Best American Accents By Non-American Actors: From Russell Crowe To Colin Farrell (pics)

Seems to me, they left out one of the best, if not the best - Gary Oldman.
Some of those guys can't hold a candle to him...he's so solid spot-on, maybe they forgot he was British.

The guy that played House.

I'll also nominate Mick Jaggar as a singer. Seems many of the Brit rock and rollers use an American accent when performing.

Yeah, how DID they miss hugh laurie? And he WAS in several movies. He has played a sheepish soft shy american AND a rather arrogant loud acerbic one, and BOTH were perfect! And THAT is harder than someone like mel gibson, who lways speaks the same way with a given accent. Seriously, I did a double take with him as the father in stuart little. I DO agree that Mel Gibson ALSO deserves a place on the list though. He does well as well.

Steve

Mel Gibson was born in the U.S. he moved to Australia when he was 12.

Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson was born on January 3, 1956, in Peekskill, New York, USA...

So was Nicole Kidman...born in Honolulu...

Transplanted Aussies!

and Hugh Laurie does a good American dialect - so does Eddie Izzard (another they missed)

What always impressed me about Oldman and Izzard, for instance, is they have a rather thick natural accent, so when people hear them in their normal speaking voices, they almost think THAT is a put-on...

I was watching this movie awhile back called "Prince of Persia"(I think?) that had Jake Gyllenhaal in it - what was funny, is they are all supposed to be ancient Persians, but they all had English accents - even him - and he's an American...

Other Americans who have 'butchered' the English language, is Kevin Costner (Robin Hood), and Julia Roberts (Mary Reilly) :p (didn't they have dialect coaches?)

One that always used to confound Americans was "Higgins" on "Magnum P.I."...

John Hillerman - born in Denison, Texas, USA


Some Actors are born with it, growing up with several languages, some acquire it through training, it does take an ear...but you see many people day to day who speak bilingually without any trace of accent.

People are surprised for instance, to hear Sandra Bullock speaking fluent German, or Jodi Foster speaking French, Natalie Portman speaking Israeli, or Charlize Theron, who's native language is Afrikaans, and did not learn to speak English until her late teens. The broader advent of television and movies did allow people all over the world to hear and adapt to foreign dialects more readily, so their peers will fall prostrate in awe.

To clarify, Jodi Foster isn't from France, but she has been speaking French fluently since she was young... she attended a French language prep school, and has spent a lot of time there...

Although Theron became fluent in English (which she speaks with a General American accent) around age nineteen, her first language is Afrikaans.

Christian Bale was great as...




































































































































American Psycho.

I thought Bale was really a standout as Mark Wahlberg's brother in "the Fighter", where he did a "Southie" (South Boston) accent.