North American Actors Who Do British Accents

Gillian Anderson was born in Chicago, Illinois, USA but lived in London from 1970 to 1979. Her accent skills are on display in the BBC productions of such Charles Dickens classics as “Bleak House” as well as in “The Fall”, which is set in Northern Ireland. More recently, she played a sex therapist in the Netflix series "Sex Education", which was filmed in Wales.

Marlon Brando was born in Omaha, Nebraska, USA but lived in New York, California and the South Pacific. He has played Englishmen in such films as “Mutiny on the Bounty” (1962).

I am generally listing actors who are alive or who only passed away recently, but I must make an exception for Ms. Davis. Born in Massachusetts, she generally aimed for an accent somewhere in between America and the British Isles, but she played Brits in at least two movies: "The Virgin Queen" (1955) and "The Nanny" (1965).

Alexis Denisof was born in Salisbury, Maryland, USA and might not be a very well-known actor, but when he portrayed a British vampire hunter on the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” TV series and its spin-off, “Angel,” his accent received high praise. As often seems to be the case with Americans who do a good British accent, Denisof lived and studied in the UK for several years.

Johnny Depp was definitely born in the USA, in Owensboro, Kentucky, and he was raised in Florida. His “Pirates of the Caribbean” accent may not be everyone’s cup of tea since he certainly hams it up, but that seems to have been his intention.

"In the eyes of his father, every dwarf is a bastard." So says Tyrion Lannister, played by Peter Dinklage in "Game of Thrones". Dinklage was also in both the British and American versions of "Death at a Funeral" in neither of which did he use a British accent, as did his American co-star Alan Tudyk in the British version (see below). Dinklage proves in "Thrones" that he could have.

Robert Downey Jr., was born in New York, New York, USA the son of a film director. (I’ll let you guess his name.) His portrayal of Sherlock Holmes is so upper-class that, in a different way from Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow character, Downey seems to be deliberately having fun with it.

An actor who can do just about anything, Mr. Gjokaj has often been called upon to do accents. In the series "Dollhouse" (2009) he played characters of various nationalities including a Brit with a serviceable accent.

Bruce Greenwood was born in Noranda, Quebec, Canada but has lived extensively in the United States as well as Switzerland. He played a Brit in “Being Julia” (2004).

"The Guardian" writes of Hall's accent in the drama, "Safe", "If you heard it out of context and were asked where it was from you would say Britain. Where in Britain, though – geographically, in the social hierarchy – would be tougher to pinpoint. It’s like a generic British accent that Hall... has produced. Technically sound but synthetic, rather than living-breathing real." This seems harsh, although, despite being an American, I think I can tell that it sounds like it belongs to at least a slightly lower class than the character should be. Otherwise, it is a convincing British accent to most Americans and - perhaps without saying much - better than the "British accents" of some of the other actors on this list. At least Hall's accent in "Safe" seems to be consistent.

Angelina Jolie was born in Los Angeles, California, USA, but her British accent in the role of the adventurous Lara Croft (“Lara Croft: Tomb Raider”) has its admirers. Then again, she had been married to British actor Jonny Lee Miller.

She played real-life, World War Two, British spy master Vera Atkins in "A Call to Spy" (2019). She does several other accents including Irish. She was born in Ontario, Canada of Serbian parents.

In his TV series "Crossbones" he uses a pretty stagey British accent that I doubt the historical Blackbeard whom he portrays would have used, but he maintains it consistently.

James Marsters was born in Greenville, California, USA but aside from studying British accents on his own, he says his accent as a British vampire on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” was influenced by co-starring British actor Anthony Head.

Most of the actors on this list are U.S. citizens, but I have labeled it "North American", and, so, the breath-takingly talented Ms. Maslany definitely belongs on it. British accents – from several different regions – are just a few of her many, many accents.

This would be too obvious if Maxwell were not so (too) little-known. Born in my hometown of Worcester, Massachusetts, USA, and educated for a time in Pennsylvania, he transplanted himself to the UK as a young man and studied the theater arts there. (See Trivia under his IMDb listing.) So, naturally, long before the time of his death in 1995, he could sound like an Englishman because he had become one.

Gwyneth Paltrow was born in Los Angeles, California, USA, but she has played Brits in several films including “Shakespeare in Love” and “Emma”.

She was born in Israel and raised in the U.S. state of New York. She learned the English accent that she used to play Evey in "V for Vendetta" from Barbara Berkery and practiced it with Gwyneth Paltrow.

Chloe Sevigny was born in Massachusetts, USA raised in Connecticut and New York, and visited Europe late in her youth, none of which seems to be enough to explain her accent in the role of British assassin, Mia, in the British series, "Hit & Miss".

Meryl Streep was born in Summit, New Jersey, USA and received critical accolades for her role as Lady Margaret Thatcher in “Iron Lady”.

In "Death at a Funeral" (2007), American-born actor Alan Tudyk does a very good middle-of-the-road English accent. He sounds as if he comes from the same social background as the characters played by most of his native-British co-stars. I believe that Tudyk can do almost anything. He is that good.

Though born in New York City, she played Anne Vaux in the 2017 BBC production "Gunpowder", which is about the 1605 terrorist plot to blow up King James I and most of Parliament. Anne Vaux was a cousin of one of the conspirators, Robin Catesby.

Forest Whitaker was born in Longview, Texas, USA. His role as a British soldier in “The Crying Game” led many British viewers to be stunned when they later learned that he is thoroughly American.

Philip C. Winchester was born in Montana, USA but studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. On stage he has acted with Ian McKellen in a Royal Shakespeare Company production of "King Lear". He has played British military intelligence operative Sgt. Michael Stonebridge on the series "Strike Back".

Renee Zellwegger was born in Katy, Texas, USA but played a Brit in “Bridget Jones's Diary” in which, it has been suggested, if her accent sounded fake, those of many of the British-born actors in the film did, too. Was this deliberate, then?