Who has the best fake American accent on TV?

Mel Gibson

Drifting a little off topic, but to these ears, he still sounds in-between Oz and US.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFWlwCrl5aw

 

I just went to double check that myself! I agree with you; I hadn't seen it for 10+ years and his accent was stronger in my memory.

 

Is Jane Leeves really British? Sometimes her accent sounds unreal to me.

 

Yep, she was born in Manchester and was one of Benny Hill's Hill's Angels for awhile. She was also in one of the Monty Python films, I forgot which one just now.

 

Just checked, she was one of the dancers in the "Christmas in Heaven" number from "Meaning Of Life". I'll have to see if I can spot her.

 

I had no idea, but she was apparently a dancer in the 'Christmas in Heaven' scene in The Meaning of Life.
Dancers are wearing false comedy breasts, in case this is a problem for you watching at work.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmZYIyySxPE
I think she might be the one on the left of screen at 1:46

 

Damien Lewis
Old Etonian
That bloke in the Wire ditto.

 

Dominic West. It was hilarious in the episode where McNutty went undercover as an English brothel client and he put on a truly atrocious fake English accent.

 

First one I thought of too. Dominic West as McNulty does pretty well too, though there are a couple of YouTube clips of his Brit accent sneaking through (not the brothel scene referred to above).

 

Alex O'Loughlin's is pretty good. I keep forgetting he's from out of town.

 

Rachel Griffiths who played Brenda on Six Feet Under. I had no idea she was an Aussie until I watched the extras on the season discs.

 

Rose Byrne on Damages.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhdbPQn3hJM

 

Hey, fair's fair. You sent us Meryl Streep. "A dingow's gort moiy bay-boye!"

 

Kelly MacDonald (Scottish) in No Country For Old Men. I had no idea she wasn't American until it was pointed out in a thread on that movie here on the forum.

 

Hugh and Barry are the winners! IMO

 

Hugh Laurie's accent was pretty convincing until an episode of House where he had to say "ophthalmologist" several times. He pronounced it "opTHALmologist" (big emphasis on THAL) instead of "opthaMOLuhgist" like we Americans do (disregarding the first "L" with emphasis on "MOL").

 

Fry & Laurie, of course, you just can't believe that these two are Brits:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8qw3oWvDpo

 

I love that one! I can do that one perfectly, myself (but only the Meryl Streep version). Even Dick Van Dyke admits he had the worst Cockney accent, ever, in Mary Poppins, and he has to hide his face whenever he visits the UK. "Gu-boy Muh-ree Poppins! Don' stay aw-eye tew long!" I thought that was hokey and weird when I was 10!

Alfred Molina and Bob Hoskins are two film actors that do incredibly good fake American accents. The recent Dark Knight film series had three actors that did very good fake American accents: Christian Bale (as Bruce Wayne and Batman), Heath Ledger (as The Joker), and Gary Oldman (as Commissioner Gordon). All three brilliant actors, with a damn near dead-on American accent.

Anna Torv doesn't bother me in Fringe, but I know Steve dislikes her. Maybe I get caught up in her great looks and cool attitude: she's very smart, sexy, and beautiful, and somehow I buy into the way she talks. It is a little "off," but not so much that I can tell she's an Aussie.

 

+1.

 

Oh by the way, Rose Byrne does a pretty mean english accent as well

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55X_DAk6K_k

 

New vote - Toni Colette. Another Aussie thats been doing American roles for over a decade. I never picked up on it.

 

Yvonne Strahovski (Australian) from Chuck does the accent pretty well.

I agree on Archie Panjabi. Can't hold the accent for more than a word and a half.

Anna Torv, while my favorite, is too dead neutral in the delivery and her natural accent peeks through quite a lot. She's hopeless with Bostonisms too.

 

Andrew Lincoln from "The Walking Dead" has a fairly authentic southern drawl for a Brit.

 

Joely Richardson love

Hugh Laurie - ridiculous.

 

Mel Gibson in the Jodie Foster directed film "The Beaver", has him doing an
Aussie "accent" when his puppet is talking. And his character (without the puppet) uses an American accent.