Who is a celeb you thought were British but are actually American?

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EquivalentNo5465@reddit

Similar vein, actors with British accents in American shows who turned out actually be British - Giles from Buffy and Daphne from Frasier, their accents sounded so OTT I assumed they were American. I was wrong

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DameKumquat@reddit

Giles in Buffy was Anthony Head finally managing to shake off his reputation as "that guy from the Gold Blend adverts".

Possibly why otherwise he's mostly ended up playing posh villains.

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Breakwaterbot@reddit

It's the same with Emily from friends. I thought she was putting on an over the top British accent in the show and it sounded so poorly done. Turns out she is British. She was in Cuckoo and spoke exactly the same. It's just how she talks.

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phoebean93@reddit

Daphne's accent is embarrassing. Why not get an actual northerner?

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Brave_Nerve_6871@reddit

I have one good example the other way: Slash. Born and lived in the UK until he was six years old. Has a dual citizenship

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kilgore_trout1@reddit

Slash has to the single most exciting thing to have come out of Stoke.

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Unusual_residue@reddit

I thought that the Stoke story has since been corrected

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DameKumquat@reddit

He didn't get an American passport until he was about 30 and it made touring with GnR too difficult. You can imagine how US immigration reacted to him turning up with a British passport!

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charliekeery@reddit

i realise i'm literally answering this backwards but i don't have an answer the right way around. i was absolutely baffled when i found out high laurie wasn't american.

i was reading an article or something and it mentioned he went to a fancy british school snd i was like ?? that's weird that he came over here for school right, and then i saw that he did fry and laurie and i was like oh shit he knows steven fry, crazy. it still took me another hour to click that it's because he's british.

this was like 6 seasons into house too, which just solidified that he was american bc no one's accent is that natural surely, but nope. i was wrong, he's been lying to me and he's a genius.

it's like uncanny vally when i hear him speak for real, i'll never get used to it

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Difficult_System1264@reddit

I grew up watching him in Blackadder so I found it bizarre watching him in House. I can completely understand why people not familiar with his earlier work (young people!) would assume he's American.

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charliekeery@reddit

i don't know how much blackadder he's in but i've seen that!! like i know i'd seen him before house in small clips but it never registered that it was him.

he's in a friends episode and it throws me when i hear him in it now because i know who he is, he's just such a great actor

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Difficult_System1264@reddit

He's in series three as Prince George and then in Blackadder Goes Forth as Lieutenant George. I think he has minor roles in some other series as well but those are the main two.

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Mav_Learns_CS@reddit

Can’t say I’ve ever thought an American actor was british, it’s much easier to do the other way around

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Mediocre-Smile5908@reddit

I know Christian Bale is British but hearing him speak in his normal accent is quite the revelation. Also Rafe Spall. ☺️

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Dharl61@reddit

Was at school with CB, played rugby against him.

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RockFourStar@reddit

I thought he'd be more of a cricket guy.... seems like a..... bat man.

I'll get my coat.

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Dharl61@reddit

🤣😎🫡

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killer_by_design@reddit

Brad Pitt in snatch. Made me ask questions!

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Mediocre-Smile5908@reddit

Mainly 'what the chuff is he saying?' It's in an interview with Guy Ritchie that Brad's attempt at an Irish accent was so bad they just got him to mumble and have others translate for him 😄.

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Breakwaterbot@reddit

It's like when I learned Steve-O is British. Mind blown.

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Ok-Pepper-Ok@reddit

I'm still not clear in Gillian Anderson

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Riskit_4_Biscuits@reddit

Came to say the same. She's American but does British well.

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Contrarian1234567@reddit

She was born here (UK).

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benscott81@reddit

Born in the states but spent a large amount of her childhood in the UK.

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Contrarian1234567@reddit

oops. Confused her with Kim Cattrall.

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benscott81@reddit

TIL Kim Cattrall was born in the UK

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Contrarian1234567@reddit

Yes, she's did our version of finding your Roots or whatever its called. Liverpool lass.

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BuncleCar@reddit

Yes, she lived in the UK in her teens as her parents worked here

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Difficult_System1264@reddit

Born in Chicago, moved to London when she was little, back to the States when she was 11 and stayed there until adulthood. Now she's back living in London. She's American but I would happily accept her as an honorary Brit.

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jahathebrn@reddit

She was born in the USA but spent a lot of time over here, she's known for switching accents depending on context and it doesn't seem performative, basically code switching I guess but she's an American citizen since birth.

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Naughtyspider@reddit

I thought Peter Dinklage was British when I saw him in Game of Thrones. His accent was very good.

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HaggisPope@reddit

I thought he was Canadian, tbh

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Dennyisthepisslord@reddit

Sounded like Victor Meldrew which was a very "stage" voice tok ss I believe he was really Scottish

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pootler@reddit

Oh my god, that's spot on!

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pootler@reddit

It really wasn't. Decent in places but so wrong in others. Not at all authentic. Doesn't take away from how bloody brilliant he was in GoT though.

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ORF1Live@reddit

It wasn't that good. Don't get me wrong, I thought he was great as Tyrion but the accent wasn't convincing. Better than Karl Urban but not great.

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No-Programmer-3833@reddit

that was diabolical

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ORF1Live@reddit

It did improve slightly over the course of the show.

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PrincessCellyBelly@reddit

I knew he was American but hearing him talk in his normal accent for the first time was like some one dumped cold water on me 😂 surreal

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Professional-Test239@reddit

Louis Theroux

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Contrarian1234567@reddit

Cloudy one. Accidental American like BoJo. Parents just happened to be living here at the time.

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Professional-Test239@reddit

His father is the novelist Paul Theroux who is 100% american. Louis considers himself equally American and British I believe.

Louis was actually born in Singapore.

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Contrarian1234567@reddit

Thank you for the correction! Is his mother a Brit then?

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TapeDeckSlick@reddit

For some reason I thought Britney Spears was until like 2018

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Solid_Codex2@reddit

Anya Taylor-Joy, kind of.

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kilgore_trout1@reddit

She is British isn’t she?

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Any-Fudge1837@reddit

She is joint British, American and Argentinian. Lived mostly in Argentina and UK, according to Wikipedia.

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hevarella@reddit

Like some of the others mentioned - only by chance; family were holidaying in the US.

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Solid_Codex2@reddit

Fair enough

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Stunning-Bumblebee45@reddit

Pipl on a good girls guide to murder

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Infinite_Crow_3706@reddit

Danny Dyer

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jnnewbe@reddit

Danny Dyer is very much English.

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malkebulan@reddit

r/woooosh

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jnnewbe@reddit

Whoops

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smellyfeet25@reddit

what?

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jahathebrn@reddit

Gwyneth Paltrow. I have no idea why, I must have just never heard her speak and it is quite an English sounding name. Only realised when she had that whole skiing accident trial going on.

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Dennyisthepisslord@reddit

There's a old Ricky gervais/Chris Martin interview where Ricky asks how does Chris speak to her when she only speaks Welsh

"Through lawyers" 🤣

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msac84@reddit

Well she was married to Chris Martin..

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glittery_grandma@reddit

After watching the promo for The Vampire Lestat, Jennifer Ehle!

What do you mean Lizzie Bennet is American?!

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Select-Cut885@reddit

What the… on checking, you’re totally right and this fact has made me doubt everything I knew to be to true about growing up British and having Colin Firths Darcy as my first memorable romantic leading man. Although her mum is from Leicestershire which makes me feel slightly better.

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Suspicious_Neck_5156@reddit

I always thought Natalie Portman was British.

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Puzzled-Horse279@reddit

Sendhil Ramamurphy has a fairly convincing Middle Classed accent.

He just wouldnt blend in with lets say an Asian from Bradford.

But TV and Film usually prefer British Asian actors to not have regional or working class or "ghetto" accents

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Wrong-Trash-2090@reddit

bridget jones' lady: only time I heard a convincing brit accent from an american

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ZygonCaptain@reddit

My first thought, she was brilliant

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Alfredthegiraffe20@reddit

Jesus,, I thought she was dreadful!

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anabsentfriend@reddit

Too posh and stilted. I didn't find her speech natural at all.

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Midnightraven3@reddit

Renée Zellweger was my answer too. I was most surprised to find out she wasn't British

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Nosedive888@reddit

Tessa Thompson

First saw her in Thor: Ragnarok. I thought she had a fantastic English accent

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kilgore_trout1@reddit

Oh wow, until your comment I genuinely thought she was British.

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Flat_Speed_1243@reddit

Boris Johnson

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Jaded_Ad_6658@reddit

He’s a politician, not a celebrity. People in this country would do well remember that. He’s also revoked his US citizenship, but before he revoked it he was a dual citizen anyways.

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Hefty_Tip7383@reddit

He was a celebrity before politician (but a massive twat first)

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kilgore_trout1@reddit

What an odd thing to say. That’s like saying David Beckham’s a footballer, not a celebrity. Why would one preclude the other?

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ZygonCaptain@reddit

Heard of him before he was a politician, so I’d say he counts

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justeUnMec@reddit

He only really got into political office through the celebrity status he developed appearing in things like HIGNFY. While he had been a journalist, the London electorate knew him from that.

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jahathebrn@reddit

Thought you were taking the piss but no he had dual citizenship til 2016.

And yeah we know he's not a celeb in the traditional sense but save the pedantry for the politics subs

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shabba182@reddit

I don't know why I thought Timothee Chalamet was English

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msac84@reddit

He’s half French!

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man_marine@reddit

Dick Van Dyke, his cockney accent in 'Marwy Pawpins!' was too good /s

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Leopardprintbag@reddit

I thought Lee Pace was British for ages. I can't even remember why, I must've heard him doing a good accent once. And I'm British.

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Love-That-Danhausen@reddit

This one still surprises me

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Cheese-n-Opinion@reddit

Claire Danes did a really good accent in Stardust. But I think I already knew her as American from other roles.

Not many Americans do good British accents, and those that do are usually already well known as being American.

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RamblingsOfAMagpie@reddit

Peter Dinklage.

When I first saw GoT I assumed he was British, or maybe Australian. Nay nay, he is an American

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chicken_nugget94@reddit

Took me way too long to discover that the killers aren't a British band

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nhilistic_daydreamer@reddit

I thought they were an Aussie band for many years.

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Cult-Film-Fan-999@reddit

For some reason I thought Adrian Brody was British. I hadn't seen many of his films at the time and I have no idea how I reached that conclusion. It was only when I was so impressed at how convincingly American he sounded and read his background, I realised that he was in fact from the USA.

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generichandel@reddit

None? It becomes pretty obvious when they start talking.

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qualityvote2@reddit

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