Non-Americans playing Americans in TV Shows

[zff]

I discovered on a recent episode of NBC's Chuck, that one of the characters (Sarah Walker) is played by an Australian actress. I was a little surprised, since she does her American accent flawlessly on the show. I've been noticing recently that there are a lot of non-American actors and actresses -- that speak natively with non-American accents -- playing American characters -- with American accents -- on American TV shows.

Is this a recent trend, or has it always been like this, but I've only recently noticed it? I Googled around a bit to see who else is there, and this is the list I came up with.

Hugh Laurie (Greg House on House) is British.
Jamie Bamber (Lee Adama on Battlestar Galactica) is British.
Damian Lewis (Det. Charlie Crews on Life) is British.
Michelle Ryan (Jamie Summers on Bionic Woman) is British.
Anna Friel (Charlotte Charles on Pushing Daisies) is British.
Kevin McKidd (Dan Vasser on Journeyman) is Scottish.
Yvonne Strahovski (Sarah Walker on Chuck) is Australian.


..any others you know of?

[modpirate]

Re: Non-Americans playing Americans in TV Shows

Lucy Lawless of "Xena" fame was from New Zealand. I don't know why she bothered with the American accent; it was supposed to take place in ancient warrior-princess days...

[Kaukura]

Re: Non-Americans playing Americans in TV Shows

It's probably been around for years. The world is a lot smaller now and with internet, it's easier to fish around to see who was born where..

It also goes the reverse as well. Many American actors play other natiionalities. there are some Americans on British tv shows, Renee Zellwegger played a Brit in Bridget Jones Diary, some Brits were up in arms over Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johansson playing Anne & Mary Bolelyn in the upcoming "The Other Bolelyn Girl", Anne Hathaway recently in Becoming Jane. Our "Batman" Christian Bales, is from Wales..

It's a global world these days!

[zff]

Re: Non-Americans playing Americans in TV Shows

I know it happens in movies fairly often, but has it always been the case with TV series?

It seems to me that it'd be a lot more of a hassle to fake an accent for a TV series than it would be for a movie.

[Leo Lakio]

Re: Non-Americans playing Americans in TV Shows

Hugh Laurie (Greg House on House) is British.

It always amuses me when people discover this one, if they aren't familiar with him from anything else. I've enjoyed Hugh Laurie's work for many, many years, as he is one of the top comic actors from the UK, usually teamed up with Stephen Fry. Check out their work in their series "A Bit of Fry & Laurie" or as P.G. Wodehouse's immortal characters "Jeeves & Wooster," all available on DVD.

American actors have portrayed non-American characters for such a long time, why not the reverse? (And remember the furor over the casting of the British Caucasian actor Jonathan Pryce as The Engineer, a Eurasian character, in "Miss Saigon?")

[Kelly0040]

Re: Non-Americans playing Americans in TV Shows

iirc, when one of the House exec producers saw Hugh Laurie's audition tape, he was totally fooled called him a true American actor, or something of the sort.

[Pua'i Mana'o]

Re: Non-Americans playing Americans in TV Shows

A Brit who nailed the whole American thang: Mark Addy from that tv show Still Standing

An Aussie who murders an American accent: Anthony LaPaglia from Cold Case

[Random]

Re: Non-Americans playing Americans in TV Shows

Lucy Lawless of "Xena" fame was from New Zealand. I don't know why she bothered with the American accent; it was supposed to take place in ancient warrior-princess days...

Because the folks who produced the Xena: Warrior Princess series first produced Hercules: The Legendary Journey with the title actor sound more like Midwestern American than a Greek.

Campy, but they were popular at the time. Also the last of the original syndication shows.

[Random]

Re: Non-Americans playing Americans in TV Shows

..any others you know of?

Miranda Otto -- Australian actress -- now a regular on ABC's Cashmere Mafia.

[Random]

Re: Non-Americans playing Americans in TV Shows

An Aussie who murders an American accent: Anthony LaPaglia from Cold Case

Another Aussie on that same show is actress Poppy Montgomery.

[shen]

Re: Non-Americans playing Americans in TV Shows

A Brit who nailed the whole American thang: Mark Addy from that tv show Still Standing

An Aussie who murders an American accent: Anthony LaPaglia from Cold Case

Does he? I haven't watched. I just know him from the movie Lantana, and Aussie film, and found out that he had to re-learn his own natural Australian accent for that film.

[Random]

Re: Non-Americans playing Americans in TV Shows

Does he? I haven't watched. I just know him from the movie Lantana, and Aussie film, and found out that he had to re-learn his own natural Australian accent for that film.

I prefer Anthony portraying Daphne Moon's drunken brother on the sitcom, Frasier.

[glossyp]

Re: Non-Americans playing Americans in TV Shows

An Aussie who murders an American accent: Anthony LaPaglia from Cold Case

I believe the show is Without a Trace (I know they all run together after a while) and he is supported by fellow Aussie actress Poppy Montgomery who plays Sam. She does not murder the accent.

Added: Sorry for the redundant info. My browser needed de-clinging - bad browser!

[scrivener]

Re: Non-Americans playing Americans in TV Shows

Campy, but they were popular at the time. Also the last of the original syndication shows.

I'm not sure what you mean by this. Do you mean that of the ORIGINAL shows that were syndicated and not sold to networks, this was the last? Or do you mean it was the last show that was offered in syndication and not tied to a network? Either way, I don't think this is a true statement. Wheel of Fortune, for example, is still syndicated, and it has been since 1983. The Muppet Show was never a network show either, offered in syndication (mostly to CBS affiliates in the US) since its first episode in 1976.


As for Americans on TV series being played by non-Americans, I think it's an interesting topic, but not at all surprising or unusual. It seems to me this kind of thing has been going on for a really, really long time.

A few off the top of my head:

• Michael Meyers, the Canadian actor on Saturday Night Live, played recurring character Wayne Campbell in the "Wayne's World" sketches. Wayne was a teenager in Aurora, Illinois, and while (I think) it's never actually stated that he's American, the reasonable assumption could be made. He also played the recurring Linda Richman ("It's like buttah!"), a New York television host, and Pat Arnold ("Daaaaaa Bears!") in the recurring Superfans sketches.
• In fact, you could make a lengthy list comprised only of SNL cast members, many of whom were Canadian and played recurring American characters. Dan Aykroyd (played Elwood Blues, Jimmy Carter, and Richard Nixon, among others), Phil Hartman became a US citizen but was Canadian through most of his SNL run (he played several American characters on SNL; it could be argued that his Troy McClure and other characters on The Simpsons was meant to be American), Norm MacDonald (played Larry King, David Letterman, Burt Reynolds, and of course Bob Dole), Martin Short (played Katherine Hepburn and Jerry Lewis), and certainly a few others I can't think of were Canadian Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time Players.
• Alan Thicke (Canadian) played Jason Seaver on Growing Pains.
• Michael J. Fox (Canadian) played Alex P. Keaton o Family Ties and that guy on Spin City.
• Kiefer Sutherland (Canadian) plays Jack Bauer on 24.
• William Shatner (Canadian) played T.J. Hooker on T.J Hooker and plays Denny Crane on Boston Legal, both presumably American.
• Jason Priestley (Candadian) played Brandon Walsh on Beverly Hills, 90210.
• Matthew Perry (Canadian) was Chandler Bing on Friends.
• Howie Mandel (Canadian) played Dr. Wayne Fiscus on St. Elsewhere, presumably an American character.
• Lorne Greene (Canadian) played Ben Cartwright on Bonanza.
• Jim Carrey (Canadian) played several presumably American characters on In Living Colour.
• Raymond Burr (Canadian) was Perry Mason and Robert T. Ironside.
• Conrad Bain (Canadian) was Phil Drummond on Diff'rent Strokes.
• Sandra Oh (Canadian) plays that doctor on that show I don't watch. Is that character American?

I just found this list of Canadian television actors. A great many of them are on Canadian television, but you could peruse the list yourself and find a whole bunch of people who played Americans on American TV, including Pamela Anderson, Tom Cavanagh, and Michael Cera.

[acousticlady]

Re: Non-Americans playing Americans in TV Shows

I prefer Anthony portraying Daphne Moon's drunken brother on the sitcom, Frasier.

How about that? I did not realize they were one in the same. I like him in both then! I never paid any attention to his accent on W/Out a Trace. As a side note on accents, I do have to say ...............that, in general, written Pidgen sounds an awful lot like written Brooklynese .