WTF? Is Gillian Anderson British?

[Worf2DS9]

I just caught her on The Graham Norton Show, and I'm surprised that she's speaking with a bit of an accent! Is she actually British, or is it a case that she's developed one after living there for so long? She sounds so different, and seems to have a completely different personality!

 

[Starbreaker]

She tends to change accents depending on where she's living at the time. It's very odd.

 

[CaptainCanada]

It's the latter; she's from Chicago originally.

Most of her recent work, apart from reprising the role of Scully, has been with a British accent, too.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I just caught her on The Graham Norton Show, and I'm surprised that she's speaking with a bit of an accent! Is she actually British, or is it a case that she's developed one after living there for so long? She sounds so different, and seems to have a completely different personality!

Seems she lived in England as a child.

 

[Hermiod]

^She lived in London until she was 11. I believe she lives here now too.

 

[Admiral_Young]

This was pointed out by media outlets when she first started living in London again and apparently when there speaks with the accent.

 

[Nardpuncher]

I think that's so phony.

I was born in Ottawa, moved to Exeter, then Margate and came back to Canada. I was 4 when we moved to England and 10 when we came back and I got the accent, but the thing is you don't practice or anything...it just slowly comes without any conscious thought.
I got bugged about the accent when I moved back to Canada and it slowly wore off. It took about a year. Also not done consciously.
I've heard that it's much easier for children to gain an accent, so when someone like Gillian Anderson or Madonna ( or some women I know who may go for a week vacation and then start talking with a minor accent) it just makes them look, well, mentally weak.

 

[V'ger]

it happens when you move to a different place
honest to (insert religion) my mate had a long distance relationship with an american girl and he would talk with her ALL the time and went over a few times and he started to develop american accent when saying certain words.

 

[Bad Bishop]

I don't mind if she puts on the English accent. Her settling in London, however, really limits her film offers from Hollywood. Maybe she doesn't care. Maybe she's perfectly happy to be a West End stage actress for the rest of her life.

 

[Nardpuncher]

Well, i don't want to sound like a jerk, but most grown people shouldn't change their accent so easily.
My father is Canadian and he was of course with us when we moved and his accent stayed the same.
My mom is from Glasgow and she moved to Canada after marrying my dad in 1955 and she still has her accent...though hers has become less pronounced. Funny thing to say when talking about Glaswegian accents, less pronounced!

 

[sojourner]

^I guess you missed the part where Hermiod said Gillian lived in London till age 11.

 

[Ensign_Redshirt]

According to Wikipedia...

Soon after her birth, her family moved to Puerto Rico for 15 months and then to Crouch End and finally Harringey[2] in North London, so that her father could attend the London Film School. When Anderson was 11 years old, her family moved again, this time to Grand Rapids, Michigan. She attended Fountain Elementary and then City High-Middle School, a program for gifted students with a strong emphasis on the humanities; she graduated in 1986.

With her English accent and background, Anderson was mocked and felt out of place in the American Midwest and soon adopted a Midwest accent.

 

[Hermiod]

^Sounds like it was her American accent that was fake. She presumably just drops it when she's not in the US.

 

[Holdfast]

I doubt it's a case of "fake" or not. Some people adapt to a local accent really, really quickly, esp. if they're used to doing so or are particularly good social chameleons. Personally, I'm not particularly fast, but even my own accent undergoes small changes (esp. tone and inflection) after a few weeks in a different country.

 

[ITL]

The crucial factor in this case is that she moved away when she was still young. Kids adapt to new accents without it being an affectation, so it's as though she really does have two accents - the one of her youth that can resurface in the right context without it being a concious effort, and the later one that became the default.

My cousin was the same - his family moved down south when he was a kid, and it wasn't long before his accent changed accordingly. But when he came back, so did the old accent. It never went away, it just lay dormant.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Nobody's accents tend to wander more than mine, I can assure you. I find it's not only the tongue of the company I keep that sticks, but also whatever I happen to be listening to on TV or radio too.

 

[ClayinCA]

When John Barrowman was on Jonathan Ross' radio show with David Tennant and Catherine Tate, he talked about the fact that he grew up in Scotland and then moved to the United States, which led to his having a Scottish accent when he talks to his family and an American one when he's at work. He then demonstrated, talking Scot to Tennant and American to Tate, which amused them both and freaked them out at the same time.

 

[captcalhoun]

i was just about to mention JB. he pulled the accent switch on BBC Breakfast as well when he was on talking Torchwood. Sian Williams the presenter went all gooey over the Scots accent...

Christian Bale switches his Welsh accent to an American one a lot of the time when doing press, especially for the Bat flicks where he admitted to doing it as 'no one wants to hear a Welsh Batman'.

 

[Nerys Myk]

The crucial factor in this case is that she moved away when she was still young. Kids adapt to new accents without it being an affectation, so it's as though she really does have two accents - the one of her youth that can resurface in the right context without it being a concious effort, and the later one that became the default.

My cousin was the same - his family moved down south when he was a kid, and it wasn't long before his accent changed accordingly. But when he came back, so did the old accent. It never went away, it just lay dormant.

Same thing happens to me. My familly is from the South (USA). So when ever we visited our Southern accents would return. When we returned to California they would fade again.

 

[diankra]

I doubt it's a case of "fake" or not. Some people adapt to a local accent really, really quickly, esp. if they're used to doing so or are particularly good social chameleons.

One could even suggest that someone whose accent naturally shifts depending on their enviroment when they're a child, might just have a good chance of becoming a successful actor...