It’s a pretty jarring sensation when you’re watching the Oscars and you hear an actor accept an award in an accent that’s totally different from what you were expecting. (Christian Bale, hello.) Maybe blame it on casting: It’s not certain actors’ faults that their American accent is so good that we’re surprised to find out they’re actually Australian or Welsh or Scottish. So you're not caught off-guard next time, here’s a list of actors who have accents that you totally forgot about.
1. Riz Ahmed
I’m embarrassed to admit that it took a really long time to realize that our collective boyfriend, Riz Ahmed, is in fact English. You’d never know this from his role on Girls or The Night Of but his real accent is English. The more you know!
2. Toni Collette
Genuinely shook about this one. Her role in Hereditary is so jarring, so wounded, so terrifying...and she was faking an American accent that whole time? Yup, Collette is Australian. Wow.
3. Jamie Dornan
That's right: Christian Grey is secretly Irish. (He's from a town called Holywood—one "l"—in Northern Ireland.) I'm very comfortable with this information.
4. KJ Apa
If your Riverdale knowledge is limited to the show and does not include the ravenous consumption of each actors’ social media and interview appearances, then you might be surprised to learn that Apa is actually from New Zealand, cute Kiwi accent and all.
5. Katherine Langford
The 13 Reasons Why star may have a convincing as heck American accent on the show, but Langford is secretly Australian.
6. Alfred Enoch
Perhaps you watched Enoch on How To Get Away With Murder and forgot that he was also Dean Thomas in the Harry Potter films (glow up!)—in that case, you might not have realized that he’s been suppressing his English accent on the show.
7. Charlie Hunnam
The Sons of Anarchy babe is also an American accent faker. He’s from Newcastle in England. Yeah, he’s that hot and he has an accent. Swoon.
8. Yael Stone
Stone’s amazing New York accent on Orange Is the New Black is so convincing that you may not realize she's hiding a genuine Australian accent. That’s good acting!
9. Rosamund Pike
Speaking of great acting, Pike has been an American in a lot of movies and shows. But it’s a ruse: She’s English.
10. Margot Robbie
Margot Robbie is a total chameleon in her roles, but her actual accent is Australian. Jeez, there are a lot of secret Australians running around Hollywood.
11. Damian Lewis
The Billions and Homeland star hasn’t used his real-life English accent much on-screen at this point, but when he does now you’ll know to expect it.
12. Christian Bale
There he is! Remember how confused everyone was earlier this year, when Bale went to accept his Best Actor Golden Globe for Vice and he had an accent? Yup he was born in Wales to English parents, so he definitely doesn't sound American.
13. Catherine Zeta-Jones
I don’t know why it took so long to realize how frequently Zeta-Jones masks her actual Welsh accent. Maybe it’s because she’s just that good.
14. Dominic West
The star of HBO’s The Affair may have the Brooklyn dad accent down, but he’s actually English.
15. Ruth Wilson
And the other half of The Affair’s leading duo is also hiding a British accent. Jeez, were no Americans available, HBO?
16. Daniel Day Lewis
Daniel Day Lewis is one of the most lauded actors of his generation, so it makes sense that his methodical character studies would effectively hide his real English accent.
17. Simon Baker
Wait, what? The Mentalist? The guy Andie cheats on her boyfriend with in The Devil Wears Prada? That guy was Australian?!
Well then. My entire understanding of the world just changed. It's fine, I'm fine.
18. Stephen Moyer
I understand that True Blood star Moyer is in fact English, but he will always have Bill’s sexy Southern drawl to me and there’s nothing he can do to change my mind. Sorry, Stephen Moyer!
19. Rose Byrne
Byrne can play anything—she absolutely slayed it as a meek British curator in the supremely underrated Juliet, Naked—but she’s actually Australian.
20. Henry Cavill
Superman is British! Did we know this? Is this okay? I think it's okay.
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