They often refer to Los Angeles as, “the melting pot of America.”

But I see much more ethnic diversity in my headshot clientele in New York than I ever did in California. Here’s my question.

Many of my customers who hail from other countries often have noticeable accents, ranging from barely recognizable to highly pronounced. I photographed no less than five actors – a young lady from Latvia (the ex-Soviet Union), a married couple from Leeds, England, a woman from Paris, France, and a young man from Sao Paulo, Brazil, this past month alone.

What are your experiences dealing with the challenges of different languages and accents in your acting careers? Do you find that having a foreign accent is a help or a hindrance? What part do they play in actually booking roles or securing an agent?

Working from a relatively limited perspective, I’d enjoy hearing from as many actors as possible.

“Whatever works.”

www.robertkim.com
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0453647/

I saw a play last night at Michael Howard Studios (a dear friend, and legendary acting teacher). It was an adaptation of "Twelve Angry Men" so that it could be played by "Twelve Angry Women." The production was wonderful and the performances were, for the most part, strong.

The thing that is pertinent to this conversation -- and that struck me as I watched -- was that more than half of the actors had very strong "non-American" accents. I couldn't help but think that they would be very limited moving forward in their careers.

It's important to be able to master an authentic standard American accent, no matter where you are from (South of France, or South Texas). Once you've done that, you can play most roles. If you can build from there, with an arsenal of authentic accents, you are only expanding your possibilities.

It's the rare actor who will be so impressive that a script will be completely re-written to accommodate an obvious accent. The only example I can think of is Olivier Martinez, the French actor who so impressed Adrian Lyne that the script for "Unfaithful" was re-written to make his character a Frenchman (but, the re-writes were very minimal).

Best,

Ron

Unless you are somewhat known, an American dialect is a MUST. I am Australian and have had no choice but to master the local dialect. Luckily I found it not very hard to do.

quote:

Originally posted by miss stone:
Unless you are somewhat known, an American dialect is a MUST. I am Australian and have had no choice but to master the local dialect. Luckily I found it not very hard to do.

Miss Stone when you go to an audition do you walk in speaking american or do you identify yourself as an australian and then put on the american accent when performing??

Ive heard that if you walk in and say that your Aussie and then begin speaking american they say "oh your accents horrible, we can hear the difference" .. even if your accent is actually good- whats your experience in this situation?

I would suggest that it's a good idea to "be the part" from the moment you walk in the door until the moment you leave. If that means keeping your American accent the whole time, I think it's in your best interest to do so. Revealing that you were putting on an American accent after you've wowed them may instill doubt.

Ron Brown you are correct. I walk in as an American always....Reveal your accent AFTER you get the gig.

I'm Filipino American. I've no accent, but I can get it back in a second. Got me my Sag card!