I think most British people who say they can do an American accent are so bad at it. I find it excruciating. I find it excruciating the other way around, too.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
In England, we're around so much American culture and TV anyway, so it's an accent that's always in our ear.
I think it's sort of a rite of passage for a British actor to try and get the American accent and have a good crack at doing that.
I have a strong accent; it limits the roles, of course it does. I guess if I had moved to America a long time ago maybe my accent would have got less.
Americans like the British kind of quirkiness and the strange accent. They find it kind of cute or something, with a certain charm.
When I first came to the States, I thought I had a perfect American accent, and then I was abruptly becoming aware that it wasn't. So I did have to work on it a little bit, but I was hesitant working on it because I thought it was good.
Americans aren't good at accents, but the English are because their accents change. You go five or six blocks and the accent is different, so they are used to hearing different pitches. In America, you gotta travel maybe 10 states before you can really hear a difference.
To be honest, it's easier for me to speak with an American accent.
Accents are always difficult in their way, but as long as you're not throwing an audience off with it, then that's all it should be.
I think when you have to train an accent, it just takes you absolutely into another spectrum of the character.
It's actually reassuring to see people struggling to do our accent instead of us constantly trying to emulate British or American accents, which we are always asked to do.