Deep thought: Why are British and Australian actors so adroit at pulling off American accents.....

[marmar]

...... but American actors so piss poor at pulling off British or Australian accents?

[Forkboy]

1. I don't know, but props for using the word adroit

:thumbsup:

[lazarus]

2. easy one

they grow up watching American television programs and films, so the accents come easily to them.

[rrneck]

3. Which American accent?

Upper midwest, California, Pacific Northwest, New York, or the South? It might be easier because of the melting pot effect.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

4. Uhmmm...They invented English?

I remember a radio interview. A guy from England recounted a dinner conversation on this side of the pond where one of the guests actually asked him how hard was it for him to learn the language when he came over here.

No wonder the rest of the world laughs at us.

[driver8]

19. Good Lord...

Americans are so fucking ignorant.

[MorningGlow]

5. I dunno...I've heard some pisspoor American accents coming out of British actors

Some of the less capable ones seem to think that if they bite down on their Rs and talk like they have a ping pong ball lodged in their esophagus, that makes them sound American.

As for the skilled British actors, they know how to study before taking on a role. They're much more serious about their craft than lots of Americans.

[realisticphish]

8. yeah, this

and generally, they sound somehow like a guy from boston who lives in atlanta

I think part of the trend is that Hollywood is American. So we expect competent American accents. British accents, the audience doesn't care as much

[JCMach1]

9. Yeah, can't agree with the premise of the OP

[Recovered Repug]

6. It's proof that there

is no English or Australian accent. It's a massive joke played on us Americans.

[KT2000]

7. Anthony Lapaglia (Without a Trace)

is Australian and I really thought he was from New York.

[wickerwoman]

10. British actors train. Americans actors are "discovered".

:shrug:

Not universally true, but even walk-on roles on a lots of British soaps are played by RADA graduates while it seems like most American actors just show up and look pretty.

[HEyHEY]

11. The country is STEEPED in different accents

They can tell if someone is from across the river. So, they have a great ear for accents.

[velvet]

12. Huge exposure to US TV and movies in Australia

So it's not surprising some actors become very skilled at American accents. Anthony LaPaglia, mentioned upthread, is very good. Also Tony Collette. I've been watching "United States of Tara" and she's just brilliant, actually it's a fantastic show all round. Mind you, I don't know how authentic she sounds to American ears.

Both British and American actors seem to find the Australian accent difficult. They usually end up sounding like cockneys.

[lukasahero]

13. Because England has actors and America has

movie stars.

[old mark]

33. ...and America also has an awful lot of money for actors...nt

[raccoon]

14. I thought John Hillerman did a pretty good job as Jonathan Quayle Higgins

on MAGNUM, PI.

Always thought Hayley Mills should've learned an American accent for some of her Disney movies, such as THE PARENT TRAP and especially POLLYANNA.

I rarely see movies these days, so I don't know what's going on nowadays. Haven't heard of the one you mentioned.

But somehow I do love to hear an American accent coming from a British actor. It makes me realize, "Hey, we have an American (non-Southern) accent."

[CrownPrinceBandar]

15. My question: Why can't they use American actors instead?.......

Not trying to be nationalistic, but it seems like it would be less labor-intensive and I'm sure the American actors could use the work. I also wondered why the film adaptation of "Memoir of a Geisha" almost exclusively used Chinese actresses for the Japanese women's roles.

[JonLP24]

21. I personally think

they should use the best actor they can find for whatever role. I really think Dominic West did an excellent job playing an American in The Wire and I really wouldn't want that role played by anyone else.

[cemaphonic]

24. I thought West's accent was a little bit inconsistant

although I agree that in general he did a great job on the show. The two non-Americans on that show that were really great were the actors that played Carcetti and Stringer. I never would have guessed that those two were Irish and English respectively.

[SwampG8r]

16. their accents are totally fake

everyone in ireland ,england, canada.australia hell in all english speaking countries has the exact same accent we do.
they are just faking the accent because american women think its "sexy"
and the american southern accent?.......fake too

[Cant trust em]

17. I was in Memphis recently and the accent was so thick

I couldn't help but think that its a put on. You know, just a show for us tourists.

[SwampG8r]

18. "why you look as

happy as a speckled puppy under a red wagon,bless yalls hearts"
now really how could this NOT be fakery?

[Iggo]

20. Practice.

[surrealAmerican]

22. It might just be that here in the US ...

... the ones who are unable to fake the accent don't succeed in landing any parts.

[LostinVA]

23. And Aussie actors are the BEST at it

Except Nicole Kidman always sounds like she went to Vassar in 1927.

[MrScorpio]

25. What about Mid Atlantic English Accent speakers?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_English

I used to swear that Katherine Hepburn came from England.

[Arugula Latte]

26. 'Ow can yuh say that, eh, Guv'nah?

[jobycom]

27. Except Texas or Southern accents. They suck at those. nt

[mitchum]

30. True. Even many American actors sound like they are in a middle school production of...

"Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" when they attempt a southern accent.

[jobycom]

31. Say what?

[LSdemocrat]

28. First, they hear American accents far more growing up than we hear British or Australian accents

Second, only the really, really good actors manage to get into movies and US TV shows to play Americans, also there are tons of horrid attempts at American accents on British TV.

[applegrove]

29. When they sing they sound like they are talking american. Does that help? Maybe the american accent

is the default.

[GCP]

32. Gwyneth Paltrow does a good English accent IMHO

I'm English and I should know.

[old mark]

34. Lee Childs, who writes a series of thrillers with a character named Reacher

is British, and his novels are evidently tailored to the region where they are sold. Most of the books I own were published here in the US and everyone speaks and spells American english. I found one of his books in taht series published in Austrailia and soon noticed that the figures of speech and spellings were British english...kind of jarring since most of the book is set in Nevada and California an all the characters are Americans.

mark

[Demoiselle]

35. Really GOOD British and Australian actors do really good American accents.

Really good American actors do really good British accents.
I give you Russell Crowe and Renee Zellweger, for example.
I've heard some pretty poor "American" accents coming out of 3rd level British actors on BBC shows.

It's all about talent and part of talent is having an ear.

And there may be another factor...George Bernard Shaw tells us through Henry Higgins that the British have been very sensitive to their own regional and class accents because they reflect class. There have always been Eliza Doolittles "passing" as upper class types. "The moment he speaks he makes some other Englishman despise him...."
That'll tune your ear up pretty quickly in a class-driven society.