IF YOU’RE A SERIOUS ACTOR, ESPECIALLY ONE

WHO’S LOOKING TO MAKE A CAREER OUT OF IT,

YOU’VE GOT TO HAVE THE TOOLS THAT CAN MAKE

YOU DESIRABLE TO HIRE.

FIVE ACCENTS
EVERY ACTOR
NEEDS TO MASTER
GET AUDITION READY - YOU CAN'T WING IT

BY SARAH VALENTINE
 FIVE ACCENTS EVERY ACTOR NEEDS TO MASTER

TABLE OF
CONTENTS
OPENING 3
ACCENT VS. DIALECT 4
WHAT YOU HEAR IS NOT WHAT YOU SAY 5
MASTERING ACCENTS TAKES DEDICATION 6
YOUR SECRET WEAPON 7
HUGH LAURIE’S DOCTORATE IN ACCENTS 8
ALWAYS READY WITH AN ACCENT 9
THE TOP FIVE 10
STANDARD AMERICAN ENGLISH 11
BRITISH RP 11
SCOTTISH & IRISH 12
EUROPEAN ENGLISH GENERALISED 12
STRONG ACCENTS GENERALISED 13
TIPS TO GET STARTED 14
STANDARD AMERICAN 14
BRITISH RP 15
SCOTTISH & IRISH 16
EUROPEAN ENGLISH GENERALISED 16
STRONG ACCENTS GENERALISED 17
ACTORS WHO KILLED IT, AND WELL—KILLED IT 19
THE BEST OF THE BEST 19
THE WORST OF THE WORST 21
CLOSING 23

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COPYRIGHT © 2020 SARAH VALENTINE. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
 FIVE ACCENTS EVERY ACTOR NEEDS TO MASTER

PART 1
OPENING
If you’ve decided to read this e-book, odds are you’re an actor who understands one of
the greatest resources in your toolbox is the ability to deliver a flawless accent in the
native tone of whichever character you are inhabiting.

Much like you’d commit to spending the performance in a wheelchair if your character
was unable to walk, committing to mastering their accent is a vital part of the process
in presenting the complete character.

The difference between an actor perfecting their character’s accent or just stumbling
along can be the difference between an audience fully embracing the experience of
the story, or rejecting it as a flop.

Some of you have likely been fans of Meryl Streep for years and believe she was born
in America. There are also film buffs who think she was born in Great Britain. Others
would say Australia or Ireland. She’s fooled audiences for decades because of her
ability to land accents perfectly.

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 FIVE ACCENTS EVERY ACTOR NEEDS TO MASTER

You’re probably not 100% positive because Streep has absolutely committed herself to
deliver a perfect accent no matter her character’s country of origin.

Put Far and Away on any TV set and the consensus of anybody watching this period
drama about Irish immigrants is the same: Tom Cruise is not Irish. He sounds as if he is
trying to copy the Australian-Irish accent of his then-wife and co-star Nicole Kidman.

Few probably remember the plot of Far and Away, made in 1992, but if you were to
ask, “Does anybody remember anything about Far and Away” in a crowded theatre,
your first response would likely be about Tom Cruise’s voice. It was THAT distracting.

A brilliantly performed accent goes unnoticed while a poorly mastered one can
completely ruin a project–it’s that important.

And to save yourself a minute of time…Meryl Streep was born in New Jersey, USA.

ACCENT VS. DIALECT

While we’ll get deeper into understanding specific accents further along in this book,
it’s important to understand what an accent is and isn’t. People will comment about
your accent, yet to make it perfect, you’ll often have to study a dialect.

What’s the difference between accent and dialect?

An accent is what often indicates what part of the world somebody is from, simply by
hearing them speak. Dialect, on the other hand, is the choice of putting words together
in a certain order.

An example would be the phrase, “all of you”, as in—the entirety of a group of people.
Depending on how it is said, specifically in the USA, one may be able to discern if the
speaker is from Southern California, Texas or the Midwest. In the South-eastern part of
America, they’d likely say, “y’all”, whereas a native of New York City would say, “all
youse.”

While the speakers in the Southern US and New York certainly do have a distinct
accent, the way they are modifying, “all of you” in this example is a matter of dialect.

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 FIVE ACCENTS EVERY ACTOR NEEDS TO MASTER

Both accent and dialect work hand-in-hand to present a convincing performance.

Since actors work from a script, their focus is often on accent, but in instances of
improvisation getting a handle on the dialect of the character will get you on point.

Picture this: you’re a native New Zealander in an improv performance impersonating a

New Yorker. You would never say, “It’s in the bloody wops” (as in wop-wops) to say that
something was far away. Firstly, Americans don’t use the term “bloody” for emphasis,
and “wop” is a derogatory slang term for an Italian person.

In New York, “It’s in the bloody wops” literally means, “It is inside of those Italian people
who are covered in blood.” Yikes!

WHAT YOU HEAR IS NOT WHAT YOU SAY

Believe it or not, you have an accent. Part of how your accent evolved was not just in
mimicking those around you when you were very young, but it also has to do with how
you hear words themselves.

This phenomenon can be easily experienced when listening to somebody from a

foreign country speaking a language that is not their native tongue. When you hear
someone speaking your language, can you often tell if they’re French, Italian, Spanish
or Chinese even before you see them?

When learning foreign languages, people from specific countries seem to stumble
upon the same words as their fellow countrymen. Often due to the fact that their brains
have been trained to hear words differently from birth, and in some cases, their
language may not feature those particular sounds.

A fascinating example is based on the humble sound of a bee. If asked, most people,
regardless of their country of origin, would say some variation of double-z sound like
“buzz” or “zizz”. But in Japan, they’ll tell you it’s, “boon boon”. Clearly, there’s nothing
different about a bee in Tokyo vs. Perth, Glasgow or San Francisco; it is simply that
there are no “zz” sounds in the Japanese language.

A native Japanese person learning English can try to mimic the double-zz sounds, but
it will always be a challenge to sound authentic.

This is an extreme example, but now we all know why there can be a wide difference in
how sounds are interpreted and repeated even among those who speak similar
dialects of the same language.

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 FIVE ACCENTS EVERY ACTOR NEEDS TO MASTER

MASTERING ACCENTS TAKES DEDICATION

While this book will hopefully serve as an excellent introduction to the accents that
every actor needs to master, we want to be upfront and let you know that you should
not expect to fool a native once you’re done reading.

Mastering an accent takes time and it’s most often achieved when working with
resources produced by a professional, or even better, working directly with a
professional. Sitting in front of Netflix or YouTube watching vlogs in an attempt to
master accents will probably just lead to frustration and failure to sound any more
convincing than Keanu Reeve in…well, anything he has ever done.

If you don’t already understand, we’re going to explain why mastering other accents is
crucial to your aspirations as an actor. Then, we’ll take a look at the five accents that
native English speakers should master and offer a few beginner’s tips on each.

We’ll also drop a few more famous names along the way, examining the actors who
have a gift for accents and pointing out those who simply couldn’t master them. Finally,
we’ll provide you with ideas for additional resources if you choose to continue working
on mastering accents.

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 FIVE ACCENTS EVERY ACTOR NEEDS TO MASTER

PART 2
YOUR SECRET
WEAPON
Learning several accents only makes sense if you’re striving to be a working actor.
While there are a few performers out there, like Sofia Vergara and Paul Hogan, who
have built their careers using a very specific accent, they have also limited their careers.

Would you ever believe Paul Hogan as an inner-city, tough-as-nails teacher with a thick
New York City accent or Sofia Vergara as a British nanny? While these actors have been
successful, they’re also going to be typecast for the rest of their careers.

If you’ve had a successful career, to be typecast is much easier to deal with than if
you’re still a struggling actor who hasn’t landed a job because of their thick accent.

If someone’s first introduction to Kate Winslet is through The Mountain Between Us or

The Divergent Series, or has never seen Hugh Laurie in anything except House M.D.,
they would likely believe both were born in the USA. But nay! These actors landed
iconic roles because they learned how to speak with an American accent, despite
being born an ocean away. Though their accents occasionally peek through, they
probably would never have landed their roles had they not been willing to adapt.

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 FIVE ACCENTS EVERY ACTOR NEEDS TO MASTER

HUGH LAURIE’S DOCTORATE IN ACCENTS

People who want to be actors are cut from a different cloth than those who go onto
become teachers, doctors or lawyers. You can walk up to anyone on the street and
they’ll tell you it takes a lot of schooling before people are allowed to practice those
professions. It would take years to become “good” and decades to become “great.”

In contrast, many still believe people are born with the acting gene. Unfortunately, the
average person doesn’t realise that acting is an art form, a skill that can continue to be
sharpened. Paul Dano once said:

“I think there was something

in me at a young age that was
not worried about success but
was worried about becoming a
better actor”.
We all know that acting is much more than simply reading the words on a page. At its
crux, acting is about embodying the character – their motivation, their fear, their goals –
and how they fit into the story.

When an audience sees a seamless performance it’s sometimes not recognised, but
when they see a poor attempt, it sticks out like a sore thumb. The best actors are the
ones whose performance is so good, you forget that they are essentially playing
pretend. The best actors are able to get themselves to a place where time, space and
person feels authentic. Acting is about being real in a fake environment.

Those who’ve been introduced to Hugh Laurie through the surly, pill-popping Dr.
Gregory House might have their mind blown if exposed to his earlier works as the
comedy duo Fry and Laurie or the classic Blackadder.

While there will always be critics, Laurie’s American accent was considered one of the
best his cast and crew had heard. To help him stay in the moment during filming, he’d
maintain the accent between takes. This led many to learn third-hand that his American
accent covered his British roots. (I have to admit in season one he was still honing his
skills but now you could never tell).

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 FIVE ACCENTS EVERY ACTOR NEEDS TO MASTER

As the story goes, the creator of the series, Bryan Singer, wanted an American actor to
play the role. Laurie was on location in Africa during casting, so he filmed an audition
and sent it in. Singer actually believed he was an American.

Laurie’s interviews have revealed that one of the reasons he got tired playing the
doctor was feedback he got off-set in California while in public, which always included,
“Why are you speaking with a British accent?”

Had he not nailed the American accent so thoroughly, it’s doubtful he ever would have
won the iconic role solely because of his work before House M.D.

ALWAYS READY WITH AN ACCENT

Obviously, a well-executed accent isn’t going to guarantee a golden ticket to fame and
fortune, but it’s the kind of tool in your acting repertoire that is a must-have.

Whether you’re a student of “classical” acting prominent in Europe or the “truthful”

acting style taught in the United States, both lean heavily on accents which serve as an
important piece in your bag of tricks.

Is learning an accent difficult? It can be. Like any skill, some people take to it more
quickly than others. Some will find one accent more challenging and others might be a
piece of cake.

Whether you pick it up like a prodigy or have to work hours so the world believes
you’re a native of a different continent, it’s still absolutely necessary to have an arsenal
of accents at your disposal. Pulling-off the accent of a British sea-captain won’t get you
very far if the director decides the captain would give out more personality if he were
Irish. Will you be ready to tweak things and deliver the performance as if you were
born in Dublin instead of London?

We’ll get into some of the subtle and not-so-subtle differences in the five key accents
you’ll want to master in the next chapter.

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 FIVE ACCENTS EVERY ACTOR NEEDS TO MASTER

PART 3
THE TOP FIVE
There are as many accents and dialects as there are people on this Earth. You’ll never
have the time to master all of them, but it’s crucial to learn those commonly used in film
and theatre.

As an actor, you could say there’s a minute percentage that you’ll be asked to speak
like an ex-pat from Zimbabwe or an Inuit from Alaska, but being called on to master
those voices is rare, so let’s focus on the big ones.

If you happen to land a role in a different language, you will naturally have an accent.
Take Penelope Cruz; she played roles in Spanish and Italian films for a decade before
making the transition to English-speaking roles. For these, it seems she hasn’t had to
work on her accent often since her roles are generally of a woman with English as a
second language.

But, if she were to play a Puerto Rican woman from Miami, she’d have to rework her
Spanish and English accent to be truer to that area of America. Much like if she were
playing a second-generation Australian—her natural English would need to be altered
to be more Australia-specific.

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 FIVE ACCENTS EVERY ACTOR NEEDS TO MASTER

Let’s take a look at the five most common accents you’ll be faced with performing as
you explore roles and auditions.

STANDARD AMERICAN ENGLISH

It can be challenging to describe American English since there are so many dialects
and they all fall under this accent category. The United States is one of the largest, most
diverse countries in the world, so when you’re faced with having to speak in an
American English accent, it can be helpful to know what part of the country the
character is from.

Many times, when told to speak with an American accent, it’s more about not sounding
European, Australian, South African, or from another easily recognisable part of the
world than it is about sounding American. If you’re looking for real authenticity in the
character, it can help to know where the character is from.

For example, a character from the Northeast part of the United States, north of New
York, is often said to have a “New England” or “Boston” accent because their r’s sound
more like an “ah”. A common phrase used to display the Boston accent is “Park the car
in Harvard Yard” which, if said by a Bostoner sounds like “Pahk the cah in Hahvad
Yahd.”

Most linguists feel there are between eight and 12 accents in America, and the reality
is, very few people sound like the stereotypical “average American” that casting agents
are looking for.

BRITISH RP

The RP stands for “received pronunciation” and is also known as “The Queen’s English”
or “Oxford English.” Much like Standard American English, there are plenty of dialects
to be found throughout Britain and few people—including the Queen—speak a pure
form of British RP.

In saying that, British RP is the standard by which the rest of the world identifies a
character being native to the country. It’s the accent that was most widely used when
recordings of British English were first made in the early 20th century and was the
standard for most speeches of the upper class through the 1930s and 1940s. Since the
well-to-do were the most likely to be recorded, this is how the world came to accept

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 FIVE ACCENTS EVERY ACTOR NEEDS TO MASTER

British RP as the accent, despite the fact that less than 100 years later its pure form is
spoken by only about 2% of the population.

SCOTTISH & IRISH

While many people seem to believe that the terms Great Britain, Britain, England and
the United Kingdom are interchangeable, you’re going to insult anybody from that
area of the world if you don’t understand the differences.

In a nutshell, the United Kingdom consists of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and
Wales. Each are considered different countries, but the UK as a whole is also
considered a country. Great Britain is the largest island in the British Isles and Northern
Ireland.

Northern Ireland is named as such because it is just to the North of the country of
Ireland, which is not the UK. Got that? If not, you’ll survive, but it does speak to the idea
that not only should you master the accent of a character, you should also understand
where they are from and the region’s geography.

Most Scottish accents are attributed to the Lowland and Midland areas where the most
populated areas are, such as Edinburgh and Glasgow. A native of Scotland could
deconstruct the difference in the accent and dialect of different Scottish groups, which
by comparison is not as varied as the accents in the United States, for example.

Similar to Scotland, the Irish accents the rest of us find most identifiable are from the
more populated counties of Cork and Donegal. Known as brogue, an Irish accent—
much like a Scottish one—will often feature aspects of Gaelic, a language that was
native to certain areas of the two countries 500 years ago.

EUROPEAN ENGLISH GENERALISED

What does this mean? This is the accent of someone from a non-English speaking
country in Europe, say France or Germany, for example, who is speaking English.

As mentioned earlier, people hear sounds differently to native speakers depending on

what language and dialect they were raised with. Someone with French as a first
language might sound like they are saying “tree” when they’re in fact saying “three”.

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 FIVE ACCENTS EVERY ACTOR NEEDS TO MASTER

And a German-raised person’s “three” would sound deeper and throatier than the
native English speaker.

The best way to master the particulars of a European-speaking English is to learn the
basics of the character’s first language to understand how they would pronounce
English words.

STRONG ACCENTS GENERALISED

These are the accents like your typical New Yorker or Cockney, that take on certain
aspects of dialect and sound that are more robust, hoarse and seemingly aggressive.
The accents of characters from these areas will be important to master because it’s
likely to be one of the most defining characteristics of the role.

Imagine Joe Pesci not having his juicy Italian/New York accent in Goodfellas or Rocky
without Sylvester Stallone’s throaty delivery. You’ll often find when people impersonate
characters from movies it’s either because a line is memorable or because it’s fun to
mimic the accent. When the two come together, as happens in many Robert De Niro or
Jack Nicholson films, delivering a strong accent can be among the best skills to have as
an actor.

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 FIVE ACCENTS EVERY ACTOR NEEDS TO MASTER

PART 4
TIPS TO GET
STARTED
So, now that we’ve given you the top five best accents to master as an actor, let’s take a
look at some basics of learning each accent. Keep in mind, this is much like learning a
musical instrument. It takes time, practice and having a teacher will only improve your
skills faster.

You’ll likely find some accents are easier to pick up than others and that it might be
hard to tell sometimes if you’re pulling it off or not. It can kind of be like singing in the
shower. Again, this is a good reason to have a professional guide you, because the
sounds you’re making and that you hear are not identical to the sound that someone
else is hearing.

Think about how the words feel in your mouth. What are your cheeks, lips, and tongue
doing when you make certain sounds? Which parts of your mouth are relaxed and
which are tensed? If you can understand what’s happening mechanically inside your
mouth, you’ll find it easier to learn accents and also to switch between them.

Here are a couple of quick tips to kick off your journey to accent mastery, with some
words and sentences to practice.

STANDARD AMERICAN

Most American English is spoken with minimal mouth movement. Your tongue will
almost always be in the centre of your mouth, behind those two front teeth. Yes, some
dialects and regions have richer sounds, like a New Yorker, but for the most part,
Standard American English is loose on the mouth and not a difficult one to master.

The most difficult part to master is the TH sound. There are two types; the first is soft,
such as in the words Thursday, thistle, and thumb. These are made by flicking the tip of
your tongue against your front two teeth. Hard TH sounds are found in that, with and
gather. In this case, the tip of your tongue rests on the front two teeth.

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 FIVE ACCENTS EVERY ACTOR NEEDS TO MASTER

Also, there are hundreds, if not thousands of words that look like they should sound
the same: comb and tomb look similar, but are pronounced differently (KOHM vs.
TOOM). You’ll also run into words spelled the same, but sound different, like “project”.
You can (PRO-JEKT) light onto a screen. How light travels could be your science
(PRAW-JEKT). As with all accents, find a resource that can teach how to sound the
words phonetically before trying them yourself.

Words to practice: love (LUV), house (HOWSE) , pulse (PUHLSE), rubber (RUH-BER), fun
(FUHN) shoot (SHOO-T, tin (TINN), whisper (WISS-PER), rising (RI-ZING), substance
(SUB-STINS), these (THEEZZ)

Sentences to practice:
• We would like to welcome those who eat steak and pancakes.
• Bears are fuzzy while squirrels are furry.
• Phil wants to know if we are halfway there yet.
• My phone is ringing, but I can’t find the darn thing.

BRITISH RP

Often a little comical to people in Great Britain, the “English Accent” that everyone
outside of England is familiar with is the one used by most films and TV programmes
made outside of Great Britain.

Much like American Standard, British RP largely depends on the dialect spoken, so
before you perform, it’s best to know exactly where in Great Britain your character is
from.

There are a few tell-tale signs of British RP. The first is that the letter R is never rolled.
Whereas many of the English-speaking world would pronounce “girl” as “gurl” or “gur-
rel” when they see the word girl, British RP would direct the speaker to say “GHURL .”
Other letters to focus on are U and T.

Words to practice:
Scholar (SKOL-AR), penny (PEN-EE), sword (SORD), busy (BIZ-EE), corpse (KORPS),
bouquet (BOO-KAY), forward (FOR-WERD), rocker (ROK-KER), symptoms (SIM-TIMS).

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 FIVE ACCENTS EVERY ACTOR NEEDS TO MASTER

Sentences to practice:
• The water is colder at night.
• Devoid of trickery, Gertrude is an honest woman.
• The topsails aren’t performing to the gentleman’s satisfaction.
• A discount on bread would be most pleasing.

SCOTTISH & IRISH

Both Scottish and Irish are trickier than Standard American or British RP mainly because
there are certain word endings, consonant and vowel blends that follow rules not
found anywhere else in the world.

Vowels can be especially tricky. For instance, the long sound of the letter I is often
pronounced with an OY sound like in oil. This means that the word Ireland sounds
more like Oirland (in an Irish accent and IR land in Scottish).

Consonants tend to be harder than in other English tongues spoken around the world.
For example, the letter D sounding like J, or the TH sound simply becoming a hard T or
D. The phrase “Did you think that?” sounds more like “Jew tink dat?”

Words to practice with a Scottish accent: you can (YEH KEN), crawl (CRAW), pull
(POOL), Scottish (SKAW-TISH or SKAW-ISH depending on which part of Scotland you
are from), blackboard (BLA-BOARD), swallow (SWA-LEE), okay (KEE), oh (OCH)

Sentences to practice:
• I am not leaving anybody behind on the train.
• How are you doing on this blustery day?
• Go away and don’t come back here.
• A quarter of the population cannot pick potatoes.

EUROPEAN ENGLISH GENERALISED

You might have noticed that it’s often not too difficult to decipher which part of the
continent Europeans are from when they’re speaking English as a second language.

Whether it’s a Russian dropping their TH and R sounds or an Italian person adding the
“ah” sound to a lot of their words, there’s a certain nuance in the way people speak
English depending on which European country they call home.

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Getting into the detail in this e-book is near impossible for this particular category. The
best recommendation is to work with a coach who understands the accent and can
point you in the best direction for movies or TV shows where you can hear top-notch
examples.

Let’s take the French accent as an example. Once you’ve got the basics of the accent
down, work on a few typical words or sentences like the ones listed below.
French accent words to practice: this (DIS), little (LEE-TL), thick, (FICK), mother (MUD-
DER), thirteen (FER-TEEN), the (DUH), Thursday (FURS-DEE), Hampshire (AMP-SHER)

Sentences to practice:
• The donation jar cannot be tampered with.
• Who is comfortable driving an airplane?
• The complete calendar is nowhere to be found.
• The font he chose is difficult to read.

STRONG ACCENTS GENERALISED

Again, the strong accents generalised (New York and Cockney are two examples) can
absolutely make or break a character. That may be because they are the hardest to
master.

Much like European English Generalised, there are so many different robust accents
that it’s very important to study how other people who speak in that native accent
sound. Depending on where in the world you go, these tasty ones can sound like a
complete other language.

In Southern USA for example, there is a small section of the state of Louisiana that
speaks with a Creole accent. It’s different, but it’s English. Some of those words include
alcohol (ALK-OL) or guarantee (GARE-AW-TEE).

Let’s take a slightly deeper look at Cockney. Two of the main attributes of Cockney is
that the R at the end of words is not pronounced and vowel sounds, especially blends,
are unique. Here are a few words and sentences worth practicing once you’re starting
to master this accent.

Words to practice with a Cockney accent: buy (BI), father (FAA-VAH), speak (SPEEK),
hope (HAWP), celebrating (SELL-ER-BRAY-TIN), should (SHOOD), follow (FAWL-AH)

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 FIVE ACCENTS EVERY ACTOR NEEDS TO MASTER

Sentences to practice:
• Why is there such a problem as famine?
• The neighbours thought their dog would not bark.
• I will go anywhere in the world with you.
• Who can explain the difference between cartoons and animation?

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 FIVE ACCENTS EVERY ACTOR NEEDS TO MASTER

PART 5
ACTORS WHO
KILLED IT, AND
WELL—KILLED IT
One of the techniques for mastering some of the accents we’ve talked about in the
earlier chapters is to listen and watch what great—and not so great—actors look and
sound like when they’re performing with an accent.

Obviously, hearing what they say is important, but it can be just as important to look at
how their mouths move and how certain sounds are formed. Conversely, if you’re
suffering through the performance of an actor who just can’t make an accent work, it’s
good to make note of why they are failing.

Here are eight examples of actors who have been brilliant on the screen and a list of
eight who perhaps should only take on roles that feature their normal speaking voice.

THE BEST OF THE BEST

1. Gary Oldman – Gary Oldman, to

many, is the best accent actor in the
business. Whether he’s a vampire
from Eastern Europe, a Russian
terrorist looking to take down
Harrison Ford in Air Force One, or a
wannabe Jamaican gangster in True
Romance, Oldman loses himself in
an accent like few actors out there
today.

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2. Idris Elba – If you were first introduced to Elba in HBO’s The Wire, Pacific Rim or
for one season of the US version of The Office, the first time you heard his
natural British intonations was likely mildly shocking. His portrayal of Nelson
Mandela in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom should not be missed.

3. Meryl Streep – While the others on this list can certainly be considered the gold
standard when it comes to accents, Meryl Streep is platinum. Polish? Sophie’s
Choice. New Yorker? Kramer vs. Kramer. British? The Iron Lady. Australian? The
dingo ate her baby in A Cry in the Dark. Streep is magical with her voice work.

4. Margot Robbie – She’s still in the early stages of her career, meaning many
people don’t realise she’s an Australian and not a New Yorker. Her accent in
both Suicide Squad and The Wolf of Wall Street fooled us into believing she
was an American.

5. Heath Ledger – Although we’ll always wonder what might have been, Ledger
showed an ability to perfect various American accents during his short career,
from Southern in Brokeback Mountain to a frenetic generalised accent in The
Dark Knight. Ledger’s most overlooked voice work could be his short time on-
screen in Monster’s Ball.

6. Daniel Day-Lewis – If you need a male counterpart to match Meryl Streep’s level
of vocal ability, we’d present that honour to Daniel Day-Lewis. Whether it’s
proper American English as Abraham Lincoln, an Irish brogue in In the Name of
the Father, or a turn-of-the-century New York accent in Gangs of New York, it
seems like there isn’t a voice that Day-Lewis can’t master.

7. Matt Damon – If you’re looking for a gruff Boston accent, Damon has nailed it
more than once, but he’s also shown he can pull-off a Texan accent in True Grit.
His greatest voice work was easily a decade ago in Invictus, as a South African
rugby player.

8. Cate Blanchett – If you’re an Australian who can mimic the voice of a young
Katherine Hepburn impeccably, as Blanchett did in The Aviator, you deserve an
Oscar—and she got one! Blanchett has played American, French and British
characters in her career and is probably only second to Meryl Streep in the
female category who are masters at accents.

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THE WORST OF THE WORST

1. Tom Cruise – It’s hard to have one movie label you forever as a horrible accent
actor, but Far and Away, despite being two decades old, still puts Tom Cruise
on the top of most lists. Time magazine said he sounded less like an Irish guy
and more like a pirate.

2. Winona Ryder – If you’re looking for the one movie that has the worst accents,
top-to-bottom, you need look no further than Francis Ford Coppola’s version of
Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Keanu Reeves is on the list down the line for this film, but
along with Ryder, it seems like it was almost a prerequisite to have zero ability
on presenting a British RP accent to get a part in the film.

3. Michael Caine – Caine’s natural speaking voice is a beautiful example of

Cockney, but when he tries to hide it, it’s mostly cringe-worthy. His roughest
outing is probably an attempt at a Boston-like accent in The Cider House Rules.
I love Mr. Caine but that accent kept taking me away from this amazing film.

4. Gabourey Sidibe – In comedy, accents can be used to help flesh out a

character’s zaniness, but Gabourey Sidibe (who rose to fame in Precious) was all
over the place with her law-breaking maid character in Tower Heist. If you’ve
ever wanted to see a character bounce between Irish and Jamaican for no
apparent reason, this is your film.

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 FIVE ACCENTS EVERY ACTOR NEEDS TO MASTER

5. Kevin Costner – Kevin Costner’s memorably bad accent in Robin Hood: Prince
of Thieves was actually because of a dispute with director, Kevin Reynolds, if
stories are to be believed. Reynolds was anti-accent and Costner was pro-
accent, leading to on-set showdowns. This may explain the inconsistency
throughout the film.

6. Keanu Reeves – The great crime is that whoever hired Reeves for Bram Stoker’s
Dracula must have never seen Reeves in anything he’d done previously. You’re
just not going to get a guy best known for saying, “Whoa…” to convince the
audience he’s European.

7. Gerard Butler – Gerard Butler is a brilliant Scottish actor who would be put to
death if repeatedly performing a bad American accent was a crime. On an
American interview show, he even admitted that his friends think his faux-
American accent makes him sound like an idiot. We’d just offer films like P.S. I
Love You and The Bounty Hunter as proof.

8. Julia Roberts – Julia Roberts was red hot coming off films like Pretty Woman and
Flatliners when she took up as Dr. Jekyll’s Irish maid in Mary Reilly. It would have
been less distracting if she had just used her own voice. It is actually more Irish
sounding than what she ended up using in this movie.

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PART 6
CLOSING
Accents are one of those things that you often don’t notice or think too much about in
a performance when everything is going well. When the accent doesn’t work, it’s as if
the story and the rest of the performance disappears. It’s almost like an ambulance
siren screeching as you’re driving your car down the street. Everything just stops while
the screeching goes by.

If you’re a serious actor, especially one who’s looking to make a career out of it, you’ve
got to have the tools that can make you desirable to hire. Although it’s ironic Matthew
McConaughey has never tried to hide his Southern US drawl, he did what he needed
to do for his role in Dallas Buyers Club—he lost 38 pounds. Emma Watson took singing
lessons to execute her part in the live-action Beauty and the Beast film. You do what
you have to do to get the role in many cases.

There are some who’d suggest watching YouTube or reading an online article about
accents would be enough, but if you want proof just ask most of the people at
auditions where they got their accent education.

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Taking on an accent is not like learning to change the oil in your vehicle. One video
isn’t enough. It takes material developed by professional coaches who can bring you
step-by-step through the process.

Once you’ve mastered an accent, it’s a lot like riding a bike – it never leaves you.

Obviously, nobody can promise you the career of Meryl Streep or Daniel Day-Lewis
once you’ve learned a few accents, but it’s going to increase your odds of being hired
and it also separates you from many auditioning against you for the same role. Making
the commitment to mastering an accent shows casting directors that you’re committed
to making a character work.

We’ve just scratched the surface of what you’ll need to know to consider yourself a
master. And of course—it’s the practice time you invest which will make the biggest
impact on your proficiency.

Good luck as you move forward with your exciting career and… Y’all come back now,
ya hear?

CONNECT WITH
THE ACTORS ACCENT COACH

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© 2018 Sarah Valentine

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COPYRIGHT © 2020 SARAH VALENTINE. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.