had no idea he was english!

Yes, he's good with an American accent. I heard him in a WIRE doc and thought he sounded more Irish than Yorkshire--but, then, he can sound whatever way he wants.
good actor, handsome man.

He's English but from an Irish family.

i had the exact same thing!
i'm watching The Wire for the second time and started to search for some related stuff on youtube and i was so surprised when i heard his normal accent.
he definitely did a great job with McNulty!

he has said he considers himsself irish as he grew up in an irish catholic family went to college in dublin and recntly got married to an irish girl in ireland while wearing green, several members of the wire attended the wedding if you want to search the pictures

There are slight breaks in accent on The Wire (same with Idris Elba). I, too, think he is a handsome man. He's a good actor, as well. ;)

I have just listened to an interview with him, and he sounds nothing but English to me. He was born and brought up here. He may or may not consider himself Irish, but his voice is a very standard English accent. Oh - although he was born in Yorkshire, he went to Eton (a boarding school in the south of England) so it's not unsurprising that he doesn't speak with a Yorkshire accent.

He does a HORRIBLE American accent! I've just started marathoning episodes of The Wire and am only on episode 2 of the 1st season and his accent is so bad that I had to come on here SPECIFICALLY to find out where he's from. It's one thing with people like Hugh Laurie or Christian Bale who do such flawless American accents that barely ever break, but this guy breaks on The Wire CONSTANTLY (especially when he's playing drunk or yelling). It's one of the main reasons I kind of hate his character.


"I fart in your general direction... now go away or I shall taunt you a second time."

Agree x 100000000

i'm from London so maybe i'm a bit more sensitive to an English accent or something, but within the first 2 or 3 scenes i was like "He's putting that on". And badly. Surprised HBO didnt push for someone else?

Also assumed he was Irish, just from the bending of the Rs.

Have to laugh at the people on here saying they're surprised he's not American.