The 10 Most Convincing Movie Accents
A great film actor fully commits to his or her role, right down to their physicality, mannerisms, and of course, the way they speak. While many of today’s most recognized actors hail from all over the world, quite a few have had career-making turns playing foreign roles. That is, characters who have a different accent than the one the actor speaks in naturally, off-camera. In these cases, an authentic dialect is a key element that can make or break a performance. And while there have been several cases where an actor’s accent misses the mark, there are many others where the actor accurately represents his or her character’s dialect on screen.
When taking on a role that requires a specific accent, oftentimes an actor will work with a dialect coach. These speech experts can instruct an actor on everything from proper inflection to the placement of the phonetic sounds in their mouths. Many actors will continue to speak in that accent for the entire production, even when the cameras aren’t rolling. Some even go so far as to spend a period of time living in the place their character is from, in order to pick up on the subtle nuances and colloquialisms that come with the region.
The best accents in movies should blend in so seamlessly, you don’t even realize the actor is putting it on. Here are 10 actors who performed their accents on screen so well, they briefly convinced us that they were a different person entirely.