Topic: The best and worst accents in acting.

[Halloran]

Accents: so actors got it and others can't pull it off. Who does the best accents? Who has the worst?

I remember watching the first X-men movie and not knowing that Jackman was an Aussie. I'd never heard of the actor. But at some point in the film he picks up a phone and says "hello", and at that moment, I knew he wasn't American. Something about the way he said it tipped me off. But otherwise, I thoguht his American accent was decent.

Meanwhile I feel like Liam Nesson's American accent is just terrible. I walked in on a friend watching one of his films and sat to check it out for a minute. He played some CIA agent, as was revealed in the film, at which point I was stunned. "He's supposed to be an American? Or just a forgiener working with the CIA?" Nope, just a regualr CIA agent. He just can't pull it off.

On the other side, I thought Nestor Campell had a hispanic accent for years dues to his Suddenly Susan and Tick appearances. Then I saw him on LOST (and in interviews for the show) sans accent and was shocked.  A credit to his acting.

So who has the best and worst accents in acting?

[amysrevenge]

I remember watching the first X-men movie and not knowing that Jackman was an Aussie. I'd never heard of the actor. But at some point in the film he picks up a phone and says "hello", and at that moment, I knew he wasn't AmericanCanadian. Something about the way he said it tipped me off. But otherwise, I thoguht his AmericanCanadian accent was decent.

Fixed your Wolverine nationality for ya.

[David E.]

Neeson has a terrible American accent.  He however IS Liam Neeson.

[neurotraveller]

House. Best ever.

[Rai]

Sean Connery. He doesn't even bother with accents, just uses his own. Which is awesome, but kinda strange for, let's say, a Soviet naval captain.

Russel Crowe had a very strange one in Robin Hood. A bit like Irish but not quite.

[Eternally Learning]

Sean Connery. He doesn't even bother with accents, just uses his own. Which is awesome, but kinda strange for, let's say, a Soviet naval captain.

Russel Crowe had a very strange one in Robin Hood. A bit like Irish but not quite.

Heh, I was going to mention Connery too and in the same vein, Tom Cruise.  What accent do you suppose Crowe was going for in Gladiator?

How about Lucy Lawless for an Aussie good with accents, or for that matter Nicole Kidman?

[amysrevenge]

I didn't know Gillian Anderson was British until X-Files was long off the air.  Saw her on Graham Norton a couple years back, and it blew my mind.

[Eternally Learning]

I didn't know Gillian Anderson was British until X-Files was long off the air.  Saw her on Graham Norton a couple years back, and it blew my mind.

What-the-what?!  I swear I've seen interviews with her where she had the same American accent.

[amysrevenge]

I didn't know Gillian Anderson was British until X-Files was long off the air.  Saw her on Graham Norton a couple years back, and it blew my mind.

What-the-what?!  I swear I've seen interviews with her where she had the same American accent.

Maybe she was faking on Graham Norton then.  One way or the other, it was good.

{Edit - Looked it up and there you go, she was faking on Graham Norton then.]

[Eternally Learning]

I didn't know Gillian Anderson was British until X-Files was long off the air.  Saw her on Graham Norton a couple years back, and it blew my mind.

What-the-what?!  I swear I've seen interviews with her where she had the same American accent.

Maybe she was faking on Graham Norton then.  One way or the other, it was good.

{Edit - Looked it up and there you go, she was faking on Graham Norton then.]

It appears we're both right actually:

With her English accent and background, Anderson was mocked and felt out of place in the American Midwest and soon adopted a Midwest accent. To this day, her accent depends on her location — for instance, in an interview with Jay Leno she spoke in an American accent, but dropped it for an interview with Michael Parkinson.[5][6][7] She had her nose pierced in the early 1980s and dyed her hair various colors. Her high school classmates voted her as "Most Bizarre," "Class Clown", "Most Likely to go Bald" and "Most Likely to be Arrested." Fulfilling the last of these predictions, she was caught trying to jam the high school doors by filling their locks with glue on the eve of her graduation, for which she was arrested.[8]

Any way you slice it though, she's good with accents.

[amysrevenge]

It appears we're both right actually:

Awww, the best kind of argument result. 

[andrewclunn]

So, is this a very good or a very bad accent? 

The Room - Johnny feels betrayed

[MikeHz]

Patrick Lawlor, who does the audio version of Tom Zoellner’s excellent book, “Uranium: War, Energy, and the Rock that Shaped the World,” does the absolutely worst accents of anyone I’ve ever heard. Whenever he did one, I’d burst out laughing. I almost had to pull the car over every time he tried to sound Russian, French, British, or whatever. This book is almost worth listening to just for the hilarity of the bad accents!

[lukebourassa]

Heather Graham's Cockney accent in From Hell sounds sooooo bad!!

I wish I could find a clip.

[amysrevenge]

The guy reading the audiobook for the second Dark Tower book is pretty good with accents.  His Irish driver was sub-par, but his Brooklyn junkie, Gangsters, and Southern black girl (both versions) have been really good so far.