8 American actors with great British accents, from Gillian Anderson’s Margaret Thatcher in Netflix’s The Crown to Peter Dinklage of HBO’s Game of Thrones fame

Many American actors have used accents for their roles, and sometimes they’re good enough to fool fans into thinking they’re actually British. Here are eight actors who you probably didn’t know were American citizens … Which celebrities renounced their Chinese citizenships? Peter Dinklage Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage isn’t British. He is actually from New Jersey. Fans often forget that the actor who played the sharp-witted Lannister is American because of his convincing accent as Tyrion on the HBO show. In fact, Dinklage was born and raised in New Jersey, and he has used his natural accent for several roles outside of GoT. Gillian Anderson Gillian Anderson can switch back and forth seamlessly between her British and American accents – but she was born in the US. The Netflix’s The Crown and Sex Education star has plenty of audiences believing she’s a born-and-bred Brit because of her spot-on accent. Melania Trump’s best on-screen appearances in film, TV and ads The actress was actually born in Chicago, but she spent a good portion of her childhood living in England before her family moved back to the US. As an adult, she calls London home, and she’s been known to flip back and forth between near-perfect British and American accents. Of course, fans of Fox’s The X-Files will remember Anderson’s American accent. Renée Zellweger Renée Zellweger fooled tons of fans with her accent in the Bridget Jones’s Diary series. But while Bridget Jones might hail from England, the actress who portrayed her is actually from Texas. Zellweger kept fans guessing for so long, that when she accepted the Golden Globe in 2020 for her role in Judy, many viewers took to Twitter to express their confusion over her natural Southern accent. James Marsters View this post on Instagram A post shared by James Marsters (@jamesmarstersof) He might have played a British bad boy on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but James Marsters is actually American. He had many fans of The WB show convinced he wasn’t from the US. The American actor made a name for himself playing British-born Spike on the popular 1990s TV show, and audiences just assumed his English accent was natural. He was actually born in California. Jennifer Aniston vs Reese Witherspoon: who has the most lavish lifestyle? Julianne Moore Julianne Moore is an American actress despite her familial ties to the UK. She has British citizenship, but she was actually born and raised in the US. She has given fabulous performances using a British accent in both A Single Man and The End of the Affair. But the actress was born in North Carolina, and her natural accent is American. It turns out her British accent is so strong because her mum was from the UK, and Moore has since obtained her British citizenship. Alan Tudyk View this post on Instagram A post shared by Alan Tudyk Fanpage (@alantudykfanpages) Alan Tudyk is a Southern boy, despite his convincing performance in Death at a Funeral. Born and raised in Texas, Tudyk has an impressive British accent. After his performance in the 2007 dark comedy, many people thought the actor hailed from England and were shocked to learn otherwise. Today, many fans know Tudyk for the wide array of accents and character voices he’s developed for Disney and Star Wars. 11 stars who confessed to celebrity crushes – and then dated them Sean Astin Sean Astin doesn’t actually have a British accent. He’s from California. Astin has starred in a number of American fan favourites including The Goonies and Netflix’s Stranger Things. But his iconic role as Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings franchise had many fans convinced that he was British. Chloë Grace Moretz This Georgia-born actress starred in Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, and she earned the role, in part, because of her impressive British accent. In a 2011 interview with Digital Spy, the star said she even tricked the director into thinking she wasn’t American during the audition process. This article originally appeared on Insider Want more stories like this? Sign up here. Follow STYLE on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.