Hollywood Loves an Accent

Colin Farrell

Colin Farrell and Orlando Bloom are easily the hottest actors in Hollywood today. No, I am not talking about their looks. I am talking about their popularity, which is probably benefiting from their looks. Both actors have appeared in so many hit films, in the past few years, that they are far ahead of any other actor for being the stars of the decade.

What I find interesting about these two actors is that neither is American. Farrell was born in Dublin, Ireland and Bloom was born in Canterbury England. In fact, most of the "new" leading men in Hollywood are from foreign, English speaking, countries.

Ewan McGregor is from Scotland. He got the coveted role of Obi-Wan Kenobi. He sang and danced in Moulin Rouge and charmed his way through Big Fish and Down with Love.

The biggest movie series currently out are the Harry Potter films. Their star, London born Daniel Radcliffe, made his film debut playing Geoffrey Rush and Jamie Lee Curtis's son in The Tailor of Panama before landing his signature role of the famous wizard student.

England is not the only English speaking country taking over American cinema. Australia has provided Hugh Jackman from Sydney. A Knight's Tale star Heath Ledger is from Perth. Eric Bana, who stunk up screens in the over hyped Hulk and stole Troy from Bloom and Brad Pitt, is from Melbourne.

Black Hawk Down featured Eric Bana, Ewan McGregor and Orlando Bloom. None of them were the star of the movie but they all have gone on to have better careers than the American star of the film, Josh Hartnett. His appearance in such poorly conceived films as Pearl Harbor, Hollywood Homicide, 40 Days and 40 Nights and Wicker Park have practically destroyed his career.

So where are the new American actors? Jake Gyllenhaal, born in California, stars in The Day After Tomorrow, but who the hell is just going to it to see him? It remains to be seen whether his career actually benefits from this movie. A hit film does not guarantee a big career. James Marsden plays Cyclops in the successful X-Men movies. His career has not taken of like that of Jackman. Marsden is costarring in the upcoming love story The Notebook. It remains to be seen if this Oklahoma native can breakout as a star.

The lone new American lead actor with a breakout career, recently, is Tobey Maguire. This California native has not only done the Spiderman movies, he has also starred in such critical successes as The Cider House Rules and Seabiscuit.

Hollywood has long employed actors from overseas. Charlie Chaplin and Cary Grant were British. However, it seems that foreign English speaking actors are dominating the American box office more today than ever. Even the legendary American superhero Batman is going to be portrayed by the Wales born Christian Bale this summer in Batman Begins.