Mom" to me. Never understood why he thought Kochanski was his mother.
IneffableOpinion@reddit
Ok I watched Red Dward a million times and this is the first time I realized Kryten was doing an American accent. It sounds like the mid-Atlantic accent to me, which is probably why I heard it as British
Cat’s American accent was really good . I was shocked to hear his real accent in another show
Same_Inevitable3034@reddit
I feel like out of all the Pythons, Michael Palin was probably the best at an American accent (not necessarily good, but like, comparatively).
If we’re talking Red Dwarf, I have to add that Cat’s actor does a pretty great job with his accent too, to the point that it’s pretty jarring when the occasional British pronunciation does slip through.
Foxtrot-Uniform-Too@reddit
The Pythons probably more often tried to mock the American accent than actually trying to not slip up, but...
304libco@reddit
Robert is trying to do a Canadian accent
thereslcjg2000@reddit
If anything that makes it worse…
butt_honcho@reddit
Okay, but the standard Canadian accent he's going for is so close to the standard American as really makes no difference. I've certainly never heard a Canadian do the R thing I mentioned.
This video puts it well: "In terms of how the languages sound, Canadian and American English are classified together as North American English, emphasizing the fact that the vast majority of outsiders, even other native English speakers, cannot distinguish the typical accents of the two countries by sound alone."
the_dream_weaver_@reddit
I mean, tbf the Monty Python movies are spoofs. So the slip ups are excusable.
butt_honcho@reddit
I never said it wasn't part of the show. I honestly don't know whether they are or not. But they're hilariously bad either way.
stopstopimeanit@reddit
Liam Neeson isn’t exactly British, but he is the textbook example of trying and often missing the North American accent.
PillarOfWamuu@reddit
The thing I notice most about Brits trying to do US accents is how they seem to do very generic broad accents. They struggle with specific regional accents. The big exception in my mind is in No Country For Old Men. Kelly Macdonald was amazing as Carla Jean in that film.
Silly_Somewhere1791@reddit
Damian Lewis nailed a regional Pennsylvania accent in both Homeland and Band of Bros.
Hugh Laurie is getting flack for leaning too hard on his R’s but that’s correct for this part of NJ. He was more convincing than the LA actors.
Gillian Anderson had a very lived-in east coast accent on the X-Files.
PillarOfWamuu@reddit
But he does the same accent in every show. I feel like he just picked 1 American accent and doesn't change it depending on the role.
Silly_Somewhere1791@reddit
I guess it just happened to really work for this part of NJ. He sounded exactly like us.
Pixelated_Penguin808@reddit
In the same series the character who played Blythe had his character speak in a stereotypical Hollywood Hayseed accent, suggesting some rural origin in the American south. The real person he was playing however was from Philadelphia however, and would have sounded nothing like that.
In his diffence American actors generally don't get Philly accents right either. The actor that plays Guarnere sounds like he's from New York.
Silly_Somewhere1791@reddit
Oh Band of Bros was a low-key mess in that regard; there’s a reason Damian stands out as the dude who nailed it. I could go back and forth with Guarnere’s accent since he came from a huge Italian family. Webster goes in the other direction: he was from the Bronx but Eion used a generic LA accent.
JenniferJuniper6@reddit
Charlie Cox as Daredevil is doing an extremely specific accent. Not just NY, but a kid who grew up poor in NY, with poorly educated parents, who then got a scholarship to a top-ranked university and became a professional. (He’s spoken about this, I’m not just guessing.) I know that person; my mother literally was that person. I really respect the amount of effort he puts into it. But he still slips up from time to time.
bibliophile222@reddit
Another exception is Kate Winslet in Mare of Easttown.
aburke626@reddit
cries as a local her accent was not very good and I will never understand why she gets so much praise for it. No one I know thinks it was any good.
monkeymind009@reddit
I think Bella Ramsey does a great American accent on The Last of Us 99.9% of the time. But I did hear a slip up on one of the recent episodes where she sounded very English.
masoleumofhope@reddit
+1 Didn't realize she was english until we started watching the behind the scenes features!
monkeymind009@reddit
I only knew she was English because of her acting in Game of Thrones.
beans1763@reddit
Lauren Cohan (Maggie) in the walking dead. I don’t know why they made her do it and the accent gets so much worse as the seasons go on, it’s like she gave up 😂
Pearl-Annie@reddit
I mean…most of them to be honest. It’s not as bad as Americans trying to do British accents, but it rarely sounds totally right. Something just sounds “off” a lot of the time.
I was watching the latest Mission Impossible movie yesterday, and Hannah Waddingham plays an American rear admiral in it. I really like her as an actress, and she didn’t sound British per se in the movie, but her accent wasn’t from any part of America I’m familiar with.
jackfaire@reddit
I'm apparently very bad at spotting fake American accents unless I know they're not American beforehand
Rimailkall@reddit
Same. The only actor I can think of recently is Jason Isaacs in the latest episode of The White Lotus. He might be able to a plainer American accent well, but that North Carolinian was terrible. I can't do it either, for what it's worth.
Turbulent_Garage_159@reddit
Isaacs had the look and vibes down, but the accent was clearly a struggle for him. It’s like he took his Black Hawk Down “gruff and clipped military accent” and just tried to put a bit more twang into it.
BlueberryLeft4355@reddit
Oh my god I'm so sick of this insulting take on Isaacs. His Durham accent is fantastic. (Ask any native of that area-- like me.)
Granadafan@reddit
So many bad accents in Blackhawk Down: Isaacs, Ewan McGregor, Orlando Bloom, Eric Bana, etc
Turbulent_Garage_159@reddit
Meh they’ve never bothered me. Movie slaps.
BlueberryLeft4355@reddit
I am from NC and have training in acting and linguistics. Jason Isaacs is doing a PERFECT durham accent in White Lotus. People who trash him are so annoying-- he legit sounds like half my friends' dads, and all my friends back home agree.
DenimBellPepper@reddit
Yes! This threw me. I spent the first episode trying to figure out where he was supposed to be from— I got hints of Texas and Australia at different points.
Rimailkall@reddit
Yeah, it was just very weird. Which is too bad because he's one of my favorite actors and great in everything I've seen him in.
Therealladyboneyard@reddit
Yes! His accent slipped several times
royalhawk345@reddit
You're not wrong, but I was too distracted by Parker Posey's half the time to notice his.
Expat111@reddit
I was always looking for my lorazepam so I didn’t notice either.
goosepills@reddit
Who calls it lorazepam?? It’s Ativan! I don’t run around looking for my alprazolam ffs. I think that bothered me more than her accent.
PineappleFit317@reddit
Speaking of Isaacs doing the North Carolinian accent, I’ve never heard a UK actor do a good or believable American southern accent. They’re either ridiculously exaggerated and fake sounding or a ridiculously exaggerated and fake sounding mishmash of different regional affectations.
tracygee@reddit
Check out Albert Finney in “Rich in Love”. He nails the Charleston accent.
I had to double check that he was British because I couldn’t believe he got it so right.
negcap@reddit
He does a great Brooklyn accent in Fury.
Ill-Vermicelli-1684@reddit
Interesting! I disagree; as someone with family in that area, I thought it was pretty spot on. Not perfect, but definitely decent.
Suppafly@reddit
I think that's true with most people. The people that claim to catch them just end up listing various actors that are well known from being from another country instead of anything specific that would actually give those actors away. People just like to think they have a special skill for recognizing such things.
Comediorologist@reddit
I claim such a talent. And I do have it. I'm also pretty good at picking out Canadians, and identifying ethnicity. I can tell Thai from Vietnamese, Chinese from Korean, usually Korean from Japanese. Europe is trickier, but I can distinguish Slavs, Nordics, Germans, French, Mediterraneans (Italian from Greek, for example). British is tricky since they have loads of Nordic in their blood.
Of course my ability to distinguish these people is biased. After all, I mostly just identify people who stand out, and so when I look them up I'm (usually) correct.
As for accents, the one actor who fooled me for a long time was Charlie Heaton on Stranger Things. I didn't realize he was British until a scene in the latest season where he said "high-vis" jacket. His accent had me fooled, but the writing gave him away.
I am also pretty fair at sexing cats based on their head shape and length.
Am I lying about that, too?
Suppafly@reddit
maybe you're special, or maybe you're really good at remembering all the times you were right and forgetting all the times you were wrong.
wwhsd@reddit
Same, so many Americans have accents that are a total mess because they’ve lived in different places that I don’t really notice when someone has an accent that is a little off.
TheBimpo@reddit
I am the worst. They have to be so exceptionally bad or I have to know in advance that the person is British.
jackfaire@reddit
There was an Australian actress that I thought was American there was an episode her American character had to pretend to be Australian I was super impressed.
musesmuses@reddit
Was that Yvonne Strahovski in Chuck?
jackfaire@reddit
Yes
needsmorequeso@reddit
There’s a great show from like 15 years ago called The Riches where Minnie Driver and Suzy Eddie Izzard play American scam artists and have to fake British accents for an episode as part of a con job they are running. It was so much fun to watch them pretend to be Americans pretending to be Brits.
Judgy-Introvert@reddit
I’m pretty much the same. There’s a few here and there that are really easy to catch, but mostly I have no idea unless I’m familiar with where they are from beforehand.
Both_Painter_9186@reddit
I like Jason Isaacs but often his American voice sounds like he has a cold. His accent breaks through when his character yells.
smurfe@reddit
I have heard Camilla Luddington slip up a few times on Grey's Anatomy, and I remember Charlie Hunnam slipping a few times on Sons of Anarchy.
PrestigiousFox6254@reddit
I'd be totally down with Stringer Bell going full Shakespeare.
cucumbermoon@reddit
I've yet to encounter a British actor who can put the stress on the phrase "two miles away" in the same place an American would. Even Damian Lewis in Band of Brothers messed that one up.
masoleumofhope@reddit
How'd he do it?
cucumbermoon@reddit
British people put the stress on “miles” and Americans put it on “away.”
OneAndDone169@reddit
Charlie Hunnam slipped a lot in SOA
ColossusOfChoads@reddit
Also, he sounded like he was from Boston or something.
The dude that played Opie. Now that guy sounded like he was from central California.
kkkktttt00@reddit
Well, he is from California.
ColossusOfChoads@reddit
I was ready to eat my hat if he wasn't.
kkkktttt00@reddit
Granted he's from LA, but still California!
ColossusOfChoads@reddit
Still tracks. A lot of the white dudes I grew up around sounded more or less like him.
Important-Trifle-411@reddit
The actress from Outlander who plays the main couple’s adult daughter. It isn’t so much a specific word she messes up.
It’s just her cadence sounds forced. She also says ‘ant’ for ‘aunt’. Most Americans do pronounce it that way, but she is supposed to be from Boston and the pronunce it ‘aunt’
rinky79@reddit
Gerard Butler's American accent is consistently terrible.
kkkktttt00@reddit
His Irish accent was also embarrassing in P.S. I Love You
Apocalyptic0n3@reddit
It is terrible. And he has more or less embraced how terrible it is. Given the movies he makes and roles he takes, it somehow works. You never notice it in Den of Thieves or Copshop (both way better than they have any right to be, for what it's worth)
Figgler@reddit
He’s similar to how Schwarzenegger was in the 80s; “this guy obviously isn’t from America but we just don’t address it at all.”
ColossusOfChoads@reddit
It was more like "we're glad he's one of our d00dz." Who else could have stopped an unkillable alien trophy hunter?
GaryJM@reddit
Ironically, he's been away from here so long that his Scottish accent is terrible now as well. There's a famous TV comedy sketch here that mocks his accent and there's an interview on American TV where he address how he doesn't sound Scottish to Scottish people but even when he puts on his "full Scottish accent" in the interview, he doesn't sound convicingly Scottish.
ljb2x@reddit
There's an Australian-American YouTuber I watch ocassionally who says that Americans say she sound Australian and Australians say she sounds American. She's picked up enough from both that it sounds foreign to both, just like Gerard.
DeniseReades@reddit
🤣😂 He's going to have to pull a Gary Oldman and hire someone to help him get his native accent back
yourdominpdx@reddit
Not British but OZ—Nicole Kidman. Lord she can’t do an American accent to save her life.
alittlelights@reddit
I stopped watching Supergirl because Katie McGrath's accent annoyed me too much (among other things)
masoleumofhope@reddit
God I will forever be hella salty about the shitshow that show became post season 2. They just fully and gleefully dropped the ball.
The show was so ridiculously bad by the time Katie seemed to give up consistently enforcing the american accent, that her Irish accent breaks made the show more enjoyable for me.
lezzerlee@reddit
I love Tim Hardy, but his American accents are god awful.
masoleumofhope@reddit
I've always wondered if this is in part because he could have better enunciate across the board
I can't speak to the accuracy of his cockney accent in Peaky Blinders, but I definitely needed subtitles. Cockney is always a thick accent to my Californian ears, but this felt waaay thicker. You can hear it in his natural accent (sounds like a mix of Cockney & RP) too.
Salty_Dog2917@reddit
Charlie Hunnam and Bella Ramsey are god awful. I’m sure there are more, but those two were right at the top of the list.
masoleumofhope@reddit
Bella Ramsey is an insane take
anneofgraygardens@reddit
I know I've told this dumb anecdote before when a similar question was asked, but I didn't watch Sons of Anarchy at all, but I happened to be around while my dad was watching it. i wasn't really paying close attention but a bunch of the characters were part of some Irish gang. Only at the very end of the episode did I realize that this guy was supposed to be an American, and not part of the Irish gang.
I was pretty shocked, he didn't sound like he was putting ANY effort into an American accent.
snootyboopers@reddit
Doesn't help one dude in the gamg has a Glasgow smile
Suppafly@reddit
IIRC the character was originally from Ireland or part of that Irish gang before becoming part of the Sons.
Inspi@reddit
I thought Bella's isn't too bad
kstaxx@reddit
I noticed her slip up ONCE in S2 E2 at the end. I’m not an accent police person and am never looking for it, but I did find it noticeable. I do feel like it’s harder in very emotional scenes to keep up good accent work and this was one of those times.
VirginiENT420@reddit
Yeah i haven't noticed any slip ups from her either. She is just the woman gamer edgelords like to hate on how
Inspi@reddit
If you watch after the credits when they do the recap/bts show and she speaks with her natural accent then I think you get more appreciation for what she does in the show. Sounds like a completely different person.
Nice-Log2764@reddit
I don’t think Bella Ramsey’s that bad? I’ve only ever seen her in Last of Us, but I had no idea she was even British until I googled her a few episodes in. I haven’t really noticed her slip up at all
Suppafly@reddit
I think redditors just look for reasons to shit on Bella Ramsey because they are salty that she gets work.
tarheel_204@reddit
I remember watching Sons of Anarchy and I definitely remember Charlie’s accent being spotty at times
Salty-Direction322@reddit
He really struggled with the word “family” . It always stuck out to me
WarrenMulaney@reddit
His accent wasn't too bad the first season or two. Then it became super sloppy...just like the writing.
tarheel_204@reddit
The first season especially was awesome but by the end, I was so ready for it to be over. It just went on for too long.
Weak_Employment_5260@reddit
Spotty? I spent a lot of the show wondering what country gave him that odd accent.
tarheel_204@reddit
I was trying to be nice 😂
CPolland12@reddit
Kiera Knightly seems to make her American accent southern, which doesn’t work when you’re playin a person from Boston.
of the international actors pulling off American accents on True Blood (and there were several). Stephen Moyer (Vampire Bill) was the worse
Now, one of my favorite fake American accents is also from True Blood. Ryan Kwanten (Jason Stackhouse) is Australian, and his accent is really good.
masoleumofhope@reddit
YES. I was scrolling to find Keira Knightly in Boston Strangler.
It started off fine, but its was so off and on and ... different as it progressed that it fully distracted from the movie. I had a really great time focusing on whatever was happening with her accent throughout the movie though. 100% worth a watch.
RootBeerBog@reddit
I really like Andrew Lincoln as Rick Grimes. Brits excel at southern accents, for good reason.
Opposite-Database605@reddit
NO. THEY. DONT. OMG! 😵
LonelyAndSad49@reddit
I thought his accent was great.
LonelyAndSad49@reddit
Ryan Kwanten was the only person in True Blood that I was shocked to learn wasn’t American. His accent was spot on.
SevenSixOne@reddit
A lot of actors can do a passable American accent in a vaccuum... but it's still an accent that doesn't suit that particular character.
Well_Dressed_Kobold@reddit
When did Keira Knightly do a Boston accent? Hell, most American actors can’t pull it off. Asking a Brit to do it is just cruel.
Suppafly@reddit
To be fair to the vampires, most of them were supposed to be really old, so it sorta makes sense for the civil war era ones to pronounce things differently than modern ones.
FMLwtfDoID@reddit
TIL Jason Stackhouse is Australian. His southern accent was perfect. But I’ve often heard the Australian accent is just a British accent that grew up in the Deep South of the US.
ilanallama85@reddit
I love him but Benedict Cumberbatch needs to stop playing Americans. Whatever he’s doing is consistent but it’s not right.
SevenSixOne@reddit
A lot of British people have "British Face™️" that gives away their nationality before they even say a word. Not sure even how to describe it, it's just immediately obvious to me.
Benedict Cumberbatch is like the Ur example of this phenomenon, but I've seen it plenty of other times-- not just with actors, but with regular people of every age, gender, attractiveness level, etc.
masoleumofhope@reddit
So true, if it wasn't pretty apparent on name alone, Benedict just looks British. I've just never been able to articulate why that is the case.
JessicaGriffin@reddit
Wait until you hear him say “penguin.”
LonelyAndSad49@reddit
I love that he pronounced it wrong in different ways.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GflW9_t7LZk
ilanallama85@reddit
Oh, I have lol.
luckylimper@reddit
Any actor who has to say “anything.” That word is impossible for them to say in an American accent.
lefindecheri@reddit
Nicole Kidman. Especially in Big Little Lies.
fishonthemoon@reddit
I never noticed her accent cropping up in movies when I was a kid, but it’s like she puts ZERO effort in now. 😂
carmelacorleone@reddit
I was going to say Nicole Kidnan but remembered she's Australian. When she and Perry are at therapy and she says the word "Goddess". Americans would say it more like "gahd-dis." She says, "Gahd-ess". A lot of emphasis on the "ess" sound.
Obtuse-Angel@reddit
You’re not wrong, but she’s not British.
lefindecheri@reddit
Oh, right. She's an Aussie.
Figgler@reddit
I’m actually surprised she still has an Australian accent, she’s lived in the US far longer than in Australia, like Mel Gibson but he lost his accent eventually.
squirrelcat88@reddit
Mel Gibson was originally American, though. He moved to Australia as a child - not a particularly young child.
alittlelights@reddit
Nicole Kidman was born in Hawaii and spent a few years in the States, I believe
squirrelcat88@reddit
So none of the Australian actors we think about are actually Australian?
fishonthemoon@reddit
I was watching The Last of Us a few weeks ago and Ellie said a word and I thought, “oh that person is English”
Happened when I was watching Dark Matter, too, even though I think that actor is Australian? It’s so distracting 😂
Suppafly@reddit
I almost never notice. We have so many random minor differences between accents, I just assume theirs is regional for some region I'm not familiar with.
A lot of people that claim to catch these slipups only seem to catch them when they know the actor isn't American. If they didn't know otherwise they'd likewise just assume it's a regional variation of normal American English.
justdisa@reddit
You notice more if you've traveled around the US a lot.
Suppafly@reddit
doubt it, unless you get really embedded in a bunch of different places, you aren't going to notice the subtle differences enough to definitively identify them. a lot of the people that claim to only count their wins and forget all the times they've been embarrassed by guessing wrongly over and over.
OnAnInvestigation@reddit
In my favorite movie of all time, Midsommar, Florence Pugh NEARLY nails the American accent except for her pronunciation of “Christian”. She consistently throughout the film says it “Chris-tee-an” as opposed to “Chris-chen” how an American would say it.
Temponautics@reddit
Uhm. Not to argue here, but I seem to remember vaguely that it was supposed to be either the Swedish characters name (who might want it pronounced the Swedish way), or her own. Either way, you (almost) say Chris-chen in British English too, so the extreme way Pugh did it seemed certainly intentional to me.
kgxv@reddit
The wife in Nip/Tuck did the same thing
Usual-Reputation-154@reddit
It’s so realistic in Midsommar but it’s awful in Little Women, which makes no sense so Little Women must have been a bad character choice
pinkohondo@reddit
YES! Was the first example I thought of. Just recently rewatched it. And she repeats his name so often, too. Ari Aster is so particular with so many other details, I'm surprised it wasn't corrected, unless correcting it made it even worse.
alcarcalimo1950@reddit
Love that movie too. I would say overall though Pugh’s accent is very good.
OnAnInvestigation@reddit
Oh yes I agree. That one variant is the only reason I knew to check where she from.
CuriosityAndTheCat__@reddit
Tom Hardy, especially in Venom
Spam_Tempura@reddit
Hugh Laurie, occasionally would slip up in House. It’s not too terribly distracting but once you notice it you can’t unnotice it.
onelittleworld@reddit
I can only recall one instance, when he gave the British pronunciation of "schedule".
PhantomdiverDidIt@reddit
He said "tissue" once with the Brit pronunciation. Another time he talked about punching somebody on the nose instead of in the nose. Other than that, I thought he did the American accent really well.
pupperoni42@reddit
How do Brits pronounce tissue?
PhantomdiverDidIt@reddit
"TISS-you." Americans say "TISH-oo." Same thing with "issue."
pupperoni42@reddit
I'd say the American pronunciation is TISH- yoo. We still put a y sound in the second syllable.
I didn't realize the UK doesn't make the first part an sh sound. Their approach makes sense given the spelling, but phonic consistency has never been a priority in English on either side of the pond.
kgxv@reddit
I don’t know anyone who puts the Y sound in tissue. Tishoo is how everyone I know pronounced it.
BigDSuleiman@reddit
I've never heard it pronounced that way. It's strange how two groups of people go through life without realizing the other exists. lol
kgxv@reddit
It’s hilarious but at the same time, this country is so goddamn big it’s inevitable.
Subziwallah@reddit
It's variable in American. I say TISH-oo.
GaryJM@reddit
We have both pronunciations in the UK. /tɪsjuː/ is posher than /tɪʃuː/ and Hugh Laurie is quite posh.
Consistent-Key-865@reddit
He is and will forever be Wooster to me.
Spam_Tempura@reddit
He will always be the Prince Regent to me.
BronzedLuna@reddit
I don’t put a Y sound in tissue and I’ve never heard anyone do it either. Maybe it’s regional?
thekittennapper@reddit
I definitely do.
Kind_Ad5566@reddit
Far too many generalisations on this sub.
Many Brits say tish-yoo. I would say more than say tiss-you.
spooky_upstairs@reddit
The ones who say "tiss-yoo" also say "seck-see-well" instead of "sexual".
Imaginative_Name_No@reddit
Most Brits will say pronounce it with an "sh" sound, Laurie's way of saying it comes off as very old fashioned and/or posh.
PhantomdiverDidIt@reddit
Interesting! Thanks!
BM7-D7-GM7-Bb7-EbM7@reddit
I remember this, and I honestly at the thought the House character did it on purpose. At the time I did not Hugh Laurie was English.
DOMSdeluise@reddit
I think he said "militree" instead of military in an episode. Jarring lol.
eugenesbluegenes@reddit
I thought he was utterly unbelievable as a legit Presidential candidate in Veep.
I think he got away with a lot on House by doing the gravely grumpy tone.
SevenSixOne@reddit
A lot of actors use that snarling monotone, or sometimes they'llgo to the other extreme with an over-the-top chirpiness. It doesn't sound like anyone's real voice, but I guess it masks their natural accent?
SamRaB@reddit
I didn't think he was trying to fake an American accent in House? Never pulled it off if he was. I didn't know what nationality he was supposed to be but it was obvious he was some type of foreign eccentric character the entire time.
WaldenFont@reddit
There was actually one episode where he was imitating an American person doing a really bad British accent, which I thought was brilliant.
mytfine15725@reddit
You can really tell when he sings in House. That was when I first noticed it.
Silly_Somewhere1791@reddit
The only thing I noticed was Amber. The short A and hard R were too much. They should have named that character something else.
latelyimawake@reddit
I thought the same thing back when those episodes were airing! Like dang, this name is kryptonite for him, someone should have figured it out in her very first episode and fixed it while filming.
justdisa@reddit
The biggest thing I notice with Hugh Laurie is that he doesn't stick with one region. His accent wanders all over the US.
MajesticBread9147@reddit
I feel like this isn't entirely out of character for a maniac from the mid Atlantic.
Weightmonster@reddit
But it almost seemed part of the character.
bjanas@reddit
Laurie's funny about the accent, too. Where so many actors, especially Americans doing English accents, will talk about "oh it got to the point where I just started doing the accent naturally!" in perhaps an attempt to seem worldly, when asked he'll say things to the effect of "no, it never felt natural, I always felt like I was speaking with rocks in my mouth doing it."
Pretty refreshing. Especially when it's the guy who a lot of Americans didn't/still don't have any idea isn't from the States.
Academic-Contest3309@reddit
He does an amazing American accent but I don't think it's shocking to many Americans he's British lol.
StanleyQPrick@reddit
He sounds like he's trying to make out with the letter R
Silly_Somewhere1791@reddit
I don’t know if it was accidental, but it was the exact accent for that specific part of New Jersey. We really do hit our R’s that way.
Rdtackle82@reddit
It's the nasal bit that gets me. A lot of English friends of mine, when doing an "American" accent, basically trumpet their words straight out of their nose. I didn't get it until I'd spent a couple weeks exclusively with continental Europeans...my own accent starting bugging me!
MuscaMurum@reddit
He's sometimes guilty of over-correcting the rhotic 'R', which happens a lot when Brits do American. Dial it back a little.
Silly_Somewhere1791@reddit
He actually sounded perfect for that specific part of New Jersey.
Upstairs-Catch788@reddit
he mostly did so well, most Americans don't know he's not one of us
HLOFRND@reddit
I can’t remember what episode but he drops the “r” on the word diaper at one point and it sticks out like a sore thumb.
Khajiit_Has_Upvotes@reddit
I legit didn't know he wasn't American for the longest time. His accent is good. Now that I know I pick up little things I never would have even noticed or cared about lol
shockhead@reddit
Man, I barely ever caught him, which is why I was SHOCKED when he was so bad at it in the Avenue 5 pilot until, y'know. Twist.
JumpingJacks1234@reddit
That was brilliant!
the-year-is-2038@reddit
I liked the blues album he made.
Tommy_Wisseau_burner@reddit
Which is funny because he’s Australian lol
Spam_Tempura@reddit
Is he? I thought he was from Oxford England.
Tommy_Wisseau_burner@reddit
Oh shit you’re right. I’ll leave my post up and wallow in shame lol. I must be thinking of someone different
SordoCrabs@reddit
I adore Huge Ackman!
StanleyQPrick@reddit
It's the "lol"s and "roflmao"s that really make these little mistakes sting
Judgy-Introvert@reddit
He is.
palbuddymac@reddit
His accent was Canadian at best
96dratkcuf@reddit
Idris Elba in the Wire
zignut66@reddit
Dear god most of them. It’s the Australians that are complete chameleons with American accents.
mickie555@reddit
Not British, but Nicole Kidman. I find her so unbelievable in roles because her American accent is so not good.
DeniseReades@reddit
Emma Watson. You can figure out the order a movie was filmed in based on how good her American accent is. I literally spent half "The Bling Ring" trying to figure out nationality she was supposed to be and I didn't realize she was doing an American accent in "The Circle" until her character went to visit her parents.
Ok_Order1333@reddit
that was such a weird casting choice. there are so many young women in LA who could play a spoiled Valley Girl, and Watsons performance was so distractingly bad
QuickMolasses@reddit
It was also pretty distracting in "The Perks of Being a Wallflower".
Eatatfiveguys@reddit
First instance I thought of when I saw this question
Swurphey@reddit
At best she sounds like she was raised in a joint US-UK Antarctic research station with a parent from each country so her friends at school don't correct it
DemanoRock@reddit
I couldn't get over how bad The Circle was to pay attention to the accent. She was the bad guy.
VirgilVillager@reddit
Her accent in the bling ring is actually very good imo. California accents get hated on too much.
Yggdrasil-@reddit
"I wanna rob" hits harder with a bad American accent.
neBular_cipHer@reddit
Hugh Laurie, who has a great American accent, gives away the game with his pronunciation of “of”.
umplin@reddit
Yes! He always said “awv” not “uv”
neBular_cipHer@reddit
Exactly
Visible-Shop-1061@reddit
Rose Byrne in this show called "Platonic" on Apple TV.
Simpawknits@reddit
Choice of word gives it away sometimes.
JadeHarley0@reddit
Not British but I do remember how Sam Worthington in James Cameron's Avatar had a lot of trouble hiding his Australian accent. Especially on his long I vowels, aka the "kite" vowel.
Candriste@reddit
Tom Ellis’ American accent is ABYSMAL. Any time he tried in Lucifer I just ended up cringing the entire way through.
IP_What@reddit
This might be a bit obscure, but Sophie Skelton’s absolutely butchered her American accent in Outlander.
Swurphey@reddit
Emma Watson, at best it sounds like she was raised with a parent from each country
HolidayCategory3104@reddit
Robert Pattinson, especially in Twilight
GaryJM@reddit
Was his accent in The Lighthouse bad?
JesW87@reddit
I thought it was great
Jewrangutang@reddit
He doesn’t talk much in there and it’s a very nonstandard Northeastern accent, so it didn’t come off as odd to me
abitlikefun@reddit
As someone from the part of the US his accent was supposed to be from, his accent was probably the best I've heard attempted (this is a very low bar), but his accent was still all over the place.
Jewrangutang@reddit
What about Willem Dafoe’s? I can’t say I’m really familiar with it, but he seemed pretty committed
abitlikefun@reddit
His accent wasn't American so I can't say.
Grouchy_Snail@reddit
That one I’ll forgive because he’s from early 20th century Chicago and has lived all over so it would make sense if his accent was wonky… at least, that’s what I tell myself.
trisaroar@reddit
He's from 1901 Chicago? Huh. Never knew that
Grouchy_Snail@reddit
It is mentioned only briefly in the first film. There’s more information about it in the books, but honestly, it’s easy to miss because it doesn’t seem like Smeyer thought it was an important detail lol
trisaroar@reddit
I knew he died via Spanish Influenza so I think my brain paired that with his intense belief in gender roles and religious guilt with like a catholic machismo, so idk I had associated him with Latin America. I also read the books in middle school originally
Grouchy_Snail@reddit
Hahaha I kind of love that explanation. His original surname was Masen, though, which is of English origin, so chances are he was a WASP. There were a lot of Catholics in Chicago by the time of Edward’s death, but that was mostly due to a large immigration wave in the late 19th and early 20th c. from Ireland & Germany. Since Edward’s father (Edward, Sr.) was a well-established attorney in Chicago, he was likely not an immigrant and his birth would have predated that wave of immigration (which began around 1880).
trisaroar@reddit
I didn't even know so much was known about this backstory, wow! So an old-school Chicago when it was experiencing a population boom, (becoming the fastest growing city in the world at the time! The World Fair happened there in 1893! I don't know Edward but I know my Chicago facts lol) lol maybe H H Holmes was actually a nearby vampire clan that Carslile wanted to save Edward from joining.
Wait... so could there canonically be a world where John Mulaney plays Edward Cullen? 😂
Grouchy_Snail@reddit
Hahaha I mean John Mulaney looks his age now, but he was a perma-teen for a while there, so he probably could’ve managed it!
Some of Edward’s backstory is revealed in Midnight Sun, which I assume you’ve not read since you said you read Twilight in middle school. I’m kind of a die hard fan (if you can’t tell lol), so I remember those details because I’ve read them all many times. (FWIW I have a literature degree and I still love Twilight. It’s an excellent depiction of how it feels to be a teenager, probably the best I’ve ever read. JD Salinger, who?)
HolidayCategory3104@reddit
This is true!!
Akz1918@reddit
Dominic West a couple of times early in the series of the wire, but I wouldn't have noticed had I not known he was from the UK, so I was sorta looking for it.
MeanTelevision@reddit
No famous actors come to mind but I've noticed it in day players or guest roles if at all.
Also the gestures, and facial expressions, although it's hard to describe what I mean. There are little nods and habits we don't do but other cultures might. I'm thinking of a Dr. Who episode in which obviously British actors portrayed 1940s era New Yorkers.
Their mannerisms were very "British" but again hard to describe.
jeffbell@reddit
Kenneth Branagh in Dead Again was pretty random. He would have a Chicago accent in one scene and then a New Jersey accent the next. If he had stuck with a single diluted accent it would have been fine.
I'm sure that when Americans do English accents they jump all over the map too.
BuffyWestonthepole@reddit
I loved that movie!
carmelacorleone@reddit
In the HBO show Succession, when Shiv and Tom are arguing on their terrace her Australian accent and his British accent slip through a couple times.
seecarlytrip@reddit
I most recently noticed this with Jason Isaacs in the latest season of The White Lotus. I think bc his character had a very Southern accent, he was able to better pull off an American accent but I noticed enough slip ups to realize he wasn’t American and look him up.
Facet-Squared@reddit
Same phenomenon as Daniel Craig in Knives Out - it’s way easier for a Brit to pull off a strong Southern accent than it is for them to pull off a standard-issue American accent. The Southern affectation masks the Britishness a bit.
fatpad00@reddit
I wonder if it helps that the "southern gentleman" accent is non-rhotic, like many British accents.
A lot of these comments are saying they notice when the Rs are over-anninciated
Puzzleheaded_Sky6656@reddit
Yeah, his accent was all over the place!
whip_lash_2@reddit
As a North Carolina accent, it is appalling, but so is Parker Posey’s and she’s American. His standard American accent in the first season of Star Trek Discovery was reasonable, I thought.
rawbface@reddit
The thing I hate the most is how DEEP they make their voice to sound American. Hugh Laurie, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Idris Elba must have the same exact voice coach.
"To sound American, drop your voice by an octave and speak in a growling whisper."
plutopius@reddit
Funny catch.
In Mickey 17, Robert Patterson raised his natural deep voice to be a high and nasal American accent. It was jarring and he slipped on a few lines.
rawbface@reddit
Besides when he slipped, did it sound authentic? I'd still give him props if it did.
ass-to-trout12@reddit
Idris Elba does a very good job at American. I had watched The Wire 2 or 3 times before learning he was British and i was shocked
ColossusOfChoads@reddit
I know he's an Aussie, but whenever Hugh Jackman would do an American/Canadian accent he'd sound all gravelly and badass. It wasn't just because he was playing Wolverine, because he'd have the same voice in other movies (Swordfish, etc.).
In movies where it's his natural accent he sounds all polished and higher pitched. It's jarring.
wwhsd@reddit
Just based on the people I interact with I do think Americans tend to have lower pitched voices than British folks. I’m not sure if it’s because of Brits using more rising inflections or something else.
keysandchange@reddit
Rising inflection and forward placement
sophaloph@reddit
Idris Elba in The Wire for me
willgracefan@reddit
Yes, this. They speak so deeply and often have a vocal fry
shinyprairie@reddit
Hugh Laurie gets a lot of credit for his accent but it sounds so over the top and wooden to me...
rawbface@reddit
He's the worst offender on my list. Sure, any accent sounds authentic through vocal fry.
Khajiit_Has_Upvotes@reddit
I think it's easier this way. When I was a kid I met a group of Aussies and they were trying to do an American accent, and their voices dropped like half an octave and they said it kinda strained their voices to keep doing it.
JumpingJacks1234@reddit
OMG you are right! And doing a fake English accent is easier if you speed it up and raise the pitch a bit.
RedSolez@reddit
Watch a YouTube clip of the West End cast performing Hamilton. It's very obvious how hard they are working on that American accent. To be fair, that's extremely difficult content to work. But everything sounds slightly off to me when Brits do it.
CulturalToe@reddit
I recently played through Phantom Liberty dlc and Idris Elba didn't slip up once.
Facet-Squared@reddit
Alfred Molina as Doc Ock in Spider Man 2. He was trying for a New York accent, but within a few lines, I knew he was a Brit.
bpnc33@reddit
Gillian Anderson
Gold_Telephone_7192@reddit
I know many people disagree with me, but Idris Elba is not good at holding an American accent. He's constantly slipping into a British accent lol. I still think he's a good actor but it probably took me ten minutes during the first movie of his I watched to be like "this guy is British."
ass-to-trout12@reddit
Hard disagree.
rjtnrva@reddit
Gotta say I never saw that from him on The Wire. It wasn't until later that I found out he's British. I was shocked. He had the Balmer accent down.
Gold_Telephone_7192@reddit
I have heard that. I've never seen The Wire, so maybe he just crushed the Baltimore accent and hasn't been able to replicate it in his movies.
apgtimbough@reddit
Yeah Elba is pretty good with the accent in The Wire. And the character is so well done that any slip ups are easily forgiven.
Funny enough, his co-star Dominic West is real spotty in The Wire. He got so bad/lazy in a later season that the cast has an intervention.
There's also a great scene of his character pretending to do a British accent.
Puzzleheaded_Sky6656@reddit
Dominic West is why I’ve never been able to get into The Wire. His accent is so bad.
Weightmonster@reddit
Since he wasn’t a big star then, he probably had more time and initiative to get it down. This was his first major American role, I’m sure he preferred like mad.
shits-n-gigs@reddit
Dude spent months in Baltimore with locals to nail the accent. He wasn't a big name, so put in work.
Personally think it's his best role, Stringer is a top character. Watch season 1 a try.
shelwood46@reddit
I do think local immersion helps. Brits doing American accents on American-shot shows with American writers almost always nail the accents better than Brits doing American accents in BBC shows, where it will make you cringe and question whether the overtly fake accent is part of the plot.
NorwegianSteam@reddit
He crushed the accent, but also his character is a drug lord that is trying to have the appearance of an upcoming entrepreneur and businessman. Any accent falling through the cracks could very well just seem like corner talk that he's trying to suppress coming out. Also, you should watch the show, it's fantastic.
chiree@reddit
Im The Wire, he learned an extremely specific regional accent. That had to help him pegging it down better than "generic American Midwest" that most go for.
In2TheMaelstrom@reddit
I was born and raised Baltimoron and thought he had the accent perfect. Blew my mind when I finished watching The Wire and started watching Luther. I did a double take trying to figure out why String was speaking with a British accent.
Top_File_8547@reddit
I had the same thing with Matthew Rhys on the Americans. He was doing a behind the scenes interview and I thought why is he using a British or I guess Welsh until I realized that must be his nationality.
LowCress9866@reddit
I had the same reaction "Hol up, why is Stringer Bell British? Does a pretty good accent though... wait. IMDB says he's from LONDON not Charm City?"
Hell8Church@reddit
Same, I had no clue he was British until later.
Rimailkall@reddit
I watched the Wire when it was new and had absolutely no idea he was British until several years later. Same for Dominic West and Aiden Gillen. Had me completely fooled.
the_vole@reddit
West had a couple of slips! For example, skip to 2:25
the-year-is-2038@reddit
Dominic West's accent was amazing. He nailed Boston and not neutral american.
Top_File_8547@reddit
In the very scene of the series they are talking about a murder victim whose street name was Snot Boogie. West couldn’t say the name with an American accent so they had to do take after take.
Judgy-Introvert@reddit
When I watched The Wire I already knew Aidan Gillen was Irish. Idris and West I had no idea were British though. I must not pay much attention as to how things are said because they fooled me as well.
Icy-Whale-2253@reddit
Because they didn’t Idris make do a Baltimore accent. They assumed sight unseen he was African-American. He auditioned with a more general American accent but had to come clean because one of the producers was Irish.
VegetableRound2819@reddit
He had a speaking role?
VULCAN_WITCH@reddit
Personally I thought Idris was flawless but Dominic West was really bad. I am still traumatized remembering how he pronounced "Daniels"
TheMainEffort@reddit
His accent in the office was good enough that I had to double check it was actually him.
bouncy_bouncy_seal@reddit
I'm always too busy looking at him to notice.
Turbulent_Garage_159@reddit
He is aware of the effect he has on ~~women~~ redditors
Gold_Telephone_7192@reddit
Can’t blame you
ass-to-trout12@reddit
Charlie Hunnam every time he raises his voice
BuncleCar@reddit
There are YouTube videos on this by accent trainers. One thing most Americans don't have is a linking/intrusive r, though some parts of the eastern states do. President Kennedy did, for example.
One common example is Law and Order becoming Laura Border. UK actors often trip up on this.
NettlesSheepstealer@reddit
The chick that played Claudia for the first season of Interview with a Vampire. I still thoroughly enjoyed her acting and it didn't really cause me to throw a fit. She probably should have gotten more voice lessons. The more emotional she would get, the worse it was.
pluck-the-bunny@reddit
Hugh Laurie did it intentionally in Avenue 5 and it was brilliant
PhilTheThrill1808@reddit
Jack Whitehall. Not sure I'd call it so much a slip as just his American accent is just exaggerated to the point of being ridiculous. Oddly enough, he played an American in Clifford the Big Red Dog with a British half sister. Always wondered why they didn't just make both or neither of their characters British.
RatherGoodDog@reddit
Jack Whitehall is ridiculous when playing British parts too. That's just his schtick, I think. I don't think he's a particularly good actor, but he is a good comedian. He was excellent in Bad Education and Fresh Meat
PhilTheThrill1808@reddit
Loved him as JP. I think he was basically just playing himself, so that helped
RatherGoodDog@reddit
I think he's only really capable of playing himself. Again, he is very funny, but that doesn't make you a good actor.
Sascha Baron Cohen on the other hand is hilarious and chameleonic. In The Spy he also proved he can do serious dramatic work really well, which was quite a shock to me. It was unnerving watching Ali G act with such pathos!
ColossusOfChoads@reddit
He also plays Abbie Hoffman in 'the Chicago 7.' Now that was some serious acting.
alcarcalimo1950@reddit
There is a clip from Graham Norton interviewing Jack about Clifford. Olivia Coleman is sitting next to him. They show a clip from the film. And Graham’s like “you do an American accent in the film?” And Jack is like “Yeah!” And Olivia goes “in that clip?!” It’s so funny.
PhilTheThrill1808@reddit
Olivia Coleman is a national treasure of the UK. Absolutely loved her as an actress since I saw Peep Show back in my late high school years (I'm 35 now, for reference). So glad she's finally gotten her flowers the last few years.
ColossusOfChoads@reddit
David Tennant in 'Gracepoint', which was the US remake of the British show 'Broadchurch' (also starring him). The surname of Anna Gunn's character was 'Miller' and in early episodes he kept calling her "Millahhhr." (He's Scottish.) It became "Millurr" later on in the season, so I think someone took him aside and got him to correct it.
Funnily enough, he has slipped up doing an English accent. Most famously when he was the Doctor. "The Judoon platoon will soon be on the moon!" (IIRC) I heard they gave him that line intentionally, knowing that for a Scotsman-playing-an-Englishman-playing-a-godlike-alien it would be a trainwreck.
torchwood1842@reddit
Helen Mirren’s accent in National Treasure 2 was so bad it was distracting every time she was on screen.
Crafty-Zebra3285@reddit
The main character (forgotten her name) in The Last of Us. Like nails on a chalkboard to me. I can no longer watch it.
JussiesTunaSub@reddit
Bella Ramsey...it's a meme at this point that her character should have been played by Kaitlyn Dever
BroughtBagLunchSmart@reddit
I mean from the bowels of incel hell that is /r/Asmongold this might be true.
_Age_Sex_Location_@reddit
That user is not an honest actor, so yeah. Contrarian reactionary cliché.
lundebro@reddit
Bella Ramsey is just not a good actress, period.
Cyneburg8@reddit
Charlie Cox does a great American accent, but he dropped a lot of r's and a few words here and there his accent came out.
JessicaGriffin@reddit
The worst is when he says any word with the “uy” diphthong in it. “Guy,” “sky,” “buy.” They all sound super weird. His accent goes “Hell’s Kitchen/London/Hell’s Kitchen” in a single sentence if he says something like “Get this guy a drink.” It comes out “Get this GAW-AYE a drink.”
alleeele@reddit
Omg I always notice that too!
IneffableOpinion@reddit
I think he does a great accent. I didn’t know he was British for a long time. I like that he does not try to do a stereotypical New York accent. Some people go over the top trying to sound like Robert DeNiro
JenniferJuniper6@reddit
Matt Murdock should have a non-rhotic accent. He grew up in the streets of underprivileged New York.
LargeBandicoot89@reddit
He grew up in an orphanage but he studied at Columbia for years for his pre law and law degree
SummonGreaterLemon@reddit
His vowels get super Irish if he’s shouting or emoting really hard. They had some accent-related jokes in Daredevil: Born Again that poked fun a little bit.
What’s funny is when he was on Boardwalk Empire, he played an Irish character but his accent was so strong, I thought he was an American faking it like a Lucky Charms commercial. Looked it up and nope, it’s legit!
JenniferJuniper6@reddit
Why would his vowels be Irish? He’s from London.
SummonGreaterLemon@reddit
Wow, you’re right! I definitely misremembered something I looked up at least 10 years ago LOL
Guess I was right about the Lucky Charms though.
Kitykity77@reddit
The only two Brits I’ve seen pull it off flawlessly are Hugh Laurie and John Barrowman. I noticed Laurie had a specific way of talking but thought that was just him. When I heard his younger voice I couldn’t believe he was British at all, I thought that was him playing around. Cumberbatch tries to imitate it, but just barely misses the mark and comes across sounding more like he’s doing an impression.
I’ve noticed a lot will try to get into a southern accent bc they can follow the lilt better, but the fact is, just as none of our actors ever truly sound English, theirs will never sound American without truly having lived both places in their youth. John Barrowman is a great example. He can switch and I consider his American-English accent to be as good as a native. He spent time in both places, so it makes sense.
But I want to be clear, it doesn’t bother me in the slightest. I don’t mean it offensively. I truthfully hear Americans doing terrible British accents in tv all the time and vice versa. It’s acting. The people who do these accents have trained and are doing it as artwork/performance art. I have no trouble suspending reality for a couple hours to watch something enjoyable.
IwannaAskSomeStuff@reddit
John Barrowman grew up largely in the states, and any interviews or panel shows I've seen him on, he has an American accent anyway
FakeNathanDrake@reddit
Have you ever come across an interview where he completely changes accents? It's the weirdest thing, like one random sentence will sound like he's never left Scotland then he'll be right back to his usual accent.
GaryJM@reddit
Have you seen any of Daniel Day-Lewis's films where he plays an American?
Kitykity77@reddit
No, I actually and shamefully haven’t. I’m sure there are actors who can do both flawlessly, especially through film history versus modern day. In my world those were the two who sprang to mind, but Gillian Anderson also effortlessly does both, so I was being a little restrictive in my assessment to be fair.
uhbkodazbg@reddit
Ewan McGregor doesn’t really slip up as slipping up would mean that his accent is actually passable at times.
beaudujour@reddit
This is the answer. He just cannot do it but I love him in everything.
Silly_Somewhere1791@reddit
He was good in Velvet Goldmine, but he was playing a faux-Kurt Cobain so he had an exact model to follow.
RatherGoodDog@reddit
Sliding around on the floor, then?
LazHuffy@reddit
His accent was so bad in season 3 of Fargo (Juno Temple was great in season 5 though).
Mystery1001@reddit
Daniel Craig
QuickMolasses@reddit
His accent in Knives Out is ridiculous but it adds a lot to the charm of the movie.
IneffableOpinion@reddit
I like that his inspiration was Foghorn Leghorn
Suppafly@reddit
I'm like 99.99% sure that was by design.
IHaveBoxerDogs@reddit
Yes, I thought that was an affectation, like George Clooney in “O Brother Where Art Thou.” They weren’t supposed to sound legit.
changleosingha@reddit
Awful in Tomb Raider
GoodbyeForeverDavid@reddit
Jamie Bamber - I love Battlestar Galactica but I noticed he had this forced way of talking sometimes before I found out he was a Brit.
IneffableOpinion@reddit
I notice this with Ioan Gruffudd too. It’s technically correct but does not sound natural to me
Atlas7-k@reddit
Which is funny as his sister is nearly perfect and their father is from Detroit.
MRDWrites@reddit
He shows his British roots a few times, but to me the worst is when Pegasus is on its final moments and he says something like "Set batteries cycle auto three!" the 'three' is soooooo obviously out of his characters accent.
He still acted the hell out of that role.
MRDWrites@reddit
(Five minute youtube clip for fans who want to relive Pegasus charging in)[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sjgG_f35vZY]
marmot46@reddit
He was really good! But I remember an episode where he pronounced one semi-obscure word in a British way (can't remember what the word was now, haven't watched the show in years) and I was like oooooohh of course.
Whizbang35@reddit
My wife wondered why I was so confused when she introduced me to BSG. "I can't imagine Archie Kennedy with an American accent."
So I showed her Hornblower and she said "This is weird seeing Lee Adama with a British accent."
throw20190820202020@reddit
Pet peevish: even the most casual of American speech rarely drops the “g” from “thing”. If anything it’s often accentuated - everyTHANG.
Nails on chalkboard to hear “everyTHIN”, “anyTHIN”, and for some reason the hallmark case is Portia de Rossi in “Arrested Development”.
Puzzleheaded_Sky6656@reddit
I don’t know that I’ve ever heard a British actor say “anything” the way an American would.
shelwood46@reddit
Moreso, non-Americans tend to change the "y" to an "uh" sound instead of "ee".
throw20190820202020@reddit
I hear that too, but southerners do with some regularity say “enuh-thing”, so my ears don’t pick the “uh” out as totally foreign in the same way.
lefactorybebe@reddit
I def drop the g from "nothing" on occasion, but I think I keep it on your examples
throw20190820202020@reddit
Yeah nothing is the exception to the thing rule - see “Nut -n- Honey”!
lefactorybebe@reddit
It's strange, cause I absolutely do pronounce the g in everything and anything, even nothing sometimes.... I wonder why when we do lose it we do it on the nothing. Language is crazy lol
throw20190820202020@reddit
Same! I didn’t even realize it was a thin (haha) until I realized it bugged me.
Buhos_En_Pantelones@reddit
I gotta disagree. I find myself consistently speaking like this. For reference I'm from upstate NY, if that matters.
throw20190820202020@reddit
Interesting! I grew up in Chemung County 😄
I drop g’s in other words, but I never say “pick up that thin”
Inspi@reddit
Where do you live? I hear the dropped "g" all the time and am guilty of it myself.
Shevyshev@reddit
“I’m walkin’ here!”
Sounds totally normal.
throw20190820202020@reddit
The dropped g specifically in the word “thing”, especially everything and anything.
If it’s dropped, it’s exclusively from “nothing”, in almost exclusively a casual context, but I can’t think of a single American saying “everythin”, or “pick up that thin over there”. I mean I’m sure they exist somewhere, I just haven’t come across them in a long life all over the country.
Shevyshev@reddit
Got it, got it. I do agree with you in this.
unusualamountofloam@reddit
I thought of Portia before I finished your comment!!
throw20190820202020@reddit
Ha! Hello ear twin 😁
Maybe it’s because she’s pretty solid otherwise.
Adelaidey@reddit
Guy Pearce says "ennethin" in the exact same way that Portia DeRossi does. It catches my ear every time.
QuickMolasses@reddit
I sometimes will pronounce "anything" the way she does in Arrested Development just for fun. Also I use the Canadian pronunciation of "sorry" sometimes thanks mostly to Michael Cera in that show.
Grouchy_Snail@reddit
She’s Australian, but I’ve noticed it’s very common with any native English speaker who is not American or Canadian. It’s a dead giveaway and has, on more than one occasion, made me stop and go “wait, are they not American??” even when the accent is otherwise perfect.
throw20190820202020@reddit
Yep, I think I’ve even heard it from people who supposedly are among the best - and once you cotton on, you notice where they over correct too.
SummonGreaterLemon@reddit
I had no idea she was Australian until just now!
manokpsa@reddit
Many British and Irish actors have done incredibly convincing American accents, until they have to say "anything." I catch that weird "ennathing" too often to name any specific actors.
John_TheBlackestBurn@reddit
I caught one slip by Hugh Laurie in an episode of House.
Nynasa@reddit
I often notice some british actors accidentally reveal their british accent through the intrusive r
ShinyAppleScoop@reddit
Not British, but Sam Neill. I recently rewatched Jurassic Park and can't believe I didn't notice it earlier.
Weightmonster@reddit
Benedict Cumberbatch
FickleVirgo@reddit
All of them. If I get a twinge of, "that didn't sound right", I immediately Google them and discover I was right. I was surprised to learn Teresa Palmer was Australian, because she is so good at an American accent, when I happened to catch her in an Australian production, I googled her and was blown away, and now I can hear it in all her work, but she is still very good.
IHaveBoxerDogs@reddit
None of the big names. But Hotel Portofino on PBS made me want to stick pencils in my ears. Also, anytime there’s an American on Doctor Who.
Pro tip for actors, we don’t typically sound like 1950s gangsters or cowboys.
Stripeytabbycat@reddit
Daisy Edgar Jones in Twisters was maddening
dobbydisneyfan@reddit
Tom Payne actually has a fairly good American accent. But his Britishness comes out when his characters are yelling or in distress lol
And his co-star in Prodigal Son, Michael Sheen, turned full Welsh boy whenever he said the word “dad”, which is a lot of times in that show.
Whole_Ad_4523@reddit
Interestingly people are almost never taken to task about this if the part is done well. For instance, the “There Will Be Blood” accent exists nowhere. If you try to imitate a regional accent and fail, that’s different
bwurtz94@reddit
Cary Elwes in Seinfeld. “We were about to celebrate our third anniversary this month.”
hamburgergerald@reddit
I discovered the actress who played Dr. Jo Wilson on Grey’s Anatomy was British when her American accent started slipping during some emotional scene.
Then once I know an actor is actually British it’s usually pretty easy to catch their real accent coming through. So many actors though are extremely good at playing americans
Well_Dressed_Kobold@reddit
Whenever they say the word “anything.”
Americans and Canadians say “en-nee-thing.” The rest of the anglosohere say “en-nuh-thing,” and can’t seem to shake it.
MayBee_u@reddit
This is just a general observation but most Brits I would consider decent actors have trouble with a Southern accent. I'm from PA so not an expert. But I saw a performance of Suddenly Last Summer in the West End and I cringed the entire time!
lesfleursroses@reddit
British actors for whatever reason have convinced themselves they can do American accents better than Americans can do British accents, and as an American this is patently false. Very, very few can get away with it. We can pretty much always tell.
The worst offender, by far, is Benedict Cumberbatch (although he has improved somewhat).
The best I’ve ever heard is Will Sharpe on White Lotus. He genuinely had me fooled.
AskimbenimGT@reddit
Matthew Rhys would slip in the Americans, but it worked because his character was also speaking in a fake American accent.
RandomPaw@reddit
Angela Lansbury. I love her and I hate saying that but if you watch Murder She Wrote she says things like "lef-tenant" and adds Rs to the ends of words that end in a schwa vowel when the next one starts with a vowel. Like "I saw a llama at the zoo" would be "llamer" or "where's the scuba equipment?" is "scuber."
Jackal2332@reddit
Ewan McGregor in Black Hawk Down. Heard him do passable ones since, but in that one - not good.
liv_a_little@reddit
Ewan McGregor, hands down, has the strangest American accent. Maybe it’s how his natural voice just sounds, but it feels like he’s doing an old school transatlantic accent every time. I think he sounded okay in Big Fish
link2edition@reddit
I realize this isn't super specific, but anytime a foreign actor has to do a southern accent it sounds awful.
You have to PICK A STATE to imitate.
liv_a_little@reddit
This drives me nuts, too. Take someone from Deep South Louisiana and put them next to someone from Nashville. They sound nothing alike.
yaxAttack@reddit
Hugh Dancy. He does a very good job, he really does, but if you’re playing close attention his mouth clearly has to work hard to pronounce those Rs. IMHO it adds to the characterization of Will Graham but is distracting in SVU
liv_a_little@reddit
It kinda helped with the atmosphere, but his cadence was also noticeably British (if that makes sense). He also said “schedule” the British way once and I almost laughed
Amockdfw89@reddit
In high school they used to make us watch this educational teen sitcom called Extra for foreign language class. That dudes British accent came out all the time
Cheap-Transition-805@reddit
Charlie Hunnam in the last season or two of Sons of Anarchy.
Granadafan@reddit
Orlando Bloom is just awful. Also if there’s a character with an exaggerated “Southern” accent, there’s a good chance he/ she is a Brit or Aussie
Cebuanolearner@reddit
In The Last of Us, Bella was saying something about her pants, and it was clearly British accent that came through.
dopefiendeddie@reddit
Daniel Radcliffe. I could just be too used to his natural accent to be able to believe his American accent though. (For the reverse: I’m so used to Hugh Laurie’s American accent on House that I always think his English accent is fake when I hear it until I remember he’s English.)
RatherGoodDog@reddit
Have you seen Laurie in Blackadder? He's laying on fully over the top posh, foppish English and it's hilarious. "Golly gosh, what ho!" and all that. I think that's how most Brits came to know him because Blackadder is much older than House, and still consistently rerun on TV around Christmas.
Kinda funny how the same actor is known for being really British in Britain and convincingly American in the USA, I suspect with both audiences being unaware of the other's impression.
dopefiendeddie@reddit
I've seen the first couple of seasons but I don't remember seeing Hugh Laurie in the show.
RatherGoodDog@reddit
Ah, he only became a permanent cast member in season 3.
shelwood46@reddit
I have an ear for that. Cynthia Erivo was on Poker Face recently, playing multiple characters. Her American accents were pretty good, but there was one scene where she "put on" her natural British accent, and then switched back to American for the rest of that scene, and she suddenly couldn't do it, her American accent was suddenly awful, which I found amusing. But, yeah, even the best often slip. The worst is Nicole Kidman, who is not British, and should be better at American but somehow is not.
JurassicNublar@reddit
Delainey Hayles in the Interview With The Vampire tv series
negcap@reddit
Jeremy Irons in the Watchmen series and something else I saw recently The thing about British actors is they generally do a generic American accent while most Americans have regional accents. Idris Elba and Dominic West on the Wire do very good Baltimore accents and Daniel Day-Lewis does a great NY accent in Gangs of NY.
Elegant_Bluebird_460@reddit
Sophie Skelton (Brianna in Outlander). It's less about slipping up and more about being completely ignorant of the regional accents in America. Brianna was born and raised in Cambridge, MA. She would say aunt as Ah-nut, not ant as the actress chooses to say. There's several areas where the similarities between a New England accent and an English accent overlap where she instead went with a midwestern accent.
izlude7027@reddit
Rahul Kohli in Midnight Mass just can't seem to pronounce "Christian" like an American, which is kind of an issue since his character is one of only two non-Christians in the show.
Chica3@reddit
Sophie Skelton, in Outlander, can't say the word "anything" in an American accent. It always comes out as "ehnuthun". There were probably no Americans on the set, so no one noticed. It would've been easy to never put that word in her script.
Distinct_Safety5762@reddit
Sam Neill has a line in JP3 when he tells Charlie to “put mummy on the phone” that I always notice because it’s a rare slip for him.
jengaworld@reddit
Hugh Laurie’s accent was so awful in House. I don’t know why they didn’t just make his character British. As much as I love Emma Thompson, the only time I’ve seen her try an American accent (Primary Colors), it was just horrendous. On the flip side, Kate Winslet does an excellent American accent. I hadn’t heard of her before I saw Titanic, and I was so surprised to learn she was British.
Select-Royal7019@reddit
I don’t know if this counts as a slip-up, but I just watched “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” and Jared Harris’ accent in that was so… I don’t even know. It was a thing.
LiqdPT@reddit
Honestly, it's the Australians I notice more. Usually in a scene where they're getting emotional/yelling
redflagsmoothie@reddit
Sophie Skelton in outlander had an awful American accent.
allie06nd@reddit
Surprised I had to scroll this far down to get to this one! It's gotten better, but she still can't say "anything" correctly. It's so glaringly un-American, and it drives me nuts that they keep giving it to her in her lines.
redflagsmoothie@reddit
That’s EXACTLY what I was thinking about too lol
MuscaMurum@reddit
I don't so much notice a dropped R as I do an overcorrected rhotic R. It's one thing that makes the accent sound like it's not indigenous to a specific region of America. Or more precisely, that it's a combination of regions that don't really go together.
justdisa@reddit
Yes. Like they've hand-picked their accents, a word at a time, from all over the US.
BelligerentWyvern@reddit
Charlie Hunnam has a really weird Americam accent and occasionally slips into his British one.
Tom Hardy is the same way. He has an ok grumbly American accent but overall his American accent is noticably off and he occasionally dips into his regular speaking accent.
LazHuffy@reddit
Hardy’s accent in “The Revenant” is one of my favorite voices to imitate. “Turns out, God’s a squirrel.”
ucbiker@reddit
The worst part is that Charlie Hunnam was doing his bad American accent so long that he needed to vocal coaching to get his British accent back, so the poor guy doesn’t even have his natural British accent anymore.
Peachy0715@reddit
Jason Isaacs couldn't keep an American Southern accent through the recent season of White Lotus. It was pretty bad.
throw20190820202020@reddit
He actually had a very good very specific Carolina thing going on, better than Parker Posey’s. My ears liked to listen to hers more because I actually am familiar with and dislike the NC thing, but he was kind of amazing.
Turbulent_Garage_159@reddit
Really? I thought Posey had “rich upper south gentry” down pat. I went to school with a lot of boogie southern kids and Posey’s character would’ve fit right in at a parent’s weekend event.
throw20190820202020@reddit
Yeah she did a great general Southern, and I like to listen to it, he just was way more accurate than I think people unfamiliar with that region know.
I’m just waiting for someone to do an Eastern Shore accent and watch them held up as an example of flawed execution.
beerbelly666@reddit
I agree with this! I don’t think he was going for a general American Southern accent—his character was from a prominent family in the Carolinas, and he embodied really well. My ex was from North Carolina and his entire family sounded exactly like Jason Isaac’s. He definitely slipped up a few times throughout the show, but overall I was shocked by how much he nailed the accent.
All Southern accents don’t sound the same, there are definitely regional differences.
cori_2626@reddit
His was actually incredible if you are familiar with the super local accent he was doing. I literally know dozens of people in my area that sound exactly like that. I found it actually distracting how good it was. I kept having to pause the show and be like, I can’t believe this is Jason Isaacs and not my husbands boss
happymisery@reddit
Liam Neeson or Jason Statham. They should just make every character they play Irish or English respectively
Khajiit_Has_Upvotes@reddit
Tim Roth. Reservoir Dogs is one of my favorite movies. I love the guy in just about everything, but his American accent is jarringly bad.
Contrary to popular opinion in this post, I think Hugh Laurie does a good job. I was several seasons into House when it was still in production before I learned he's British.
I will say the same for the dude who plays Rick Grimes in The Walking Dead. Didn't know he's not American until like season 2 or 3.
tn00bz@reddit
I feel like British actors arent as good at doing American accents as we give them credit for. Hugh Laurie was hailed as a convincing American on House, but his accent is so obviously fake to me. The big giveaway is the nasality. American accents are a bit nasaly, but not in the way Brits make us sound.
d_in_dc@reddit
Matthew Macfayden is the only one I’ve felt did an incredible job. I never noticed slip ups as Tom Wamsgamb and he always managed to hit the stress marks where an American would.
humsterdaddy@reddit
My boyfriend and I quote Gerard Butler in Olympus has Fallen all the time. When he shouts "RPG!" it's very obvious he's Scottish. "ARRR PEH JEHHH!!!"
FluentInChocobo@reddit
You watch the original Jurassic Park enough you'll here Sam Niell slip a few times.
randomly-what@reddit
Will Poulter in death of a unicorn.
Benedict Cumberbatch in Power of the Dog.
bjanas@reddit
I like Colin Farrell a lot, and he's gotten really good at the accent, but early on he was pretty rough. Phone Booth, fantastic movie, but he hadn't really nailed the accent yet and he lays it on THICK. Kind of hard to get past, for me.
Liam Neeson and Gerard Butler both just tickle me, I feel like there was a time that they'd try to to American accents but eventually the directors just started saying "ehhhh, fuck it, you're a NY cop but who cares, just talk normally." I truly love it.
TillPsychological351@reddit
A couple of the actors in Band of Brothers would slip now and again, or just flat out did a bad accent. Simon Pegg's single line sounds like he's channeling Foghorn Leghorn. The actor who played Lt. Welsh would slip every now and again, and the guy who played Pvt. Blythe not only did bad southern accent, it was the wrong accent... Blythe came from Philadelphia.
TehLoneWanderer101@reddit
You didn't say they had to be good.
I like Gerard Butler and I legit love the Has Fallen movies, but my god, his "American accent" is terrible lmao. My head canon is that Mike Banning is a naturalized American citizen from Scotland who became a Secret Service agent lmao.
BM7-D7-GM7-Bb7-EbM7@reddit
Eddie Redmayne in The Good Nurse. It was subtle, and my wife started watching it and I wasn't paying attention really, but early in the movie I was like "why is there a English nurse?" Nursing is one of the jobs you never meet a European in so it was odd.
Then I finally looked at the TV and realized it was the guy from The Theory of Everything trying to do an American accent.
ShiraPiano@reddit
I loved SOA and Charlie Hunnam on it, however he had many moments you could tell.
Mental_Freedom_1648@reddit
I'm going to second Hugh Laurie. Also, on a related topic, Paterson Joseph has the worst American accent I've ever heard. He works on British shows, shows, so he only needed to be passable for non-American audiences, though.
QuickMolasses@reddit
I've noticed a lot of really terrible American accents on British series
Icy-Whale-2253@reddit
Idris Elba is notorious for it. If he starts yelling, the British jumps out.
ViolentCaterpillar@reddit
I've been a fan of Jeeves and Wooster since it first aired in the 90s. I have the DVD set. However there are many episodes either with American characters or set in New York, and the accents are reliably bad and cringeworthy throughout the supporting cast.
Although Hugh Laurie wasn't one of the cast members doing the accent, he was frequently surrounded by it on set. I hear echos of the bad accent in the first season of House, although he got better as the show progressed.
jc8495@reddit
Robert Pattinson slips up a couple times throughout the twilight saga. I think he refused an accent coach. I love him though so no complaints it just adds to his charm
Meowmeowmeow31@reddit
The guy who played McNulty on The Wire had a really bad one.
uhbkodazbg@reddit
His accent in The Wire sounded like a John Waters parody of a Bawlmerese accent.
Judgy-Introvert@reddit
Dominic West.
ucbiker@reddit
Charlie Hunnam
BeepCheeper@reddit
I can’t think of any actor in particular, but the Intrusive R always gives them away for me. Sometimes I’ll google an actor after I hear it just to confirm they’re British.
stellalunawitchbaby2@reddit
Emma Watson’s American accent is notoriously bad.
Primaveralillie@reddit
Jamie Dornan slips up a few times in 50 Shades (I don't care how bad it is, people are lying if they say they haven't seen it.) His Irish is so lovely though, and WAY more sexy than his American accent - which, isn't that the whole point of the story? It just makes me wish they figured out a way to make Christian Grey Irish so he could carry it through the whole film.
Strict-Farmer904@reddit
Dominic West Benedict Cumberbatch
isaiahxlaurent@reddit
the way ed westwick talks in gossip girl made it so easy to tell that he was british 😭
Help1Ted@reddit
Ray Winstone in the departed was just awful. Not sure what they were going for and why he just didn’t use his regular accent.
StupidLemonEater@reddit
Because an English accent would be even more out of place for an Irish-American gangster?
cluttersky@reddit
Nicola Bryant.
shibby3388@reddit
Most of them.
Raving_Lunatic69@reddit
Helena Bonham Carter slips a few times in Fight Club
R_A_H@reddit
Basically all of them even including Hugh Laurie who did an excellent job overall in House MD.
ilPrezidente@reddit
Michael Fassbender (Irish) in Band of Brothers had a weird accent.
DOMSdeluise@reddit
Clive Owen really does not do a good American accent. Great actor though.
Tommy_Wisseau_burner@reddit
Idris Elba is the only one I really notice but it’s not even bad