8 Celebrities Many Assume Are American – but Aren’t
Christian Bale: The Welsh Master of American Accents
Born in Wales to English parents in 1974, Christian Bale has become synonymous with iconic American characters. Think Batman. Think Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. Think Dick Cheney in Vice. His American accents are so seamless that many people refuse to believe he’s actually from Wales, as he is one of those actors who disappears so deeply into his roles that his real voice feels like the impression. At 17, Bale relocated to the US and explained that he needed to convince people he was American because period roles with “floppy hair” were all that kept coming his way in England. According to a 2013 article published by The Atlantic, in his last 20 films at the time, Bale only played three British characters, which is just 15 percent.
Natalie Portman: Born in Jerusalem, Raised in America
Natalie Hershlag was born on June 9, 1981, in Jerusalem to Jewish parents. Thanks to films like Garden State and the Thor series, Natalie Portman is fundamentally viewed as an American actress, but she was actually born in Jerusalem. She was born in 1981 in Jerusalem to an American mother and Israeli father, and in 1984, she immigrated to the US with her parents. Though she’s held dual Israeli and American citizenship since childhood, most people meeting her would never guess she wasn’t born in the States.
Keanu Reeves: The Lebanese-Born Canadian Icon
Here’s the thing about Keanu Reeves that constantly surprises fans. Keanu Charles Reeves was born September 2, 1964, and was born in Beirut, Lebanon, and raised in Toronto, Canada. Although he was born in Lebanon to an English mother and an American father, Reeves was raised in Canada and he identifies as Canadian and holds only Canadian citizenship. Reeves arrived in Canada as a child and became a naturalized Canadian citizen, and his father was of Indigenous Hawaiian, Chinese, British and Portuguese descent. His name literally means “cool breeze over the mountains” in Hawaiian, yet Americans consistently claim him as their own.
Margot Robbie: The Aussie Playing Harley Quinn
Margot Robbie fooled an entire generation with her Brooklyn accent as Harley Quinn, and then again with her energy in The Wolf of Wall Street, yet she grew up in Australia, far from the Coney Island chaos she channels on screen. Like many great accent chameleons, Robbie is so studied in her American accent that it’s hard to hear her Australian accent, and from The Wolf of Wall Street to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Robbie has done stellar work in her non-native accent. She was born in Queensland, Australia, proving once again that Hollywood’s most convincing Americans sometimes come from the other side of the planet.
Andrew Lincoln: The British Walking Dead Star
Andrew Lincoln was already a well-known actor in his native England when he was cast as Rick Grimes in AMC’s The Walking Dead, and after that, he began working on transforming his English accent into a Southern one, and he has done an outstanding job at it. Fans had seen him on The Walking Dead where he had a Southern accent, and many were shocked to find out he’s actually English. The man who played Rick Grimes had fans convinced he was a true Southern sheriff. Let’s be real, hearing his posh British accent in interviews after years of watching him lead survivors through the zombie apocalypse is genuinely jarring.
Isla Fisher: From Oman to Australian to Hollywood
Fisher was born in Muscat, Oman, to Scottish immigrants, ; her father was a UN banker in Oman. The family moved to Bathgate, Scotland, when she was six, and later to Perth, Western Australia. Many only found out recently that Isla Fisher is Australian, with people admitting they always thought she was American. She appeared in films such as The Wedding Crashers and Now You See Me while keeping a passable American accent, though she began her acting career on Australian television in the long-running serial series Home and Away. Her comedic timing in Wedding Crashers was so perfectly American that the reveal of her real nationality still catches people off guard.
Hugh Laurie: Dr. House’s British Origins
Most people discovered the truth about Hugh Laurie the day they heard him speak off-screen for the first time and thought he was joking, as after eight seasons of playing Dr. Gregory House, many viewers didn’t realize he was actually British, and his switch from dry British humor to gruff American cynicism deserves an award of its own. To many Americans, Laurie is solely Dr. Gregory House, a decidedly American man, yet to British folks, he’s a legendary comedy performer, and Laurie’s natural accent is, frankly, quite posh, nothing like his voice as Dr. House. For eight seasons, the curmudgeonly doctor felt authentically American. Turns out his entire persona was an elaborate performance from one of Britain’s finest actors.
Charlie Hunnam: Newcastle’s American Outlaw
Charlie Hunnam is an actor and model recognized for his performances in Sons of Anarchy, Pacific Rim, and The Lost City of Z, and he’s known for playing a rugged, down-home American man with strict values, so it might be surprising to find out that he was born in Newcastle, England. Between Sons of Anarchy and a series of tough-guy roles, Charlie Hunnam became so synonymous with American biker culture that people were floored when they discovered he’s actually from Newcastle, England. The actor was born Charles Matthew Hunnam on April 10, 1980, in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, and his performances playing a rugged American man with strict values have completely convinced audiences of his American identity. Honestly, I think the revelation that Jax Teller speaks with a Geordie accent in real life might be one of Hollywood’s best-kept secrets.
