We see a lot about British actors doing great American accents (Christian bale for example even though he spent a lot of time in the US prior to American Psycho) and it’s a misconception that there are American actors who can’t do British accents (Robert Downey jr. And meryl Streep are very good).

41 comments

  1. Gerard Butler is pretty bad.

    Orlando Bloom can be pretty bad.

    Ewan McGregor is phenomenal but his accent in Big Fish was bad.

  3. Ed Skrein in Midway

    Even the writing didn’t do him any favors “I am an American Pilot!” Said to another American pilot

    Um yeah he knows that why are you saying it like that. More likely it was to prove to himself like an affirmation he would use to get into character.

  4. Gerard Butler and Clive Owen are both not great. Clive Owen at least is a great actor which makes up for it.

  5. Idk but when I saw *Enola Holmes*, I remember thinking Millie Bobby Brown did a pretty good job acting a British accent

  6. If you watch an average BBC show with an American character, a fair amount of the time it will be an absolutely atrocious accent. The first that comes to mind personally is Horrible Histories (which is unfair, because the reason it comes to mind first is that it’s one of my favorite shows ever). There’s one guy on that show who can do a southern accent with some believability, but the rest of that show’s American accents are insane. Bison is pronounced “biSAHN,” they include British slang like “barmy” when speaking with American accents, and the actual pronunciations themselves are ridiculous.

    But it’s a great show and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes history, as well as anyone who hates history who wishes they liked it.

  8. Dominic West, as I said in a reply to someone else. Wonderful actor. Terrible American accent.

  11. They’re all bad. They all speak in monotone when trying to speak in an American accent.

    The worst that comes to mind is Simon Baker from The Mentalist.

  12. Kate Winslet in Titanic. Even she doesn’t watch her performance because she thinks her American accent in bad.

  13. Not quite the question because it’s an American accent by an American, but. Kevin costner’s Boston accent is……not good.

  16. Tim Roth is a legend but he shouldn’t do accents. I think he knows it, and in Lie to Me and Marvel they just let him be him.

    It actually kinda worked in Reservoir Dogs because he was playing someone concealing his true identity.

    Fuck it, his actual accent is super charismatic and funny and according to my wife, hot, so just change the scripts so he’s always English and let him loose.

  17. I love *Die Hard* so much, but I think all those gunshots and explosions may have damaged McClane’s hearing because Hans Gruber may have been tricky, but his accent isn’t fooling anyone.

  19. There’s a [scene](https://youtu.be/v9DM0GXjZiM) in *In Bruges* where Colin Farrel is mocking “American” tourists who are asking him about climbing a tower to get a better view of the city. The tourists are very overweight and wearing exaggerated, stereotypical American clothing. Their accents sound like a mix of Irish and British, but absolutely nothing like American. I love that movie, but the terrible accents mean the joke doesn’t land at all. The entire scene is cringeworthy because of it.

  20. Can’t go wrong with a Japanese anime that isn’t dubbed but an “American” who speaks English starts talking. Endless source of laughs.

  21. Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange should have a Philadelphia accent, but it just sounds nasal and neutrally American.

  22. *Shin Godzilla* is, without question, one of the best recent Godzilla movies. In the film, actress Satomi Ishihara plays the American daughter of a US Senator. Although the movie is in Japanese, she gets a few English lines.

    Her American accent is, well, [not exactly convincing.](https://youtu.be/VXFHzLiHsE4)

  23. Watching all kinds of hospital/crime dramas (in America) I’ve learned my personal shibboleth is the word “coroner”. Brits (and Australians) often have trouble pronouncing that second ‘r’ at the end. Understandable. I even noticed it on House with Hugh Laurie (who is absolutely perfect, with an excellent American accent in that show).

  25. Not necessarily the worst but in the new Dark Pictures game, Kates actress has an awful American accent. It’s so obviously Irish it’s ridiculous.

  31. Good god it has to be the protagonist from that Midway movie that came out a few years ago. Dude switched accents every scene I swear.

  32. How about Noah Jupe in Ford vs. Ferrari not even bothering with one even though he’d done a pretty good one in Wonder (I wouldn’t pick on a kid for this otherwise).

    If you look up Ken Miles’ bio and do the math, he moved to the US when his son Peter (Jupe’s character) was 2.

  35. Definitely not that Asian guy who peels his eyelids back and requests “I think I’ll use my credit card. Do you guys have anything non-dairy, anything gluten free!?”

  37. Asian dramas have a tendency to get any white person, no matter what country they are actually from, to play American characters.

    So basically like what Hollywood does for most Asian roles.

  40. Disclaimer: I love Emma Thompson, she’s one of my favorite actresses, but she hasn’t been able to convince me she can do an American accent — Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh in “Dead Again,” Emma Thompson in “Primary Colors” and an episode of “Ellen” are all examples of bad American accents.

    Moreover, Emma **Watson** in “Perks of Being a Wallflower” was unconvincing as well.

    All these attempts at an American accent were way too nasally.

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