OOPS!

Anna Friel - Pushing Daisies

Also: Dominic West & Idris Elba in The Wire; and Aiden Gillen too, if Irish actors count.

Also, I should give proper respect to Grace Dent, whom I've shamelessly ripped off here.

Attention TPS: I'm pretty sure she's your British counterpart.

misteraitch, I don't know that show too well. Do all three of them do fake accents?

I mean, there have always been Brits on American telly (Jane Leeves), but they used to keep their British accents (even if - in her case - they weren't the British accents they were born with).

chuckdarwin—yes, with varying degrees of success: West’s & Elba’s accents are very good indeed (to my ears): in fact I never even realised Elba was British until I read an article about him. Gillen’s accent, on the other hand, is not so good.

in fact I never even realised Elba was British until I read an article about him.

That is, I think, the general idea.

Producers can get a talented, eager-to-please, good-looking British actor for half price... a little vocal coaching and VOILA - an American TV star is born. The folks in Peoria never need know that their new heartthrob is from Slough.

I'm possibly a bit too picky but it annoys me when British actors hired to play British characters in American films/shows come out with American dialogue (Jane Leeves in Frasier being a prime example of this). I watched 'Alfie' (2004 version) last night and liked it, but when Jude Law came out with 'expiration date' I asked myself why he couldn't have told the director that the British version is 'expiry date'. I like these little differences and it leaps out a mile to me when they're not respected.

I thought Idris Elba was superb as Stringer Bell.

"...there aren't any jobs for black actors in the UK"

TheophileEscargot - that is a great article!

I watched 'Alfie' (2004 version) last night and liked it, but when Jude Law came out with 'expiration date' I asked myself why he couldn't have told the director that the British version is 'expiry date'.

I felt the same way about Andie McDowell in Four Weddings and a Funeral.

(in reverse, obvs.)

Her character was Usaian in that movie.

Yeah, but she came out with a few 'Britishisms' in the film (which I can't remember very well)... which I think was Reggie's point.

(my g-d, have I turned into Andie McDowell?)

Is there a new Bionic Woman show?

You know what, I shouldn't even be surprised enough to care anymore.

(and I thought Pushing Daisies was a Ween song)

I was about to post this myself, chuckdarwin.

It's weird because so many of these actors are, in my mind, too good for American TV (or for TV at all.)

What's the deal lately with all of these English actors playing yanks? Showing off their acting chops?

Lena Headey is currently making plenty off royalties from 300. Why does she need or want to do American TV? Julian Sands and Natasha Richardson must be set for life by now too.

I don't watch much TV and so don't catch Nip/Tuck much, but Joely Richardson is brilliant in anything. I think she passes herself off wonderfully as American. Gawd, I remember her from old Peter Greenaway films like Drowning by Numbers (check it out if you can find it!) She is not only a wonderful actor, she is teh hawtor and will be at any age.

But, ya know what? I saw Tim Roth in Dark Water (which I recommend as a ghost story and a tale of mothers' love with a sweet circular ending if you can manage to put aside your expectations of it being a "horror film"), and when I first heard his disembodied voice on a phone, PERHAPS because it was his disembodied voice, I could tell he was a Brit faking a yank accent. Still, he's a helluvan actor and pulled off being a Jersey New Yawker Jewish lawyer amazingly well.

But is it not a joy to watch Eddie Izzard and even Minnie Driver in The Riches, even though their Brit accents show through?

I'm amazed that nobody has mentioned Jamie Bamber
His accent seems (to me, but then hey - what would I know) absolutely spot on.

Compare and Contrast

My theory is that so many American actors and actresses have ceased to look like normal people that they've had to cast Brits. I find a lot of the younger American actresses entirely indistinguishable from each other and, I suspect, they get pressured by casting agents and managers to look that way.

I suspect, they get pressured by casting agents and managers to look that way.

GREAT point. American actors have no character anymore. When's the last time we had a Cagney or Peter Lorre or Bogart or an Audrey Hepburn?

Who DOES have "character" these days? William Macy?

I think you might be on to something chuck - there's a group of actors indelibly associated with specific roles, and the group is growing. Writers are starting to play on this, recently we've seen Courtney Cox and Jennifer Anniston in Dirt and Laurie Metcalfe and Sara Gilbert turning up on Big Bang Theory with Johnny Galecki. It's banal stunt casting at best.

The US is the biggest market, it makes sense for actors from smaller markets to go there to seek fame, fortune and the widest distribution networks. In a lot of places you haven't 'made it' until you've broken into the US. The Aussies have also been at it for a few years now, and Canadian and Latin American actors have been doing it forever.

I'm possibly a bit too picky but it annoys me when British actors hired to play British characters in American films/shows come out with American dialogue (Jane Leeves in Frasier being a prime example of this)

Eh, when you live somewhere for a while you pick up the lingo. I find it more disconcerting to hear a character meant to be a long-term resident use more slang from their home country, it's just not realistic.

(Re TheophileEscargot's artticle above) I would never have guessed Sendhil Ramamurthy wasn't British. That's the converse migration we're neglecting to consider here, and which occurs in great numbers - that of American actors coming to star in British theatre, and of American theatre actors studying here.

I've noticed a few Brits/Aussies/Scots doing US regional accents lately, which is even more impressive. Christian Bale was good in 3:10 to Yuma (Crowe less so, IMO). And Kelly MacDonald was really surprising in No Country for Old Men.

Who DOES have "character" these days? William Macy?

I like Hoffman and Buscemi too.

I ♥ Kelly McDonald, and it's also very cool that her "big break" was in Trainspotting. Woo...