Why Tom Holland’s American Accent Is So Good
Leave it up to British actors to always get American accents so close to a point where you’re convinced they’re actually American. In some cases, British actors working on American shows and using American accents fool U.S. viewers until learning years later where these thespians are from. Most people know Spider-Man: Far From Home‘s Tom Holland is British. If you didn’t, you might be fooled based on his stellar command of how teens talk here.
Just how good is Tom Holland’s American accent?
If you’ve seen Holland as Spider-Man since he first debuted in Civil War, then you know how much work he’s put into mastering the way millennials usually speak. How he did this has been revealed from a few media outlets. Holland revealed it was simply the result of obsessive practice.
Some might say practice doesn’t always make perfect, especially if you don’t have some special instincts on the nuances of language. For Holland, it meant practicing every day, even in the shower.
What those methods entailed he hasn’t revealed. Is there a Rosetta Stone course for American accents available exclusively for actors from other countries? Most likely, Holland just picked up the accents by studying real people he knew, or from movies and TV.
His fellow actors even praised him for his nuanced American language subtleties. Robert Downey, Jr. complimented Holland to the skies for creating a specific regional accent from Queens, NY.
This British actor, who’s tackled American accents, also praised Tom Holland
Benedict Cumberbatch is another MCU actor who’s placed Holland on a pedestal for mastering the American language. This is a stellar compliment coming from Cumberbatch, who’s already a formidable actor. However, no one can say he’s completely mastered American accent subtleties.
Trying to capture how our nation’s millennials speak is an extra challenge. Outside of the unique phrases millennials use, Marvel thankfully doesn’t have Peter Parker using any of them to keep the movie timeless. Any American teen, though, could be at a party with Holland and think he’s as purely American as anyone else in the room.
No doubt hanging around other Hollywood actors of his age group helps on the assimilation. Holland is still an actor of a different pedigree, particularly when you see him pretending to put on a British accent while pretending to speak American.
Maybe other British actors can do American accents with equal adeptness, but Holland is certainly at the top ranks. He could springboard this into another Brit becoming a full-blooded, American movie superstar.
Will Tom Holland acquire a permanent American accent if he lives in America?
Remember all those American celebrities who went to live abroad and somehow acquired a faux regional accent? Celebs like Johnny Depp and Madonna are continually mocked for assimilating halfway British accents due to living in the U.K. most of the time.
Perhaps this works in reverse for British actors who become A-list actors here. Holland may prove the British Invasion is still well underway in nurturing our country’s best actors.
At the same time, if he lives here long enough, he may start to sound like the rest of us. Not that he doesn’t admit to slipping up on his American accent now and again by using British terms to describe things to friends.
Acquiring a permanent American accent might sound appealing to some. We almost wish Holland wouldn’t since doing away with his British accent may feel like desecrating a great European work of art.
