How Do Actors Get American Accents?

If you watch American TV and movies, you will often find that many of the people on the screen are not actually American. However, they can pull off an American accent pretty convincingly. Take Hugh Laurie, for instance. When he was cast as House, his American was so great that even the director wasn't aware that he was British. So, how do actors get American accents? That is what we want to discuss in this post!

The accent is never going to be perfect

Now, a lot of people seem to have the false belief that the American accents used on-screen by non-American actors are perfect. They very, very rarely are. The odd one that comes close to perfection may sneak through (e.g. Hugh Laurie), but not-so-perfect ones such as Kate Winslet are always going to be there too.

The reason why you sometimes do not notice that they switch into their normal accent is that it is often for no more than a couple of words. The action on-screen tends to be far, far too quick for anybody to really notice the switch in the accent too.

American accents are simple

If you look at the best non-native speakers of American accents, you will find that most of the best speakers are British. This is because British accents are more complicated.

In the UK, you have a distinct dialect spoken every 15-miles. In the US, there are just 7 distinct dialects. This means that in the UK, you will often be exposed to tons and tons of different sounds. It is easier to incorporate these into the American accent. This is actually why Americans tend to be awful at British accents. They have never been exposed to the huge collection of British accents that exist.

They have a vocal coach

Nearly every single non-American actor that is expected to have an American accent will have a vocal coach working on the set. Their job is to coach the actor on the very specific lines that they are saying. This means that the actor may be brilliant at those specific words, but they may not have a great American accent outside of the set. Basically, you can think of them as being able to parrot words but not be able to say them perfectly.

Of course, over time, the more the actor is working with their vocal coach, the more that they will start to pick up the nuances of the American accent.

They practice

If you are going to speak in an accent professionally, then you need to constantly practice it. This means that you should forever be exposing yourself to the accent through media. You will need to constantly look in mirrors and practice the facial shapes, etc.

If you are looking to become an actor that speaks with an American accent, then the tutors here at JustLearn.com may be able to help you. While we may not be able to get you up to the point where you can speak in full-blown Hollywood movies, we certainly will be able to help set you on the right path.