Prepping for a role with an American accent?
Frustrated by the fact that your sophisticated Southern Belle sounds like a New York hot dog vendor?
Annoyed that your Chicago dock worker sounds like a Valley Girl?
Wondering why your drill sergeant sounds like Ross from Friends?
There are a few reasons:
–Thinking it doesn’t require effort: much like people from (ahem) certain countries so often speak crap English because they think English is easier than their langue maternelle, many actors have terrible American accents because they think American accents are easy and so they don’t put any effort into it.
I mean everyone has watched Friends, right? How hard can it be?
(But you wouldn’t be here if you thought that way. Right?)
(Right?)
–Thinking all American accents are the same: wrongo, my friend. Despite some homogenization from television, America retains at least as many accents as the UK does (although admittedly spread more widely).
–Assuming it’s all nasal: that loud American college student with the voice like a chainsaw you can hear all the way across the coffee shop? That’s a hideous accent that all legitimate Americans hate. It’s why we avoid people like her for fear of association.
–Just yelling: “Americans are loud.” No shit, Sherlock. But there’s a reason: Americans project naturally because they speak from the diaphragm, not the throat. Do you?
–Stomping on the “R”: good on you if you realize that (most) American accents have a rhotic (pronounced) R while most English accents don’t. That doesn’t mean the thicker you spread it, the better you sound. Mostly that just makes it sound like you ate too much peanut butter at lunch.
–And many more…
Luckily, I can help!
American accents might not be as easy as their reputation lends one to think, but that doesn’t mean they’re inherently difficult.
As with any accent, however, they do require practice and feedback.
Chances are, however, that there are a few simple things that can be tweaked to improve your accent dramatically within moments. The rest is just practice and developing a good ear–something else that we can discuss.
We can sort our your basics in 1-2 hours or you can work on longer projects on an ongoing basis.
Rates 2025: £65/hr — average session 60-90 minutes
Specific projects, working on regional accents, or custom recordings of the accent you’re after. Anything else? I’m open to ideas.
Let’s discuss.
Contact me for more details: [email protected] or the form below:
