Dream Tropes Wiki/Fake American

The United States has the largest native English-speaking population in the world — about 300 million — and due to the tremendous global influence of American-produced media, most non-Americans are familiar with the country's dialects and accents, and assume them easy to imitate. Thus it's not uncommon for any non-American actor to be asked to sound American for a part.

Fake Americans are usually Canadians (the two countries' generic accents are virtually identical), Brits, Australians, or Irish, although New Zealanders and even South Africans have been known to fake American. This is usually done for biographical reasons, to allow for a familial relationship with another character with an American accent, or to portray a character as stereotypically American.

According to a documentary, in 2008 one-third of all piloted American TV series had British people in a starring or main supporting role, so this is expanding almost beyond the boundaries of trope. There are honestly so many actors playing fake Americans in games, TV shows, and movies as of late, most people that aren't familiar with many of the actors from across the pond assume they're American.

Britons who essay an American accent will usually opt to make the accent "colorful", and preferably Eastern. Expect to hear something along the lines of a) "salty" New Englander; b) Connecticut "blue-blood"; c) New Yorker, typically of the "Brooklyn" variety; or d) Southern, usually something from Georgia or the Carolinas but occasionally Appalachian, Ozark, or even Texan. This is because the Eastern accents share many phonetic quirks with British dialects, such as the broadening of vowels or the dropping of "r's." It is rare to hear one of these actors attempt, say, a California accent - but it is not unheard of. In those cases, overcorrection of final "r"s is a common tell ("picture" pronounced "pickshurr", say).

Note that this trope does not apply to non-American actors who are not trying to disguise their accent or origin. Nor should it apply to foreign-born actors raised in America such as Natalie Portman or Mila Kunis, as long as they don't have to fake an accent. America is a nation of immigrants after all, and it isn't all that unusual to meet people who were born or raised overseas, or natural-born Americans who carry an accent from growing up in an ethnic neighborhood. Expect such situations to be Lampshaded, however, especially if the actor in question has a relatively heavy accent, like Arnold Schwarzenegger (who, for the record, does not qualify for this trope because while he was born in Austria, he is now a naturalized American). Note also that the majority of Canada is within the USA's dialect continuum, thus most Canadian actors have absolutely no difficulty faking being a generic American (it's when the accent required isn't a generic one that this comes into play).

A version of Fake Nationality, along with Fake Brit and Fake Irish. If the character is called upon to "fake" the accent that's really theirs, it's a case of Lampshade Hanging, of the sub-type How's Your British Accent?. Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping is quite common, and a few careless examples end up Not Even Bothering with the Accent.

This can also be done within the United States, if an American is expected to speak with a very distinctive accent other than their own, e.g. actors with "neutral" accents doing a Minnesota or Georgia accent.

## Examples

### Music

* Hiro Rocko does a very convincing Midwestern American accent in his songs, but it is very cheesy to first-time listeners of Vlokpop. His real accent is a regional Chinese accent from his native Henan province.
* Mr. Caillou was born in Bosnia, raised in Croatia, and has lived in El Kadsre for many years. His modern accent is the West El Kadsreian accent (similar to the generic American and Canadian accents with dashes of the typical Australian accent) mixed with regional Croatian accent from Zagreb. His singing voice is a generic North American accent.

### Western Animation

* *Tip's Nursery* features Sammy, an American girl, whose voice was done by a Kuboian putting on a stereotypical American accent.