History Main / Fauxreigner

* Invoked by Jose Barrientos an Iraq war veteran. He was taking a speech class and decided to spend the entire semester speaking with a Mexican accent. When he gave his final report he slipped back into his normal accent and blew his classmate's minds. Amazingly one student kept insisting that his 'American' accent was the fake one and that he should speak in his native language. Which he kept insisting he was.

* In ''Film/SlapHerShe'sFrench'', "French" exchange student Genevieve is actually Starla's American classmate Clarissa, who moved to France because of Starla's bullying.

-->--'''The Waffle Nazi''', ''Series/PushingDaisies''

* Jean Armstrong in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'' seems to be faking his whole "French chef" thing. The judge picks up on this when Armstrong mistakenly uses Spanish instead of French.

* While not denying his [[TheFairFolk fae nature]] or that he ''is'' a foreigner Jareth's portrayal in the ''{{Webcomic/Buildingverse}}'' is so British that even his unwilling love interest gets roped into [[{{Webcomic/Roommates}} anglophile meetings]] at times. Actually that's just ActorAllusion, he is [[MixedAncestry half-Charnian (part genie and giant from this side), half Scandinavian/Germanic (and nasty sort of child stealing fairy)]]. Yeah. Playing that straight would probably make him even ''[[InvertedTrope more]]'' of a FunnyForeigner.

->''"I do not speak a word of German. I speak English'' mit ''a German accent''. [in an American accent] ''Pageantry.''"''

* In ''VideoGame/DreamfallTheLongestJourney'', we meet a store owner with a long wispy beard, something resembling a traditional outfit, and a ridiculous accent (even in the Russian version!). The LetsPlay names him Horrific Chinese Stereotype. Eventually he drops it.
* In ''VideoGame/LeisureSuitLarry7LoveForSail'', the character Wang, obviously Chinese, ''is'' foreign... but from Ireland, and speaks English fluently with an Irish accent. Since people kept staring at him, he adopted a stereotypical Chinese accent and YouNoTakeCandle. His Irish accent slips through whenever he gets upset or annoyed, prompting Larry to ask him about it.
* It's unclear if all of the [[UpperClassTwit Preppies]] in ''VideoGame/{{Bully}}'' (which is set in EverytownAmerica) are just putting on posh British airs, though Tad Spencer in particular freely admits to doing so.
-->'''Jimmy:''' Are you English?\\
'''Tad:''' Well, no. I just speak this way because I'm very insecure. You see, my father is a SelfMadeMan, so I pretend to be OldMoney, but in fact I'm really NouveauRiche. But less about me, dear boy.

* Jean Armstrong in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'' seems to be faking his whole "French chef" thing. The judge picks up on this when Armstrong mistakenly uses Spanish instead of French.

* While not denying his [[TheFairFolk fae nature]] or that he ''is'' a foreigner Jareth's portrayal in the ''{{Webcomic/Buildingverse}}'' is so British that even his unwilling love interest gets roped into [[{{Webcomic/Roommates}} anglophile meetings]] at times. Actually that's just ActorAllusion, he is [[MixedAncestry half-Charnian (part genie and giant from this side), half Scandinavian/Germanic (and nasty sort of child stealing fairy)]]. Yeah. Playing that straight would probably make him even ''[[InvertedTrope more]]'' of a FunnyForeigner.
* Implied at with Carlos from ''WebAnimation/ResidentEvilMusicals'', while he was simply a foreigner with an [[OohMeAccentsSlipping inconsistent accent]] on the original game, here he is treated like he's faking it on purpose.

* In the original ''WesternAnimation/PepeLePew'' short, Pepe reveals he's not really French, but liked playing the "French lover" role. [[CharacterizationMarchesOn This was removed from his later appearances.]]

* A flashback at the beginning of ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' episode "Now Museum, Now You Don't" shows Dr. Jonas Venture Sr. infiltrating Scaramantula's inner circle as the Japanese Dr. Fandragon. [[OverlyStereotypicalDisguise The disguise includes using his fingers to pull his eyelids back]] and a superfluous third nipple (on his chin). Scaramantula seems to notice that Fandragon isn't actually Japanese, but can't seem to put together that it's specifically Dr. Venture.
-->'''Dr. Venture:''' You've forgotten one thing, Scaramantula.\\
'''Scaramantula:''' And what is that, my uncharacteristically hirsute Asian comrade?
* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' had owners of a Chinese Restaurant slip into a heavy stereotype to please Homer.
* Kairi in ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'' fakes a heavy Japanese accent because it sells more fish that way. She speaks with an American accent when she isn't working.

* The Chameleon Brothers in ''WesternAnimation/RockosModernLife'' have heavy, vaguely-Scandinavian accents. This is later revealed to be all just part of their [[NewJobAsThePlotDemands ever-changing]] {{Hipster}} [[SingleMindedTwins persona]]...incidentally, the only part that doesn't change.
* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'', a new girl with a French accent named Sondra turns up at school, claiming to be an exchange student from Switzerland. The main characters aren't quite convinced, especially when the boys fall for her and she claims to be a superb ski expert. By the end of the episode, [[spoiler: Sondra injures herself while everyone is on a school ski trip and is revealed to be American, as well as all the other ridiculous claims she made being fake, such as being fluent in Russian and owning clothes made of cashmere.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'', it is revealed that, like his comic book counterpart [[spoiler:Flintheart Glomgold was born and grew up in South Africa. The excessive Scottishness is an act to surpass his rival Scrooge. His birth name isn't even Flintheart Glomgold, it's Duke Baloney.]]

* A ProWrestlingEpisode in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' features a ForeignWrestlingHeel, the Fire Nation Man. Despite his overt patriotism and very stereotypical outfit, his MisplacedAccent and the fact that he displays sandbending suggests that he's actually from the Earth Kingdom (a fact confirmed by AllThereInTheManual material).

* In ''Literature/MurderMostUnladylike'' (''Murder Is Bad Manners'' in [[MarketBasedTitle the US edition]]), two girls at a 1930s boarding school investigate the murder of one of their teachers. It emerges at one point during the story that "Mam'zelle", the French mistress, is not really French at all but has been posing as a French woman with an exaggerated accent in order to get teaching work.
** In the third book, ''First Class Murder'', the heroines investigate a [[ShoutOut murder on board the Orient Express]], and suspect that a deposed "Russian" aristocrat aboard the train is faking her nationality. [[spoiler:It's a subversion - she really is who she says she is.]]
* ''Literature/JoePickett'': In ''Breaking Point'', the regional director of the EPA is named Juan Julio Batista and claims to be Latino. He is utterly ruthless and has advanced through the organisation by accusing anyone who opposes of him of racism. However, he is really an Anglo. Batista is his stepfather's name (his mother remarried when he was in his 20s) and he changed his name from John to Juan in order to take advantage of his naturally dark skin to deliberately play the race card.
* In ''Literature/TheDisasterArtist'' Greg Sestero mentions that whilst working in LA as a struggling actor he had a brief TV role as a character pretending to be French to improve his chances with women.
* Saif, the main antagonist of ''Literature/TheMentalState'', uses a variety of different names of different nationalities when doing dealings with his criminal network. Despite his most commonly used name being 'Saif Dhu Hadin', he is actually a completely Caucasian american with white hair. One of the tactics the protagonist uses to unravel his criminal network is exposing the truth about his true nationality to the foreign terrorists working for him, causing most of them to turn on him.
* In ''Tell Me Your Dreams'' by Sidney Sheldon, protagonist Ashley has multiple personalities: a stereotypical Cockney woman named Toni and an Italian woman named Alette (both of which were created from trauma when she visited London and Italy respectively.) Toni and Alette both have their own lives and social circles but, since they are alter-egos of the American Ashley, she fits this trope.
* ''Literature/CagingSkies'': Krzysztof Powszechny and Janusz Kwasniewski aren't Polish, they're Russian soldiers named Sergey Karganov and Fedor Kalinin who are fleeing Stalin's Soviet Union.
* ''The Moth Girls'' by Anne Cassidy ends with Petra, who's British, assuming the identity of a Polish friend's sister (who actually died in childhood) and fleeing to Poland with her. Petra will presumably now have to spend the rest of her life pretending to be Polish, although they can excuse her lack of fluency in Polish with how long her friend spend in the UK.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': Ros claims the whore Armeca pretends not to speak the Common Tongue to increase her exotic appeal.
* The landlord of ''Series/TheYoungOnes'' spoke in a ridiculous FunnyForeigner accent when he spoke to the main characters that made him sound like an idiot, but spoke in a normal British accent when alone. He claimed that he did the accent because "it makes me sound more sophisticated". These characters were supposed to be Russian, and played by Alexei Sayle, who is of Lithuanian descent. His parents were communists as well, so the characters may have been a reference to this.

* It's lampshaded on at least two occasions on ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' that the [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign Scandinavian gibberish]] spoken by the Swedish Chef is not actually the Swedish language. On the first, after this is revealed, it's commented that although the Chef would like to start language classes, he has to feed his family. On the second, after the Chef's language is referred to as Mock Swedish, the other characters demand he speak in his true language, prompting him to speak in an oriental gibberish identified as Mock Japanese by that week's guest star, [[Series/AllInTheFamily Jean Stapleton]], who also speaks it. Though Björn Borg converses fluently with the Chef in his usual lingo, thus suggesting that it ''is'' Swedish.
* Nelson on ''Series/LifeOnMars2006'' does the ObfuscatingStupidity variant of this. He asks Sam to keep it to himself, as "folks just seem happier with the ''other'' Nelson."

* Marco Espinoza on ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' really is Dominican, but doesn't tell anyone he's learned English. Not even his sister Carla.
* A more regional version is seen, and played with, on ''Series/TheJeffFoxworthyShow''. A WASP-ish neighbor comes to the house to visit, and Jeff's normally-low-key Southern accent is ramped UpToEleven. When Jeff's wife asks him about it, he laughs and reveals he does it intentionally just to bug the guy.
--> '''Jeff''': "It kills him he lives next to Foghorn Leghorn!"
* This one's old enough to have been used on ''Series/ILoveLucy'', when a French man attempts to seduce Lucy away from Ricky; after having (apparently) succeeded, he rejects Lucy, stating that he simply couldn't bring himself to sleep with a married woman. He goes on to explain that he only behaves like a homewrecking lech because that's what Americans ''expect'' French men to be like, and he hates to disappoint people.

* Arastoo on ''Series/{{Bones}}'' used an accent for his first few episodes. He's a devout Muslim in a room full of scientists who don't agree with religion, so he figured that if he pretended to be "fresh off the boat" he'd get less crap from them. For bonus points, Bones reveals that she knew from the get-go that it was odd for an Iranian to be speaking English with a Jordanian accent, but decided it was none of her business.
* Jack's fiancee, Phoebe, from the first season of ''Series/ThirtyRock'', is implied to be not quite as British as she pretends to be.
* Adam Klaus of ''Series/JonathanCreek'' is a fake American in Britain... Maybe. See the show's own page for the various competing theories about where and how he acquired it.

* Johnny Vong in the ''Series/{{Castle}}'' episode "Sucker Punch" is a Harvard-graduate from California who took the accent of a Laotian immigrant and made millions selling a RagsToRiches success story [[spoiler:and heroin]].
* Comedian/writer Bill Dana's famous [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7aEKo-tbs0 Jose Jimenez]], originally created for sketch comedy both on stage and television, eventually became the central character of both his own SitCom, ''Series/TheBillDanaShow'' ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4vDcx2V0PA here's a sample]]), as well as at least one [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDAcbuBj7wc cartoon adaptation]].
* [[spoiler:The ''maitre d[='=]'' of the Chinese restaurant]] in ''Series/PersonsUnknown''.
* Barney on ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' once pretended to be an Estonian street performer to convince Marshall and Lily to start trying for a baby.
* Frequently done on ''Series/AlloAllo'' between the Nazis, the French, and the British airmen.
* ''Radio/GoodnessGraciousMe'' lampshaded the use of the trope in films with a parody of ''Film/TheGreatEscape'' where a team of captured Indian prisoners of war pretend to be German in order to escape the POW camp. Their excuse is that they are from East Germany - "''very'' East."
* ''Series/LittleBritain'' features the characters of Dudley and his Thai MailOrderBride Ting Tong Macadangdang. Dudley comes to realise over the course of several episodes that Ting Tong is not quite who she claims to be - including the fact that she was born in Tooting (London), not a remote Thai village as she originally said.
* In an episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'', the team stops what they think is an attack on a Muslim woman. It turns out that the screaming woman is neither Muslim nor of Middle Eastern descent, and that the rape is actually part of a hardcore porn movie [[ShowWithinAShow being filmed]]. The actress is proud of "getting the accent right," but the SVU team are not impressed.
* Done more than once on ''Series/TheGoodies'', usually as a part of a ZanyScheme. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d when Graeme is on the phone to Tim and pretending to be an Australian named 'Kerry Thwacker':
-->"No! This is not Graeme doing a silly accent! Mister Garden would do a much sillier accent than this!"
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' - in "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS2E17Passion}} Passion]]", Jenny Calendar goes into a magic shop. The proprietor greets her talking in a broad flowery East European accent - when she shows herself to be up on serious magic he promptly drops the accent, explaining he puts it on for the tourists.
* In the ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'' episode "The New Kid", Cookie tries to reinvent himself as a British transfer student when entering a new class so that they will think he's exotic and special, but immediately gets called out and exposed by [[IAmOneOfThoseToo an actual British transfer student]]. [[spoiler:He later catches the "Brit" [[SeparatedByACommonLanguage using American terms instead of British ones]] and realizes that he's ''also'' a Fauxreigner, pulling the same stunt as Cookie for similar reasons (he's an actual transfer student, but from ''[[FlyoverCountry Ohio]]'').]]
* ''Series/PeakyBlinders'' features a black street preacher Jeremiah Jesus, played by poet Benjamin Zephaniah. During earlier episodes he publicly recites the bible in an Afro-Caribbean accent, but he later speaks privately with the main character in a regional English accent.

* In the ''Series/InsideNo9'' episode "The Bill", a group of friends argue over a ShockinglyExpensiveBill in a restaurant, to the consternation of the Eastern European waitress. [[spoiler:It turns out she is neither Eastern European nor a waitress.]]
* On ''Series/MajorCrimes'', the team track down a Korean back-alley doctor doing cosmetic surgery in a house. He talks to them in broken English which they cut off. Tao says the accent is "really insulting" considering the man was born and raised less than a mile away. After a pause, the guy shrugs and, in perfect unaccented English, says "it helps with the job." Both his patient and nurse look at him in disbelief.
* ''Series/TheMarvelousMrsMaisel'': Shirley is seen going to a fortuneteller, Gina, for advice, blissfully oblivious to how the woman is a fraud. When the woman departs, Shirley asks her replacement if Gina went back to "the old country." The new fortuneteller says, "Old country? She's from the Bronx!"

* In the operetta ''Theatre/DieFledermaus'', several of the characters attend Prince Orlovsky's ball incognito as foreign noblemen and -women. Lindy Hume's English-language adaptation, first produced by Opera Australia in the 1990s, goes one better by revealing at the very end that Orlovsky himself is not really a foreign nobleman either.
* Adolfo Pirelli, the self-proclaimed 'King of the Barbers and the Barber of Kings' who claims to have shaved the King of Naples and the Pope and who is all the rage in London, in ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet''. It turns out Pirelli's real name is Daniel O'Higgins, an Irishman who was Sweeney Todd's assistant as a boy, back when Todd went by the name of Benjamin Barker. Daniel's intent to use this information to {{blackmail}} Sweeney ends up getting him killed.
* Don Juan and Miguel, primarily Renaissance Faire actors, have a particular mind-bending, [[BreakingTheFourthWall fourth wall breaking]] bit where Miguel states, "I'm a Polock from Chicago pretending to be a Mexican pretending to be a Spaniard. Must mean I'm an American!"
* The "Greek diplomatist" whom Nepommuck works for in Creator/GeorgeBernardShaw play ''Theatre/{{Pygmalion}}''. The man is in fact English, but he pretends to speak no English at all as he is of humble birth and has an atrocious manner of speech. Subverted in the same play as Nepommuck mistakes Eliza Doolittle for a fauxreigner-in-reverse because her speech is now so refined (through work of Henry Higgins) that she cannot possibly be real English, because "only foreigners who have been taught to speak it speak it as well." In fact, Nepommuck insists that she must be a Hungarian princess who is pretending to be English for some reason and no one believes the truth.

* Kaere/Kaede Kimura of ''Manga/SayonaraZetsubouSensei'' fits into the typical GorgeousGaijin image and has a type two {{Eagleland}} characterization, particularly her frequent threats to sue people. However, she falls into this because of her ridiculous claims about her (never named) home country, and a couple of episodes reference the fact she pretends to speak English, but actually barely knows a single word, and was only briefly outside of Japan. When he first meets her, Majiru [[MouthyKid Itoshiki]] actually calls her a "blond fake foreigner".
* Chada of ''Anime/NieaUnder7'' is an alien that pretends to be an Indian. To be precise, he's a dark skinned alien that purchased a cheap turban and started acting like an Indian.

* The members of most of the rival schools in ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer'' exhibit NationalStereotypes that are mostly in line with the theme of their schools. Subverted in that despite how stereotypical these characters may act, they still identify as Japanese. One character is an aversion as she is a genuine Russian foreigner (Voiced by an ''actual'' Russian to boot) who happens to be studying in Pravda High School that exhibits stereotypes of her nationality.
* ''Manga/ArmedGirlsMachiavellism'' has Choka U. Barazaki, supposedly a half-Italian with long blonde hair nicknamed "Butterfly Queen" or, as she puts it, "Regina della Farfalla"... But it's quickly revealed it's an act, and a bad one at that: her real name is Ubarazaki Choka (that she pronounces the Western way partly to go with the act and partly because the "U" kanji in her family name is the same as "cormorant"), the hair is a gigantic wig, and "Regina della Farfalla" is a literal translation that in Italian sounds ''utterly ridiculous'' (the literal translation is "Queen of the Butterfly". "Butterfly Queen" is actually "Regina delle Farfalle") and, in the anime, pronounced horribly.
* Zigzagged with Olivia from ''Manga/AsobiAsobase''. While she ''is'' of genuine foreign descent, she was born and raised in Japan and thus can't speak a word of proper English; anytime she attempts to speak any, she has a very pronounced Japanese accent. She is in fact worse at English than Kasumi, whose best score in the English exam is ''one''.

* In one issue of ''ComicBook/SheHulk'', the Great Gambonnos of the Circus of Crime, {{Funny Foreigner}}s of long standing in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, drop their stereotypical Italian accents when they've been found out. "Drop the act, Ernie, she's onto us."

* General Wolfram, [[AnimalThemedSuperbeing a wolf-themed villain]] claiming to be "the genetic terror of the Third Reich". Apparently he faked the Nazi angle and the accent for distinctiveness' sake/to draw heat away from his real identity. Comicbook/{{Venom}}, impersonating Franchise/SpiderMan, calls him "Castle Wolfenstein" and eats his arm for his trouble.
* ComicBook/BlackPanther: Kasper Cole affects a Wakandan accent and speech patterns in his guise as the White Tiger, mainly to throw people off his identity (because how many white Wakandan Jews do you know?) This backfires when he tries the routine on Everret Ross, who not only has been to Wakanda, he was its acting regent and is a personal friend of T'Challa's. The accent isn't even close to accurate, according to Ross.
* Asia Minor, in ''ComicBook/FallenAngel'', does the ObfuscatingStupidity version.

* Fantomex (aka [[spoiler: Weapon XIII]] from ''ComicBook/XMen'') uses a French accent -- not because he's French, but because the accent "annoys people" according to him -- making it easier to catch them off guard.
* The Pre-Crisis version of the ComicBook/WonderTwins become this after a human heard the name of their home planet from their mouth.
* In ''X-Men Noir'', Chief Magnus inverts this; a Transian native who emigrated to the US, he took diction lessons for sixteen months to achieve a perfect American accent.
* Fantomex is proud of boasting of his French background to the X-Men, using scores of phrases and a haughty attitude. But a few years after his debut, when asked to translate a French passage, he admits he's actually British and doesn't know the language. "What? I like the accent."
* An issue of ''[[ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel G.I. Joe: Special Missions]]'' had the Joes looking for Nazi war criminals in Brazil, when they stumble across a band of stereotypical Latin American guerillas in the jungle. Recondo quickly sees through their cover: they're Sephardic Jews from Mossad hunting the same prey.
* [[RichIdiotWithNoDayJob Wealthy playboy]] Rodney Gaynor adopted a Mexican accent whenever he became the Whip, an obscure hero in Franchise/TheDCU from UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks. A modern-day retelling of his origin retconned him to actually having Hispanic ancestry.

* ''ComicBook/XStatix'' once battled a European super team called Euro-Trash. One of their members was Surrender Monkey; who was essentially a walking embodiment of every negative stereotype Americans have regarding the French. A later story revealed that Surrender Monkey was not French, but actually an expatriate American.
* The Frenchman in ''Comicbook/TheBoys'' is heavily implied to be this by his [[MultipleChoicePast origin issue.]] His GratuitousFrench is often inaccurate, he's a former member of the French Foreign Legion (a group made up mostly of, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin well]], foreigners), he claims to come from the town of [[BilingualBonus Franglais, meaning "French-English,"]] and he sometimes [[OohMeAccentsSlipping slips in phrases]] like "wanker" and "mum," that would be more typical for a Brit. Of course, he's also insane, so it's hard to call.

* ''ComicBook/{{Empowered}}'' offers “Rum, Sodomy and The Lash” who [[OohMeAccentsSlipping uses expressions like “Blimey!”]]

[[folder:Fanfiction]]

* ''Fanfic/GymLeaderWiki'': Being the "Lightning American", you'd think Lt. Surge was American raised, but he's actually from Kanto. He spent a good chunk of his adulthood in the US Army, earning him his title.
* Invoked in ''Fanfic/IAmRedacted'', where the hero Nimbus deliberately speaks Japanese with an American accent so the public assumes he is American. This distances Nimbus from his SecretIdentity Midoriya Izuku, who never attended U.A. in this story, instead going to America for hero school.

[[folder:Film]]
* In ''Film/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'', Pirelli plays himself up as a stylish, eccentric Italian barber. He's British. And to top it off, he's played by [[Creator/SachaBaronCohen someone known for intentionally annoying, exaggerated stereotypes of several different ethnicities]].
* In ''Film/PoliceAcademy'', there was a character who pretended to have a Spanish accent, because the ladies love it.
* In the dark comedy ''Film/HumanNature'', a female character adopts a fake French accent and persona to make herself more attractive to men.
* In ''Film/KeepingTheFaith'', Creator/KenLeung's character puts on a stereotypical Asian accent when selling karaoke machines. When it's revealed that he's dealing with a holy man, he drops the fake accent and reveals himself as a shrewd business man who puts on a show for customers.
* In ''Film/TradingPlaces'', the protagonists disguise themselves as exaggerated foreigners, with Creator/DanAykroyd pretending to be a [[BlackLikeMe Jamaican]], Creator/JamieLeeCurtis' HookerWithAHeartOfGold as a NorseByNorsewest Swede, and Creator/EddieMurphy as an African. Denholm Elliott's English butler as an Irish priest isn't anywhere near as much of a stretch in terms of geography, but it's still pretty unconvincing.
* Several Creator/PeterSellers characters (some already from [[FakeNationality other countries]]) affect this trope on occasion, particularly [[Franchise/ThePinkPanther Inspector Clouseau]]. The effectiveness of the disguises, and thus the involved accents, varies depending on the plot.

* The young protagonist of ''Film/BreakingAway'' is a bicyclist who charms a girl he likes by pretending to be an ''Italian'' bicyclist. It works... for a while.
* From ''Film/GhostbustersII'' comes this exchange:
-->'''Peter Venkman:''' Johnny, where are you from?\\
'''Janosh Pohah:''' (in a thick accent) The upper-west side.
* This was done in an attempt (opinion varies on its success) to remove the dubious [[spoiler:YellowPeril]] implications of [[spoiler:The Mandarin]] in ''Film/IronMan3''. [[spoiler:The Mandarin]] turns out to be [[spoiler:a British actor pretending to be a sinister ambiguously-Asian terrorist, as a front man for the actual villain of the film, who is a white American.]]
** ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier'' features a similar situation - the Winter Soldier uses Russian weaponry, has a red star on his [[ArtificialLimbs mechanical left arm]], and gives orders to his henchmen [[FakeRussian in Russian]] at one point. [[spoiler:He's an American turned into a BrainwashedAndCrazy assassin for Hydra, although ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' reveals that at least one of his past handlers was Russian.]]
* In ''Film/{{Clue}}'', FrenchMaid Yvette speaks with a French accent for most of the movie, [[OohMeAccentsSlipping although it's sometimes heavier and sometimes lighter]] and in general she seems to be a bit of a FunnyForeigner. When she's away from everyone else however, and believes herself to be speaking with her secret employer, she drops the French accent entirely and speaks with an American accent. Miss Scarlet, who runs a brothel in Washington D.C., later confirms that Yvette used to work for her there.
* ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'': Bond impersonates a murdered Russian scientist in order to get close to Renard's nuclear operation. Not even Dr. Jones is fooled by the ruse. Not by his accent or anything though; after conversing in English she adresses him in Russian to test him, but Bond aces it. The scientist in question is simply too old for Bond to convincingly pass himself off as.

* ''Film/{{Help}}'': All the cultists from 'the East' are played by English actors. This is {{Lampshaded}} when the Beatles visit the Indian Restaurant "seeking enlightenment as to rings" from someone from "the mystic East" but quickly learn that everyone working there is English.
-->'''Ringo:''' He's from the ''West''!\\
'''Restaurant Host:''' No, the East... [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepney Stepney.]]
* In ''Film/TheAdventuresOfPlutoNash'', Pluto's friend Anthony Frankowski pretends to be Scottish, trying to invent a new song genre called "Scottish crooning". It fails miserably. Pluto suggests he reinvent himself as an Italian named Tony Francis. It works, and Tony is a big hit singing Sinatra's songs on stage.

* As a parody of the PoirotSpeak used by similar characters in adventure movies, Creator/GeorgeMacDonaldFraser's novel ''Literature/ThePyrates'' has one pirate with an atrocious French accent who is revealed to have been a working class Englishman who was one day [[IdentityAmnesia knocked on the head]] in the middle of a beginning of a French language course, and ended up with a dashing, "Pepe le Pew" persona. Oddly enough, this is a case of TruthInTelevision, as some fifty cases of victims of head injuries [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_accent_syndrome acquiring foreign-sounding accents]] have been documented since 1941.
* The villain of Creator/AnthonyTrollope's novel ''The Way We Live Now'', Melmotte, sort of ended up as this because the author ultimately avoided making him an evil foreigner from a specific country. While he is most likely Jewish and/or French, there is also the possibility that he is Irish-American and arguably the fact he claims to be an English citizen leaves open a further possibility.
* "Madame Lulu" and "Gunther" in ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'', whose "foreignness" derives mostly from their [[JustAStupidAccent strange accents,]] mangled syntax, and [[VerbalTic overuse of the word "Please"]].
* Inverted with Zampanò from ''Literature/HouseOfLeaves''. He claimed to be American, yet seemed foreign. [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]]'s discussion page seems to think Zampanò was [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:House_of_Leaves#Zampano_wasn.27t_Hispanic French.]]
* Religious example: In Creator/JohnRingo and Creator/TravisSTaylor's ''Literature/IntoTheLookingGlass'' novel ''Vorpal Blade'', one of the Marines (nicknamed "Gunga Din") claimed, when recruited, to be Hindu, simply because he didn't want to be an atheist like the parents he hated. Doubly subverted in that a) he's actually of Indian descent, and b) once he'd made the decision, he decided to be serious about it, and has been slowly learning about the religion ever since.

* The end of ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' book ''White Night'' shows Thomas pretending to be a gay Frenchman ("Toe-moss") to play up to the expectations of his beauty salon's customers.

* Literature/HerculePoirot in general is something of a fauxreigner as part of ObfuscatingStupidity. A particularly notable example comes when he visits the Abernathie house in ''After the Funeral''. Although Poirot is playing his actual nationality there, he is pretending to be an elderly refugee from UsefulNotes/WorldWarII who can barely speak or understand English as opposed to the savvy detective who has lived in England for more than 30 years.
* ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'', who variously presents himself as English and Italian and hints at even more exotic origins.
* In ''Past Mortem'' by Creator/BenElton, British-born Roger Jameson has been passing himself off as American for many years after joining the NYPD (although it appears he eventually took US citizenship.)
* ''Dare to Love'' by Jennifer Wilde features "Elena Lopez", a British dancer/courtesan pretending to be Spanish. She is based on the real-life Lola Montez: see Truth in Television below.
* One of the ''Trebizon'' books included a girl finding out that a famous "Russian" ballerina she idolized was really an English woman pretending to be Russian to advance her career.

* When the ''ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}'' was rebooted in the 90s, Chameleon Boy was introduced as not speaking [[CommonTongue Interlac]]. Several story arcs went by with other characters attempting to teach him the language, only to get frustrated. Finally it was revealed that he had finally learned Interlac, but was continuing to pretend he didn't understand it in order to lure the villains of the moment into a false sense of security.

* ''Manga/ArmedGirlsMachiavellism'' has Choka U. Barazaki, supposedly a half-Italian with long blonde hair nicknamed "Buttefly Queen" or, as she puts it, "Regina della Farfalla"... But it's quickly revealed it's an act, and a bad one at that: her real name is Ubarazaki Choka (that she pronounces the Western way partly to go with the act and partly because the "U" kanji in her family name is the same as "cormorant"), the hair is a gigantic wig, and "Regina della Farfalla" is a literal translation that in Italian sounds ''utterly ridiculous'' (the literal translation is "Queen of the Butterfly". "Butterfly Queen" is actually "Regina delle Farfalle") and, in the anime, pronounced horribly.

* In ''Film/TradingPlaces'', the protagonists disguise themselves as exaggerated foreigners, with Creator/DanAykroyd pretending to be a [[BlackLikeMe Jamaican]], Creator/JamieLeeCurtis' HookerWithAHeartOfGold as a NorseByNorsewest Swede, and Creator/EddieMurphy as an African.

Sometimes, this trick is done with someone who is from another country, but is actually pretty sane; they simply play it up. At other times, this trope is used to justify an actor's [[OohMeAccentsSlipping appalling accent]]. Very often overlaps with ElectiveBrokenLanguage or OverlyStereotypicalDisguise.

The in-universe version of FakeNationality. In case you couldn't figure it out, the "faux" is pronounced "foe." So the trope is pronounced "foe-reigner."

[[folder:Anime unt Manga]]

[[folder:Les Comique-Livres]]
* In one issue of ''Comicbook/SheHulk'', the Great Gambonnos of the Circus of Crime, {{Funny Foreigner}}s of long standing in the Franchise/MarvelUniverse, drop their stereotypical Italian accents when they've been found out. "Drop the act, Ernie, she's onto us."
* An issue of ''Comicbook/{{Hawkeye}}'' once saw the Circus of Crime's Ringmaster and some students of Hawkeye's old mentor the Swordsman as fake Frenchmen in a Cirque du Soleil-style revue/criminal operation. Hawkeye knows that the Ringmaster is Austrian, and upon hearing the Swordsmen's accents immediately recognizes them as fakes.

[[folder:Fanfictionne]]

[[folder:El Filma]]

[[folder:Literaturio]]

[[folder:Televisio Aktionlife]]

[[folder:Musique]]

[[folder:Di Restling Proffessionario]]

[[folder:El Boxo di Soundo]]

[[folder:El Theatro]]

[[folder:Bideo Geimuzu]]
* Jean Armstrong in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyTrialsAndTribulations'' seems to be faking his whole "French chef" thing. The judge picks up on this when Armstrong mistakenly uses Spanish instead of French.
* In the first case of ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'', [[spoiler:the timid waitress with a thick Russian accent Olga Orly is actually a loud-mouthed con artist]]. The singer Lamiroir from Turnabout Serenade isn't actually Borginian by birth and can speak fluent English, but she is under contract to only speak Borginese in public since her manager believed it would add to her mystery. WordOfGod also confirms that Klavier Gavin [[https://www.capcom-unity.com/zeroobjections/blog/2014/10/31/ace-attorney-trilogy---surprising-tidbits-you-never-knew isn't actually German,]] though he did study in Germany for a while.
* Celestia Ludenberg in ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'' is an ElegantGothicLolita {{Chuunibyou}} who's adamant that her name is real despite being as Japanese as the rest of the cast, and in the English version of the game sports a fake French accent.

[[folder:Webskiy Orıjınalı]]

* While he is ''a'' foreigner, Bandit Keith in ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries'' isn't actually from America [[note]] That is to say he isn't from the United States of America[[/note]], despite his American jingoism. He's Canadian, in North America.

[[folder:Animaation Westelijk]]

[[folder:Veritas in Televisione]]

* A significant part of the Republic of Ireland's national football side in the Eighties and Nineties, due to the qualification rules allowing many English-born players of Irish parentage recruited by English manager Jack Charlton.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Psalmanazar "George Psalmanazar"]], who pretended to be a Formosan long before anyone in Europe knew where Formosa (aka Taiwan) actually was or who really lived there. He wrote an [[SoBadItsGood absolutely awesome]] book in English on Formosa that was translated into French and German and was even asked to lecture at Oxford University. He admitted his imposture some years later after numerous attacks by skeptics, but to this day his real name is unknown.

''Literature/CagingSkies'': Krzysztof Powszechny and Janusz Kwasniewski aren't Polish, they're Russian soldiers named Sergey Karganov and Fedor
Kalinin who are fleeing Stalin's Soviet Union.

* Adolfo Pirelli, the self-proclaimed 'King of the Barbers and the Barber of Kings' who claims to have shaved the King of Naples and the Pope and who is all the rage in London, in ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet''. It turns out Pirelli's real name is Daniel O'Higgins, an Irishman who was Todd's assistant as a boy, back when Todd went by the name of Benjamin Barker. His intent to use this information to {{blackmail}} Sweeney ends up getting him killed.

* Adolfo Pirelli, the self-proclaimed 'King of the Barbers and the Barber of Kings' who claims to have shaved the King of Naples and the Pope and who is all the rage in London, in ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet''. It turns out Pirelli's real name is Daniel O'Higgins, an Irishman who was Todd's assistant as a boy, back when Todd went by the name of Benjamin Barker. His intent to {{blackmail}} Sweeney with this information ends up getting him killed.

* Adolfo Pirelli, the self-proclaimed 'King of the Barbers and the Barber of Kings' who claims to have shaved the King of Naples and the Pope and who is all the rage in London, in ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet''. It turns out he is really Daniel O'Higgens, an Irishman who was Todd's assistant as a boy.

* In ''Murder Most Unladylike'' (''Murder Is Bad Manners'' in [[MarketBasedTitle the US edition]]), two girls at a 1930s boarding school investigate the murder of one of their teachers. It emerges at one point during the story that "Mam'zelle", the French mistress, is not really French at all but has been posing as a French woman with an exaggerated accent in order to get teaching work.

* In the first case of ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'', [[spoiler:the timid waitress with a thick Russian accent Olga Orly is actually a loud-mouthed con artist]]. The singer Lamiroir from Turnabout Serenade isn't actually Borginian by birth and can speak fluent English, but she is under contract to only speak Borginese in public since her manager believed it would add to her mystery. WordOfGod also confirms that Klavier Gavin [[http://www.capcom-unity.com/zeroobjections/blog/2014/10/31/ace-attorney-trilogy---surprising-tidbits-you-never-knew isn't actually German.]]

* Clay from ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' is a Japanese man who got rich in America by finding oil, and apparently moved to Unova. Due to the art style and his persona, he comes off as an American born Southerner. He may be playing up the part of a Southerner, or just [[ImmigrantPatriotism naturally adapted to the style]].