What kind of accent does Clive Owen have?

[Torsten]

OK, so Clive Owen is British but he has starred in quite a number of American movies in which he sounds pretty "American", at least to me. What is your take on Clive Owens' accent? I mean, can you tell that he is from the UK?
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[Alan]

Hi Torsten,

As far as I can recall, he strikes me as one of those actors who is a bit of a minimalist in so far as speech is concerned- using a fairly laid back style of delivery. As he was born in Coventry in the centre of England maybe he's tring to conceal his Birmingham accent, for which I don't blame him.

Alan
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[Torsten]

Hi Alan,

Thanks a lot for your reply. The funny thing is that in the movie "Derailed" Clive Owen seems to imitate an American accent which is quite good at (at least he sound pretty American to my non-American ears). Then I heard Clive Owen give an interview in which he clearly has a British accent. Have you experienced something similar with him?
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[Mister Micawber]

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I don't know the bloke, but many actors are quite talented at accents-- and acting schools offer courses in accent training for those who are not.
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[Diverhank]

I don't know who Clive Owens is either. I agree with M.M. Take Mel Gibson and Russel Crowe...in movies it's hard to tell they are not Americans.

[Alan]

Hi,

As I understand it, Mel Gibson was born in America and his family moved to Australia when he was a child.

Alan
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[Yankee]

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Many (maybe even most) Americans have no idea that Hugh Laurie, the star of the TV series House, is British.

The first time I saw an episode of House, I knew that I knew who the star was, but couldn't place him for a couple of minutes. I think that was mainly because I'd never heard him speak without his British accent.

I don't know who Clive Owen is. I don't think he's well-known on this side of the pond. At least not yet. What are some of the American movies he's been in?
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[Torsten]

Well Amy, I saw Clive Owen in the movie "Derailed" where he is starring together with Jennifer Aniston.
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[Yankee]

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I haven't seen that movie, but now you've got me curious. So maybe I'll rent it.
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[Jamie (K)]

I have never heard of Clive Owen either, but I'll bet I'd find some miniscule detail that would tell me he isn't American. Although if he's a good student of a good accent coach, maybe not.

What I think is fun to watch is British movies in which Americans have to mouth British words and no one has made any effort to make their speech authentically American. Typically, the American will be saying "lovely" and "brilliant" too much, or they'll depict a man saying he "fancies" something, which is something an American man is unlikely to say.

[Yankee]

Hi Torsten

I'm reporting back. I've now watched not one, but two movies with Clive Owen in them.

One thing I noticed is that he apparently tends to mumble rather than to enunciate clearly. Now, I don't know whether he also does this in his "British accent" movies, but he does do it when he's doing an "American" accent. Perhaps he mumbles in an effort to disguise any slip-ups in his American accent. I have no idea, really.

The first movie I watched was called Inside Man. At first, I thought the mumbling was mainly a result of the fact that throughout this movie he wears a knit mask which covers his entire face, including his mouth. (There were only two small openings in the mask for his eyes.)

But, then I watched Derailed and noticed the same sort of mumbling. So, yes, in those two movies his accent sounded basically American and not British, but his enunciation of words was often not distinct at all. So, in that sense, no, it did not sound like a "typical" American accent. That is not to say that all Americans enunciate all words clearly, but most people enunciate more clearly than he does in these films.
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[NinaZara]

I am not a phonetician, but I think it's Scottish-ish. Or is it Irish?

[Yankee]

Hi Nina

In the two movies I watched, Clive's accent did not sound Scottish or Irish. He had adopted an American accent. Nevertheless, I found his pronunciation unusual. Perhaps what I referred to as "mumbling" is simply his style -- no matter what sort of accent he's trying to use. (I don't know enough about him to make a judgment on that though.)
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[NinaZara]

Yes, he probably didn't, Amy. But I was not referring to the 'tune' or 'music' of his speech, but the way he rolled the 'R' sound.

It is unsual, is it not? But he is so gorgeous I didn't really pay attention to his speech. (Just an excuse for my poor ear for accents!)

[Englishuser]

Hi Alan,