I don't know why but it seems to me that Australian actors are really good at American accents. Isla Fisher, Rose Byrne, Heath Ledger, Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, etc. Is it just me or do Australian actors have a better ability than other non-American English speaking actors to imitate an American accent? Any thoughts?
P.S.: There are plenty of great English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, etc. actors who are good at American accents.
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shareIt's terribly difficult for unAustralians to mimic the Australian accent.
shareWould it be picky of me to point out that Russell Crowe is from New Zealand?
shareI think the reason that most foreigners can do good 'general' American accents is that they exposed to so many American television programs and movies.
However it takes more talent to pull off a particular American accent from a particular region and not many of them can actually to that.
True. The Australian accent is quite 'slack' in a sense and it can be easy to accidentally pick up an accent when you are in another country. I have even grown up with people who pick up accents from TV characters, but that is more that they affect that too, which is extremely annoying :D.
It's very hard in reverse because of this slackness. It's hard to go from something with a more definite form to something more formless. An analogy could be a woman who grew up in an era of finishing schools, where she learnt very deliberate ladylike movements and posture. If she tries to take on the looser body language of a young woman of today, itt will be hard to capture successfully because she will be creating a deliberate slackness which is not the same. The opposite is much easier, for a modern woman to learn to learn the body language of the past.
I see the Australian accent the same way - there are a lot of 'lazy' sounds that are hard to recreate if you are used to making more defined sounds.
I think you're right by calling an Australian accent 'lazy' in a way. They have a certain way of drawing out the vowels, making them sort of lazy. It's hard for me to do on purpose, but after I've been down there visiting for any length of time (say, two months), I discover that my voice is picking up some of the accent. I also find that I hear Australian voices better the longer I'm there (except radio DJs - them I never understand!).
The OP forgot to list Cate Blanchett as an Australian actress who is amazing with American accents, and she's done one from nearly every part of this country. Did anyone see 'The Gift'? She was incredible in that role; she had me absolutely convinced that she was from the deep South.
And I HATE THAT! It's *so* unfair! :) Wish I could mimic the Aussie accent well. I think the only way to really become good at it is to live there... maybe one of these years... ;)
shareMel Gibson is Australian or at least Australian-American.
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