43 Actors Who Are So Good At Acting That They Made Us All Believe They're American
But they AREN'T! They fooled us all
Some actors are so convincing on screen that audiences never stop to think about where they are actually from. That is exactly what makes this list so fun, because so many performers have nailed American accents so well that they have blended right into the roles we know them for.
From TV favorites to movie stars, these actors have spent years sounding completely American in character, even when their real accents tell a very different story. A few of them may be obvious once you hear them speak off camera, but plenty of others are still a surprise.
Keep scrolling, because a few of these names might make you do a double take.
1. John Boyega
You might know his American accent from: The Star Wars series and Detroit
Frazer Harrison / Getty ImagesHe's actually from Peckham, London
giphy2. Samara Weaving
You might know her American accent from: Ready or Not, The Babysitter, and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
Maggie Shannon
She's actually from Adelaide, South Australia
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3. Henry Cavill
You might know his American accent from: The Justice League series and Mission: Impossible — Fallout
Mike Marsland/WireImage
He's actually from Saint Helier, Jersey
Jersey is considered a British Crown dependency
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4. Margot Robbie
You might know her American accent from: Pan Am, I, Tonya, Suicide Squad, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Getty / Stephane Cardinale/ Corbis
She's actually from Dalby, Queensland, Australia
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5. Isla Fisher
You might know her American accent from: Wedding Crashers, Arrested Development, Confessions of a Shopaholic, and Now You See Me
Rick Rycroft / Getty Images
She actually grew up in Perth, Western Australia, and was born in Muscat, Oman
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6. Will Poulter
You might know his American accent from: We're the Millers, Midsommar, and The Maze Runner series
Jamie McCarthy / Getty Images
He's actually from Hammersmith, London
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7. Dominic Cooper
You might know his American accent from: Captain America: The First Avenger, Agent Carter, and Preacher
Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0
He's actually from Greenwich, London
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8. Freddie Highmore
You might know his American accent from: The Good Doctor and Bates Motel
Rich Fury/BAFTA LA/Getty Images
He's actually from Camden Town, London
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9. Damian Lewis
You might know his American accent from: Homeland, Band of Brothers, and Billions
Andreas Rentz / Getty
He's actually from St. John's Wood, London
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10. Idris Elba
You might know his American accent from: The Wire, Molly's Game, Daddy's Little Girls, and The Office
Anthony Harvey / Getty Images
He's actually from Hackney, London
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11. Danielle Macdonald
You might know her American accent from: Dumplin', Bird Box, and Unbelievable
Getty / GP Images
She's actually from Sydney, Australia
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12. Yvonne Strahovski
You might know her American accent from: Chuck, The Handmaid's Tale, and Dexter
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
She's actually from Werrington Downs, New South Wales, Australia
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13. Hugh Laurie
You might know his American accent from: House
James Shaw/REX/Shutterstock
He's actually from Blackbird Leys, Oxfordshire, England
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14. Charlie Heaton
You might know his American accent from: Stranger Things and New Mutants
Getty / Rodin Eckenroth
He's actually from Leeds, England
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15. Florence Pugh
You might know her American accent from: Little Women and Midsommar
Frazer Harrison / Getty Images
She's actually from Oxford, England
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16. Gugu Mbatha-Raw
You might know her American accent from: Black Mirror and The Morning Show
Willy Sanjuan/Invision
She's actually from Oxford, England
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17. Robert Sheehan
You might know his American accent from: The Umbrella Academy
Emma McIntyre / Getty Images
He's actually from Port Laoise, Ireland
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It’s like the tense “Charmed” moment when Kaley Cuoco says a Hollywood A-lister overlooked her on set.
18. Daniel Kaluuya
You might know his American accent from: Judas and the Black Messiah, Get Out, and Widows
AP Foto/Chris Pizzello, Pool
He's actually from London
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19. Millie Bobby Brown
You might know her American accent from: Stranger Things
Theo Wargo / Getty Images
She actually was born in Marbella, Spain, but grew up in Bournemouth, Dorset, England
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20. Ed Westwick
You might know his American accent from: Gossip Girl
James M Warren/ Silverhub/Rex/Shutterstock
He's actually from Hammersmith, London
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21. KJ Apa
You might know his American accent from: Riverdale, A Dog's Purpose, and The Hate U Give
Kathryn Wrising
He's actually from Auckland, New Zealand
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22. James McAvoy
You might know his American accent from: Wanted and Split
John Russo/Contour
He's actually from Glasgow, Scotland
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23. Antony Starr
You might know his American accent from: The Boys
Eva Rinaldi, CC BY-SA 2.0
He's actually from Auckland, New Zealand
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24. Maia Mitchell
You might know her American accent from: The Fosters, Good Trouble, and the Teen Beach series
maiamitchell
She's actually from Lismore, New South Wales, Australia
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25. Kate Beckinsale
You might know her American accent from: Click, Total Recall, and The Aviator
Theo Wargo / Getty Images
Where she's actually from: Chiswick, London
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26. Kevin McKidd
You might know his American accent from: Grey's Anatomy
Facebook
He's actually from Elgin, Moray, Scotland
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27. Charlie Cox
You might know his American accent from: Daredevil
He's actually from London
Craig Barritt/Getty Images
He's actually from London
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28. Cynthia Erivo
You might know her American accent from: The Color Purple on Broadway, Harriet, Widows, and Bad Times at the El Royale
John Russo
She's actually from Stockwell, London
She's actually from Stockwell, London
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29. Mark Addy
You might know his American accent from: Still Standing, Down to Earth, and The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas
Getty / Dimitrios Kambouris
Where he's actually from: York, England
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30. Dominic West
You might know his American accent from: The Wire, Chicago, and The Affair
Joel C. Ryan/Invision/AP 19
He's actually from Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
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31. Alfred Enoch
You might know his American accent from: How to Get Away with Murder
David M. Benett/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images
He's actually from Westminster, London
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32. Katherine Langford
You might know her American accent from: 13 Reasons Why, Knives Out, and Love, Simon
Monia Schipper / Getty Images
She's actually from Perth, Western Australia
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33. Chiwetel Ejiofor
You might know his American accent from: 12 Years a Slave, Z for Zachariah, and Salt
Cardinale/Corbis/Getty
He's actually from Forest Gate, London
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34. Eliza Scanlen
You might know her American accent from: Little Women, Sharp Objects, and To Kill a Mockingbird on Broadway
Velocity Entertainment Partners
She's actually from Sydney, Australia
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35. Lucy Lawless
You might know her American accent from: Xena: Warrior Princess and Parks and Recreation
Jeff Vogeding
She's actually from Mount Albert, Auckland, New Zealand
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36. Andrew Lincoln
You might know his American accent from: The Walking Dead
Jerod Harris / Getty
He's actually from London
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37. Christian Bale
You might know his American accent from: The Fighter, The Dark Knight, The Big Short, American Psycho, and Vice
Stephane Cardinale / Corbis / Getty Images
He's actually from Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales
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38. Toni Collette
You might know her American accent from: Knives Out, Unbelievable, Little Miss Sunshine, The Sixth Sense, and Hereditary
Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP
She's actually from Plumpton, New South Wales, Australia
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39. Tom Hardy
You might know his American accent from: Venom, The Revenant, and The Dark Knight Rises
Greg Williams
He's actually from Hammersmith, London
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40. Ryan Kwanten
You might know his American accent from: True Blood
Jeff Frank/ZUMA
He's actually from Sydney, Australia
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41. Michael Fassbender
You might know his American accent from: Shame, 12 Years a Slave, Steve Jobs, and Band of Brothers
Ortega/Getty Images
While he was born in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany, he grew up in Fossa, County Kerry, Ireland
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42. Rose McIver
You might know her American accent from: The A Christmas Prince series, The Lovely Bones, iZombie, and Eddie's Million Dollar Cook-Off
John Angelillo/UPI
She's actually from Auckland, New Zealand
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43. Anna Paquin
You might know her American accent from: True Blood and the X-Men series
Dave J Hogan / Getty Images
She actually grew up in New Zealand but was born in Winnipeg, Canada
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There is a surprising number of Kiwis on this list. I wonder what it is about New Zealanders getting to play Americans?
Did anyone on the list surprise you? Did we miss a chance to mention another notable actor that would surprise folks to learn they weren’t American?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below, and be sure to share this with your fellow movie-loving friends.
Think you’ve seen it all, wait until you spot the political activists hiding twins in plain sight.
