Part of your acting resume and skill set is having the ability to portray different dialects, accents, and drawls. Every actor has had to do it at some point (or many points) of their careers. Southern twangs, Brooklyn dialects, New Yawka accent, Great Lakes accents – Indian accents, Italian, Mexican – you name it. Have you been brushing up on your specialties? Here are just a few of our picks for the best and worst accents in the biz. What are yours?

BEST

Andrew Lincoln, “THE WALKING DEAD”
Lincoln, originally from the UK, slays us with his southern drawl and inflections for officer Rick Grimes. He is truly convincing and sounds as though he is indeed a Georgia peach. You can tell a lot of studying went into this, because it’s simply effortless and highly authentic.

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Angelina Jolie, “MALEFICENT”
This lady can do no wrong. As an American, she managed to pull off one of the best, most authentic British accents in a long while in this critically acclaimed blockbuster hit.

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Kathy Bates, “THE OFFICE”
Another actress who can do no wrong in our eyes (okay, maybe except for her weird ‘all over the place’ accent in American Horror Story, but we digress)… Kathy gives one hell of a convincing Southern drawl. Subtle enough to be believable, but hitting all the right notes at the right times.

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Hugh Laurie, “HOUSE”
Another great example of an English actor who put a lot of time, energy, study, and technique into his approach at the American accent. Dr. House doesn’t sound like any ‘standard’ American, either — his gruff East Coast swagger is both commendable and believable.

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WORST

Gabourey Sidibe, “TOWER HEIST”
We want to say Jamaican… but we’re getting Irish? Yikes. Almost got it.

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Dick Van Dyke, “MARY POPPINS”
This is arguably one of the most horrific attempted accents in Hollywood history, even according to Van Dyke himself. His intended cockney British accent ended up being a parody of itself, but his charm won us over anyway.

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Julia Roberts, “MARY REILLY”
Homegirl needs to figure out if she’s Irish or an American with a slight Jamaican inflection. Even despite this monstrosity, she’s still a household name. It all works out in the end.

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Russell Crowe, “ROBIN HOOD”
Backstage put it best: “His Scottish, slightly Irish, and stretches of incomprehensible grunting, the New Zealand–born, Australia-bred Crowe proves bad accents can exhaust both performer and audience.”

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