Line #53 Main/LimeyGoesToHollywood


1	->''"Americans don't notice if I'm actually acting or not, as long as I do it with an English accent!"''
2	-->-- ''Theatre/ForbiddenBroadway'', "Creator/JudiDench"
3
4	A rather common thing for British actors and those of other nationalities to do: decide that they could be better served in their career by going to UsefulNotes/LosAngeles.
5
6	It's the most influential and pervasive film industry in the world. If you want to be not just a national but an international star you pretty much have to spend at least some time there. In addition, you can always come back to the U.K. and [[OneForTheMoneyOneForTheArt use the money]] from the States for British TV, indies, and theater.
7
8	The popularity of British actors is also due to the fact that they are a) cheaper, b) less likely to be doing films (though that's less and less the case) and c) less likely to be barred from gay roles by their agents. And then there's this final selling point for the Hollywood studios, probably the most important: They speak English!
9
10	Oddly, Brits and Europeans seem to have an above average chance of [[EvilBrit playing villains]] or [[BritishStuffiness jerks]]... See FakeAmerican for when they put on the accent as well.
11
12	----
13	!!Examples
14
15	[[AC:Fictional]]
16	* On ''{{Series/Extras}}'', Andy tells his agent he want to get on "cool shows- American shows". In the Christmas special, Andy's agent tells him he's had an offer for a movie (Andy perks up)... a British movie (Andy wilts).
17	* In ''Film/TheTVSet'' Ioan Gruffudd plays Richard [=McCallister=], a TV executive who moves from England to UsefulNotes/LosAngeles to take a job as second-in-command at a fictional TV network, which is headed by Lenny (Creator/SigourneyWeaver). Richard tries to counter-balance Lenny's fervent desire for high ratings by emphasizing the need for quality programming and preserving the writer's wishes. Richard's wife Chloe, played by Creator/LucyDavis, hates UsefulNotes/LosAngeles and eventually leaves Richard to return to England.
18	* The dream of the titular (Irish) character from ''Film/BadlyDrawnRoy'' is to go to Hollywood and try to make it big. [[spoiler: He's eventually able to go because of donations from the community and he's shown doing odd jobs at the Walk of Fame. Whether or not he actually becomes famous is left up in the air]].
19	* The premise of ''Series/{{Episodes}}'' is that of a husband-and-wife team of British television writers finding themselves living this trope, with all its attendant pitfalls.
20	* In ''Literature/MostlyHarmless'', Tricia [=McMillan=] moves to New York since British accents are in demand on American television. (Ironically, in both the TV and movie adaptations [but not the original radio show] Tricia's played by an American actress ''as'' American.)
21	* Music/SClub7 managed to do this in fiction as well as Real Life (see below). Their first set of TV shows and specials were about a struggling band trying to make it in America. The first season ''Miami 7'' was merely a WorkCom involving them working at a hotel where they also got to perform, but the second and third seasons show them going to Los Angeles to try and make it.
22	* The Music/{{Supertramp}} song “Breakfast in America” is about an ordinary British guy who dreams of becoming famous in America and escaping his boring life.
23
24	[[AC:RealLife]]
25
26	Successful ones are listed below; in fact, thousands of non-American actors go over each pilot season hoping to make it big, to the point documentaries get made about it.
27
28	* Three OlderThanTelevision examples: Creator/CharlieChaplin in the silent era, and Creator/BorisKarloff and Creator/CAubreySmith in the early talkies.
29	* [[Creator/LaurelAndHardy Stan Laurel]]
30	* Michelle Ryan (''Series/BionicWoman'')
31	* Creator/JaimeMurray (formerly of ''Series/{{Hustle}}'', she played Lila in ''Series/{{Dexter}}'')
32	* Creator/HughLaurie
33	* Writer Creator/TerryNation, though he was more successful in England--he worked on shows in the US, but in the UK he created ''Series/BlakesSeven'' and ''Series/{{Survivors}}'', and he put ''Series/DoctorWho'' on the map.
34	** A number of British writers have also done this, some (like Brian Clemens and Leigh Vance) more successfully than others (like Creator/DennisSpooner).
35	* Creator/TimRoth did it so well there's people who forget he's English. Not in ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk2008'', though!
36	--> "He trained with the ''ROYAL MARINES''!"
37	* Creator/ChristopherEccleston did it after leaving Series/DoctorWho,
38	** Creator/DavidTennant tried with ''Rex Is Not Your Lawyer'', an NBC pilot not ordered to series and succeeded with ''Series/{{Gracepoint}}'' and Kilgrave in ''Series/JessicaJones2015''.
39	* Creator/MatthewMacFadyen did it after he left ''Series/{{Spooks}}'' before giving up and came back to the UK.
40	** Creator/DavidOyelowo, also of ''Spooks'', did it and actually succeeded, starring as UsefulNotes/MartinLutherKingJr in the critical darling ''Film/{{Selma}}''.
41	* Many Black Britons like Creator/ThandieNewton find themselves working in America given the lack of roles for non-white actors, especially on television where the majority of shows are period pieces or about the Royal Family - meaning [[MonochromeCasting they feature majority white casts]], though Creator/TheBBC has tried to change things in that department.
42	* Creator/PatrickStewart
43	* More or less mandatory in ProfessionalWrestling, although [[{{Japandering}} going to Japan]] is a common variant.
44	* Creator/GordonRamsay
45	* Creator/ElizabethTaylor, Creator/RoddyMcDowall and other British child actors of the UsefulNotes/WorldWarII era did this, overlapping with BlitzEvacuees. Taylor was born in the U.K. of U.S. parents.
46	* Creator/PeterSellers divided his time between American and English productions from the 1960s onwards; the English films were generally "smaller" than the American ones.
47	* Creator/CliveOwen
48	* Creator/CaryGrant
49	* Creator/DavidNiven
50	* Creator/ClaudeRains
51	* Creator/GaryOldman
52	* Creator/HenryCavill
53	* Creator/JamesCorden. After a sucessful career in British TV drama, most notably ''Series/GavinAndStacey'', he moved to try his luck in the USA.
54	* Creator/JamieBell
55	* Creator/TomHolland
56	* Creator/TomHollander
57	* Creator/DudleyMoore
58	* Creator/MalcolmMcDowell
59	* Creator/JohnCleese
60	* Creator/EricIdle
61	* Creator/GideonEmery, which he was teased for by the announcer at the MCM Expo in London during his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnjtx4obqDA Q&A panel]].
62	* Creator/StephenMoyer of ''Series/TrueBlood'', although his accent is VERY convincing.
63	* Creator/AnthonyHopkins, said he didn't fit in well in the theater world in England and lived in the States for a time in TheSeventies, then moved back after his success after ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'' in 1990.
64	** He has since moved back to the U.S. and become an American citizen.
65	* Creator/MichaelCaine asserted that he was forced to leave Britain because of high income tax rates and a left-leaning government. He moved to Hollywood in TheSeventies, and pursued a career there. He moved back to the UK a decade later when [[UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher presumably]] the change of government and its attitude to taxation was more to his liking. Or else the work in the USA dried up.
66	* Appropriately enough considering the aforementioned ''Extras'' example, Creator/RickyGervais himself has been getting in some American movies, like ''Film/NightAtTheMuseum'' and a starring role in ''Film/{{Ghost Town\|2008}}''. He has made repeated references to this trope in real life, like appearing by satellite when Creator/StephenMerchant won a Bafta to congratulate him -- and to casually point out that he himself has won bigger awards, "...American ones."
67	* A directing example is Creator/ChristopherNolan. He was born in London but spends a lot of his time in Chicago.
68	* Creator/AlfredHitchcock
69	* Creator/AnthonyStewartHead
70	* Creator/DeborahKerr made five films in her native UK before jumping ship to Hollywood in 1944. She stayed there for twenty years and didn't move back to the UK until she retired from movies.
71	* Creator/JohnOliver. As he has said himself, he is a British person working in the USA and whenever he goes home, he is greeted with bewildered expressions of "Who the hell are you?". Prior to moving to the USA, John had a career mainly in radio comedy and very ocassional TV appearances as a comedian.
72	* Creator/JaneSeymourActress has taken to it so well that she's now an American citizen.
73	* Creator/TraceyUllman. She also became an American citizen.
74	* Creator/EmilyBlunt. [[RuleOfThree She]] ''[[RuleOfThree also]]'' [[RuleOfThree became an American citizen.]]
75	* It hasn't been lost on people that the three biggest American superheroes, for a while, were all played by Brits. The American-British Creator/AndrewGarfield is Spiderman, Creator/HenryCavill is Superman, and Creator/ChristianBale used to be Batman. Sadly for ''[[UsefulNotes/BritishNewspapers Daily Mail]]'' readers, Israeli actress Creator/GalGadot thwarted hopes for a full house by being cast as Wonder Woman.
76	* Musical examples:
77	** Music/DavidBowie, despite being hugely successful in his native UK, couldn't crack the American market in the early '70s beyond cult status (reflective of America's greater disinterest in GlamRock). Following failed attempts at more American-oriented material on ''Music/AladdinSane'', ''Music/PinUps'', and ''Music/DiamondDogs'', he bounced between Philadelphia and New York for ''Music/YoungAmericans'', which finally brought him his American BreakthroughHit with "Fame". Concurrently, he moved to Los Angeles and achieved further success with ''Music/StationToStation''. However, after his cocaine addiction grew exponentially worse and resulted in him briefly becoming LostInCharacter as the fascist Thin White Duke, he moved to Switzerland, then France, then West Berlin to clean up, later stating in 1980 that LA "should be wiped off the face of the earth." He would eventually settle in New York.
78	** Albert Hammond, who sung of a [[HorribleHollywood less-than idealised experience]] in "It Never Rains in Southern California".
79	** Music/TomJones
80	** Music/RodStewart
81	** [[Music/TheWho Keith Moon]]
82	** [[Music/ElectricLightOrchestra Jeff Lynne]]
83	** Music/SexPistols members Music/JohnLydon and Steve Jones.
84	** Music/SClub7 with the result that they were pushed more as ballad singers than they had been in their native UK. In America their signature songs were the likes of "Two In A Million" and "Never Had A Dream Come True". In the UK it was the more up-tempo "S Club Party", "Bring It All Back" and "Reach".
85	** Music/AtomicKitten tried, their covers of "The Tide Is High," "Eternal Flame" and "Locomotion" getting attached to a few movie soundtracks. It didn't take and they remained in the UK for the rest of their time.
86	** Music/FleetwoodMac
87	* Video gaming example: JeffMinter lived in Los Angeles for some years.
88	* Creator/AlexKingston, who played a starring role on ''Series/{{ER}}'' and guest starred on ''Series/PrivatePractice''. Confirmed to appear in ''Series/{{Arrow}}'' with fellow former ''Series/DoctorWho'' star Creator/JohnBarrowman (who is a dual national). She now divides her time between the UK and US.
89	* Inverted by Creator/TerryGilliam. Gilliam is an American who moved to England and became a British citizen.
90	* ''Series/TheDefenders2017'': The two Brits amongst the four leads (Creator/CharlieCox as [[Series/Daredevil2015 Matt Murdock]], and Creator/FinnJones as [[Series/IronFist2017 Danny Rand]]) have now made New York City their home.
91	* Some major movie franchises like ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'', ''Film/JamesBond'' and ''Film/HarryPotter'', originate in British literature and have some of the finest British actors around in lead roles. The majority of their funding is American.
92	* Creator/MichaelERodgers, who is known for playing Mr. Conductor Jr in ''WesternAnimation/ThomasAndTheMagicRailroad'', moved to Los Angeles in 1991 to start his acting career.

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