How To Nail An Accent While Acting

The Importance of the Accent
An accent adds depth to any story. A dialect coach is available for lucky actors to ensure their accents are authentic. Rigorous mouth exercises must be mastered and careful research performed to learn the craft. Failure often results in failing the culture and being mocked on social media. Actors now have sources such as YouTube to help them achieve the perfect accent and create a unique character dialect.
William Conacher and Sarah Gadon
William Conacher supervised the dialect for The Crown. This dialect was more about the dance than the songs. The tiny muscles in the lips and mouth had to be trained to make shapes. Flexibility and good diction lead to an awareness of the changes necessary to acquire an accent. The intention of the actor must be expressed through the accent.
Sarah Gadon had to acquire an accent in Alias Grace for Grace Marks. She said the experience was immersive because in many instances she did not have time for preparation. She worked hard on a Northern Irish accent with her dialect coach and listened to the BBC Radio Ulster. Her dialect coach was Brett Tyne who consistently drilled her. She just kept working the muscles of her mouth and jaw until she could perform the accent.
Denis O’Hare and Kelly Macdonald
Dennis O’Hare portrayed Jessie in This Is Us. He had to make his own biography and modeled it after Martin Freeman. He liked the urban London accent and loved the actor. He perceived the accent as both educated and mongrel from someone who spent their formative years in London.
Kelly Macdonald portrayed Agnes in The Puzzle. She worked with a dialect coach daily to take the pressure off. She has an ear for accents and mimicked voices and accents in her youth. She believes the hardest accent is general American and specific accents are much easier to learn.
Beth McGuire and Jimmy O. Yang
Beth McGuire was a dialect coach for Black Panther. She had each actor choose their favorite playlist out of three to help them create their own idiolect. Instead of imitating someone else, they used the rhythms and sounds in the music to create their own dialects. She had them learn key phrases to help with musicality and phrasing.
Jimmy O. Yang played characters such as Silicon Valley’s Jian-Yang. He felt as though he was the character because when he came to this country at the age of thirteen he had an accent and spoke very little English. He believes the issue is not the accent itself but the perception.
Stephanie Sigman
Stephanie Sigman used her own accent in S.W.A.T. as Captain Jessica Cortez. There was not much diversity during her childhood and she was very excited to play a female boss. She felt it meant a lot for a Latina to be a boss for network television. She said the role provided both a unique challenge and an excellent opportunity. She felt S.W.A.T benefited immigrants, Latinos and girls.
Logan Sekulow is a successful producer and director. He is known for relaunching the popular studio known as Laugh-O-Gram studios.
