Entertainment
35 Actors You Totally Didn't Realize Were Hiding Accents
Let's face it: Foreign accents are, well, kind of hot. Which is why you might be pleasantly surprised to discover that some of the actors you assume are American actually have them. Yep, these actors may put on a classic American accent for the camera, but in reality they're foreigners with distinct accents from their home countries. Click through to read about the celebrities who have secret accents — surprise!
Charlie Hunnam
The Sons of Anarchy actor is from the UK and has an English accent when he’s not playing Jax Teller.
Damian Lewis
The Homeland actor may play an American, but he was born and raised in London.
Hugh Laurie
The House star does an impeccable American accent, but he’s actually from the UK.
Andrew Lincoln
Rick is an American hero on The Walking Dead, but off camera Lincoln has an English accent — which he used for his part as the “to me, you are perfect” guy from London-set film Love, Actually.
Christian Bale
When he’s not busy doing his best gruff Batman voice, dude has an English accent.
Colin Farrell
Unfortunately for all of us, Farrell’s films rarely allow him to make use of his sexy Irish accent.
Dominic West
The Wire’s leading man doesn’t don the Baltimore accent in real-life. The Yorkshire native has an English accent.
Idris Elba
As if the man needed to get any sexier, he also rocks an English accent.
Daniel Day Lewis
He may have played an American president in Lincoln, but he actually hails from London.
Andrew Garfield
The Amazing Spider-Man star isn’t really from New York — or even America. Garfield’s English accent comes out in interviews and surprises everyone.
Alan Cumming
Nope, he’s not American. The actor actually has a Scottish accent.
Robert Pattinson
If you’re a major Twilight fan, you probably already know that the American vampire is played by a Brit.
Sam Worthington
The Avatar actor is Australian.
Liam Hemsworth
As is the guy who plays Gale in The Hunger Games.
Chris Hemsworth
Also, Thor. But I have a feeling you probably guessed that.
Tom Hiddleston
Chris Hemsworth’s onscreen brother is a native Londoner.
Tom Hardy
Sure, it was hard to understand anything the guy was saying as Bane in The Dark Knight Rises, but in real life the native Londoner has a charming English accent.
Ed Westwick
The Gossip Girl star is — surprise! — British.
Sacha Baron-Cohen
Baron-Cohen rarely uses his real voice in his work, so it’s not surprising that his English accent surprises people when he does whip it out.
Theo James
The Divergent star is British and now 100 percent sexier. And he was pretty damn sexy to begin with.
Hugh Jackman
Surprise! The Wolverine is actually an Australian.
Russell Crowe
I always assumed that Crowe was an English actor, but it turns out that he’s neither from the UK or America. He actually hails from New Zealand.
Sam Palladio
The Nashville star doesn’t really have a southern drawl. He actually rocks an English accent.
Simon Baker
The star of The Mentalist is actually Australian.
Kevin McKidd
Grey’s Anatomy’s Owen has a Scottish accent in real life.
Stephen Moyer
Bill from True Blood has a southern drawl on the show, but he’s actually not American at all. The HBO star has an English accent in real life.
Josh Bowman
The Revenge actor plays a Hamptons rich kid, but he’s actually from the other side of the pond. Off screen he speaks with an English accent.
Heath Ledger
The late actor was a master at hiding his Australian accent.
Ryan Kwanten
He played the Louisiana native Jason Stackhouse on True Blood, but off camera he has an Australian accent.
Henry Cavill
If you’ve seen the Man Of Steel actor’s early work on The Tudors, you may already know the guy who plays the American pop culture icon is actually British.
Hugh Dancy
The Hannibal actor plays an American on the series but actually hails from the UK.
Nicholas Hoult
The Warm Bodies actor got his start on the Bristol-set series Skins.
Matthew Rhys
The Americans star isn’t actually, well, American. He’s Welsh.
Chiwetel Ejiofor
The 12 Years A Slave actor hails from London.
Jack Huston
The Boardwalk Empire actor played a Jersey boy on the series, but in real life he’s an Englishman.
