British Actors Taking Over American TV Leads

With the new season of prime-time shows well underway, there appears to be something of a trend that should probably worry some American actors. Foreign actors are being cast as leads in more and more of the big new shows from the major networks. (A trend perhaps instigated by 'Hugh Laurie's indomitable portrayal of NBC's House. ) There could myriad differing reasons why more and more unheard of foreign actors (mainly British) are being cast to head some of this falls new TV lineup. Perhaps it's that indefinable something that British actors bring to the table or it could of course be because they're a lot cheaper. Any British actor would surely be like a rabbit caught in the headlights with the money on offer from large American broadcasting companies compared to the paltry sums on offer from the budget-stricken British production companies.

American elocution and speech professionals must be raking it in with all the extra work they're getting as none of these foreign imports is playing off their native tongue. This leads me to another observation regarding the strange twilight world that is 'Britamericaneese!?', which is the curious region less accents which some of these Actors end up adopting. I imagine Americans across the country wondering where in America these people are supposed to be from. The accents are by and large vague and not region-specific. Take 'Hugh Laurie's' inscrutable non-definable 'where the hell does he come from?' Americanized accent. Is it a decent copy of an American? As a Brit myself I can't really say but I would hazard a guess that he sounds pretty much ONLY like 'House'. Which if you think about it could be of benefit to his role, especially when you are trying to set up a character. It adds a uniqueness to the person's character because he/she sounds neither American/British nor anything in-between inhabiting instead their own distinct world. For 'House' in particular I think it actually works as an asset for him to not actually sound like anybody from anywhere.

Of the big new shows that have aired so far this year the most noticeable import would be 'Michelle Ryan' portraying the Bionic Woman. This is one case where I think the speech coach has done a really good job. I really wouldn't have known she wasn't American if it hadn't been that I remember her for her 'Slater' role in 'Eastenders' a long running British Soapy-drama. Switching London Cockney for American Mid-West somewhereorother sounds like Pygmalion in reverse but she seems to have adapted to her Americanisms well. The other two big imports are two other equally unknown actors. 'Damian Lewis' heads the cast in Life and 'Kevin McKidd' starring in 'Journeyman' both faking their accents of course.

Before these higher-profile programs, there were, of course, other imports, but hardly as noticeable as the main Networks latest crop of scene-stealers. 'Joely Richardson' on Nip/Tuck, 'Julian McMahon' on Nip/Tuck, 'Chris Eccelstone' cameoing in Heroes, 'Marianne Jean-Baptiste' in 'Without a trace' being but a few. Do British/Aussie Actors have less baggage than American Actors as far as their Union associations and what they're agents demand, or perhaps there is something to be said for anonymity - a completely fresh face from out of left-field. Then again perhaps it all comes down to money? One can only hope that pure acting talent is the reason for these casting decisions and the occasional funky accent you may be experiencing at prime-time this year.