Five Foreign TV Stars With Superb American Accents

Earlier today, I confessed to being clueless that "Wire" star and soon-to-be NBC leading man Idris Elba had actually been putting viewers on with a fake American accent. (And digressed to commemorate his hilariously forgettable co-starring turn with Beyonce in "Obsessed.")

But alas, since the very advent of the theater, on down to the ugliest depths of performing arts, actors have been reworking their native tongues to emulate foreign dialects. And while everyone from Gwyneth Paltrow to Harry Shearer has managed to affect a passable British inflection, it's usually awkward at best to watch UK, Euro and Aussie talent dull their complex speech patterns and sound soullessly WASP-y. Don't think so? Just ask poor Sonya Walger from best-off-forgotten HBO porn-soap "Tell Me You Love Me."

So cheers, kudos, salud, mazel and g'day to the following five non-Americans for convincingly masking the romanticism of their natural talking rhythm in deference to ours.


HUGH LAURIE ("HOUSE")
While known in our Western Hempishere as the FOX show's titular, hobbled, kooky diagnostic specialist, Laurie actually originally hails from Oxford, England. And before reporting to work every day with a grizzled five o'clock shadow and bad case of the sarcasms, the versatile Brit was known on other soils for his comedic chops, and even made an early dramatic impression in Merchant Ivory fare like "Sense and Sensibility." Although hardly anyone might have guessed at the time that he'd have an arguably more dependable career in place than same-named co-star Hugh Grant.


RACHEL GRIFFITHS ("SIX FEET UNDER," "BROTHERS & SISTERS")
Ardent indie-cinema fans were already enamored of the fearless, underratedly peerless Griffiths from her turns in cult Aussie faves like "Muriel's Wedding." But the Melbourne-bred stunner took premium-cable viewers—and HBO's fictional Fisher family—for a powerful  and entirely believable journey through the psyche of an overstimulated, undernurtured post-Laurel Canyon California progeny as Brenda Chenowith on "Six Feet Under." Which, all due respect to her body of work on "Brothers & Sisters," may always be her signature role, regardless of accent.



TONI COLLETTE ("THE UNITED STATES OF TARA")
Griffiths' "Muriels' Wedding" co-star and fellow Australian is no slouch in the vocal-manipulation department. And her fittingly titled, schizophrenic Showtime dramedy has provided the Academy Award nominee (yes, we realize her non-U.S. origins may be this posts' least shocking revelation) with a canvas on which to illustrate a delirious and complicated portrait of American culture, as articulated through the personas of a Stepford Wife, backwoods brawler, average Middle-American mom and insatiable teenage girl. The fact that Collette performs this precarious high-wire act with taste, insight and sensitivity is a minor miracle. And arguably a more accomplished outside embodiment of our country's demographic distinctions than the stunningly off-the-mark "Little Britain USA."



RYAN KWANTEN ("TRUE BLOOD")
Granted, Kwanten's portrayal of well-intentioned hillbilly man-slut Jason Stackhouse could only be deemed lass than garish within the pulpy fantasmagoria of this weird and wonderful show. But it's precisely because his redneck twang is so widly exaggerated (even more so than Brit Stephen Moyer's emulation of gothic Southern vampire Bill Compton) that it was a shocker to discover Jason's real-life counterpart is from good ol' Sydney, Australia. (What, you mean you missed out on his long-running Aussie serial, "Spellbinder: Land of the Dragon Lord"?)



ED WESTWICK ("GOSSIP GIRL")
Call this lad from across the pond a poor man's Robert Pattison if you will, but it's a lot easier for Mr. "Twilight" to transform into a sexy Pac Northwest vampire than it is for Westwick to inhabit the noxious air of social entitlement that comes with being a central male figure in "Gossip Girl."