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The cousin to FakeBrit and FakeAmerican (and [[ScotIreland adequately]], FakeScot) and a subtrope of FakeNationality.

Irish characters are some of the most frequently depicted foreigners in [[{{Oireland}} British and American]] media but they often tend to be played by non-Irish actors with, ahem, [[OohMeAccentsSlipping "variable" success]] when it comes to accents, or use the "wrong" Irish accent. For instance Northern Irish accents are quite distinct from southern Irish accents. Ireland is quite unique as a country in that there can be startling differences in accents within counties; a north UsefulNotes/{{Dublin}} accent for instance is like night and day to a southern one from only an hour's drive away.

Another reason why non-Irish actors are used is the desire for name recognition. Even if an appropriate-age largely unknown Irish actor is available the film makers will often be tempted to go for someone with more international appeal. For some reason this seems to be particularly the case with female actors; even a film with mostly Irish actors, like ''Intermission'' or ''About Adam'' or the recent ''Film/PerriersBounty'' will still fill its female roles with British or American actors. This may be why there are quite a few famous Irish male actors in Hollywood but vanishingly few famous Irish female actors: their chances of a breakthrough role are that much smaller (with the notable exception of Creator/SaoirseRonan). See also [[http://www.showbizireland.com/news/november01/07-smurfit04.shtml this article]] for theories on why there are so few name female Irish actors. This can also overlap with BritainIsOnlyLondon - as a lot of casting tends to be based there, especially if it's a UK-backed production - and there's an inherent bias to favoring London actors, while almost shutting out Irish actors completely (as noted on the FakeBrit page, most Irish actors who get fame will likely play more Brits or [[FakeAmerican Americans]] in the long run). In recent years, this has started drawing comparisons to whitewashing.

For some reason ''Scottish'' actors seem to be disproportionately likely to play Irish characters, which is unlikely to help those who [[{{Scotireland}} already can't tell the two countries apart.]] Also, a strong Ulster or Southern Irish accent done by a Scottish person would confuse things even further (such as the Glaswegian actor of Irish descent, David O'Hara in ''The Departed'' or Dundonian Brian Cox in ''Film/TwentyFifthHour'').

As you might expect, Fake Irish characters often slip into {{Oireland}} territory. American, British, Canadian, or Australian actors of Irish descent may be able to avoid the label if they properly learn the accent from any Irish relatives they may have. But if they screw up the accent, expect to hear about it.

----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Advertising]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH29ToiUuuY This]] Irish Spring commercial has a girl that in spite of being very redheaded and with the Irish name [[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0703820/ Deirdre]], is very American.
* Canadian actor Christopher Plummer dons a very stereotypical Irish accent for Killian's Irish Red, a fake Irish beer from Coors. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nnSr5Vvdq4]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* Creator/DanielDayLewis is English born, but his father was Irish and he himself now has Irish citizenship. But he still fakes the accent in several films - very convincingly too. Ironically in ''Film/GangsOfNewYork'', he plays a xenophobe who hates the Irish.
* In ''Film/TheFightingPrinceOfDonegal'', none of the main leads in Irish roles originated from Ireland, including its English leading man Creator/PeterMcEnery.
* ''Film/GoneWithTheWind'' has New Jersey native Creator/ThomasMitchell as Irish immigrant Gerard O'Hara. He himself was the son of Irish immigrants.
* Creator/JuliaRoberts played real-life Irishwoman Kitty Kiernan in ''Film/MichaelCollins'' and fictional Irishwoman ''Film/MaryReilly'' (in the film of that name) in the same year.
* ''Film/TheQuietMan'' mostly averts this, as it was filmed in Ireland and featured a majority of Irish actors (including Creator/MaureenOHara). But Ward Bond (American) and Victor [=McLalgen=] (English) as Father Peter and Red Will respectively. Mildred Natwick (American) was also quite convincing as the Widow Tillane. Creator/JohnWayne also plays an Irish-born American - though of course his character's accent has faded from years in America.
** [=McLaglen=] played quite a few of these, and being a close friend of famously Irish-American director Creator/JohnFord, was often mistakenly thought to be actually Irish in RealLife.
* Scottish actors Creator/KellyMacdonald and Creator/ShirleyHenderson played Irish sisters in ''Film/{{Intermission}}''.
* The 1995 film ''Film/CircleOfFriends'' was particularly full of fake Irish: Creator/MinnieDriver, Saffron Burrows, Creator/ColinFirth (English), and Creator/AlanCumming (Scottish). Creator/ChrisODonnell is of Irish descent but has a pretty bad attempt at an accent.
* ''Film/RyansDaughter'' had English, Australian and American leads surrounded by Irish extras. In fact this particular film might push the trope into UnfortunateImplications territory: the sympathetic 'Irish' characters are all played by foreign actors while the less sympathetic/outright villainous villagers are portrayed by natives.
* Yorkshireman Creator/SeanBean played an [[UsefulNotes/TheTroubles IRA]] man in ''Film/PatriotGames''. In fact only three actors in this film were actually Irish: Creator/RichardHarris, Patrick Bergin and Jonathan Ryan (Who was NOT playing [[TheDanza John 'Jack' Patrick Ryan]]). This means all of the other Irish characters were this trope. Englishwoman Polly Walker plays the IRA terrorist Annette, though it is revealed in film that Annette is British-born (presumably of Irish ancestry). There have been substantial ethnic Irish communities in England and Scotland for centuries, with many, of course, being involved with Irish nationalist activities in one way or another.
* Creator/SeanBean played another Fake Irish in the adaptation of Irish playwright John B. Keane's drama ''Film/TheField'', again alongside Richard Harris, as did Creator/JohnHurt.
* Creator/RichardGere played a (former) IRA man in the ''Film/TheJackal'' with a notably [[WhatTheHellIsThatAccent horrible accent]].
* Creator/TommyLeeJones played a (former) IRA bomber in ''Film/BlownAway'' (notice a pattern here?), also with a bad accent (though the film is notable for having some characters speak in Irish, unusual for American cinema). In the same film Creator/JeffBridges played a Boston cop who was -- you guessed -- formerly in the IRA (and had no trace of Irish accent, but [[JustifiedTrope he]] ''[[JustifiedTrope was]]'' [[JustifiedTrope pretending to be an American-born Boston native]], which is famous for having many people with Irish background).
* The Scottish Creator/IanBannen played Jackie O'Shea in ''Film/WakingNedDevine''.
* Creator/EmilyWatson (English) and Creator/RobertCarlyle (Scottish) play Frank [=McCourt's=] parents in ''Literature/AngelasAshes''.
* British-born and Canadian-raised Creator/KimCattrall played Creator/BrendanGleeson's Irish wife in ''The Tiger's Tail''.
* Debatable examples: Creator/LeonardoDiCaprio and Creator/CameronDiaz played Irish/first generation Irish-American characters in ''Film/GangsOfNewYork''. You could make a case for it being this trope in that whilst both their characters are American born like themselves, neither actor is of Irish descent. As for their accents, Leo's isn't all that imposing but you can let it slide as he's been in America most his life. Diaz's is unfortunately noticeable for all the wrong reasons.
* Creator/MichaelJFox and Creator/LeaThompson in ''Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII'' play Seamus and Mary [=McFly=], part of the IdenticalGrandson / AndYouWereThere of the series.
* In a mix between Fake Irish, FakeNationality and FakeAmerican, British actor Alan Rickman played real life half-Cuban, New York-born, Irish revolutionary Eamon de Valera in ''Film/MichaelCollins''.
* Scot Creator/EwanMcGregor portrayed Creator/JamesJoyce in ''Nora''.
* Scot Creator/GerardButler portrayed Creator/HilarySwank's late Irish husband in ''Film/PSILoveYou''. His Fake Irish accent was generally savaged by Irish newspaper reviews. She then goes on a holiday to Ireland and meets Creator/JeffreyDeanMorgan. Amusingly Butler was quite open about his failure to "channel" his Irish ancestry and during an interview actually issued a lighthearted (but no less honest) apology to the people of Ireland.
* ''Film/Ronin1998'': Creator/NataschaMcElhone is English in real life. However, her mother is Irish, and Natasha regularly visited Donegal as a child. Her accent leaves something to be desired, though.
* In ''Film/{{Jackie}}'', the Israeli-American Creator/NataliePortman plays First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy, who was historically half-Irish and a practicing Catholic like her husband.
* Both parents in ''Film/InAmerica'' are played by English actors (Paddy Considine and Samantha Morton), though the daughters are played by real-life Irish sisters (Emma and Creator/SarahBolger).
* ''Film/FarAndAway'' gave us an 'Irish' accented Creator/TomCruise and Creator/NicoleKidman. This film in particular is a sore spot for many Irish people, given how legendarily bad the former's accent is. Some of it was actually filmed there, ironically enough.
* Alan Hale, Sr., father of "[[Series/GilligansIsland The Skipper]]" and friend of Creator/ErrolFlynn (see under RealLife below) played a ton of Irish characters in the '30s and '40s such as the Earl of Tyrone (''The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex''), Gallagher (''Three Cheers for the Irish''), Francis Patrick Murphy (''Captains of the Clouds''), Pat Corbett (''Gentleman Jim''), "Boats" O'Hara (''Action in the North Atlantic''), "Big Mike" Harrigan (''God is My Co-Pilot''), etc.
* Canadian Creator/VictorGarber played real life Belfastman Thomas Andrews in ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'', but was criticised in Northern Ireland for apparently using a soft southern lilt, rather than the much harsher Ulster accent.
* ''Ordinary Decent Criminal'', a movie [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory very loosely based]] on real-life Dublin gangster Martin Cahill, starred Creator/KevinSpacey as the Cahill-type character, fellow American Creator/LindaFiorentino as his wife and Brit actor Helen Baxendale as Fiorentino's sister.
* Irish princess Isolde was played by English actor Creator/SophiaMyles in the 2006 version of ''Film/TristanAndIsolde''.
* Disney's ''Film/DarbyOGillAndTheLittlePeople'' had Creator/SeanConnery (Scottish), Janet Munro (English) and Creator/EstelleWinwood (English) playing Irish characters.
* Creator/SeanConnery in ''Film/TarzansGreatestAdventure'', ''Film/DarbyOGillAndTheLittlePeople'', ''Film/TheMollyMaguires'' and ''Film/TheUntouchables1987''. For the last one, he was once elected "worst accent ever" given [[NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent Sean never attempts anything but Scottish.]]
* The Creator/AmyAdams film ''Film/{{Leap Year|2010}}'' has her Irish love interest played by Devon-born Matthew Goode.
* Creator/MichaelCaine played a Dublin actor in the 2003 film ''The Actors''. He didn't even ''try'' to do an Irish accent.
* 2010 gangster flick ''Film/PerriersBounty'' has Creator/JimBroadbent as Creator/CillianMurphy's father. In the same film Creator/JodieWhittaker is an odd semi-example: she keeps her native accent so (presumably) her character is English, but since her nationality is never addressed and since nothing about the character is specifically English it seems likely the role was originally written as Irish but Whittaker [[NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent couldn't manage an Irish accent.]]
* Creator/BradPitt has played Irish characters in two films, as well as some Irish-American characters. He is a Northern Irish terrorist in ''Film/TheDevilsOwn'', and an [[UsefulNotes/IrishTravellers Irish Traveller]] in ''Film/{{Snatch}}''. He does quite well on the accent test: most people think his accent in ''Snatch'' is pretty good, and while opinion is more divided about his Belfast accent in ''The Devil's Own'', a lot of people think he definitely avoids {{Oireland}} level even if he fell short.
* The Belfast-based movie ''Film/Cherrybomb2009'' falls prey to this. Although pretty much all the supporting cast members were genuinely Irish, the male lead (Creator/RupertGrint) was English and his love interest (Creator/KimberlyNixon) was Welsh, and yet they were required to put on strong Irish accents for their roles.
* In a bizarre bit of casting Creator/AliceEve, perhaps the most thoroughly English young actor working today played an Irish nanny (named 'Erin', which is a little like having a British nanny named 'Albion') in the second ''Film/{{Sex and the City|2}}'' movie. [[http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/theticket/2010/0528/1224271261315.html At least one critic]] thought her character verged into [[ModernMinstrelsy outright racism.]]
* Australian actress Creator/CateBlanchett played the eponymous lead in ''Film/VeronicaGuerin'', a biopic about an investigative journalist who was assassinated for investigating TheIrishMob and its involvement in the drug trade in Ireland.
* Another Veronica Guerin biopic, ''Film/WhenTheSkyFalls'' had American actor Joan Allen play the same role.
* The B movie ''Film/MegaSharkVsGiantOctopus'' has one character whose accent is supposed to be either Scottish or Irish, and is positively painful to listen to, it fails so badly.
* In a weird semi-example ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'' saw Creator/RhysIfans (who is proudly Welsh) play Xenophilius Lovegood with a noticeable Irish accent to fit in better with his on-screen daughter Luna Lovegood (who is played by Irish actress Creator/EvannaLynch).
* Disney's ''Film/TheLuckOfTheIrish'' is full of these. Henry Gibson, Marita Geraghty, and Timothy Omundson, just to name three. All Americans (although Omundson is part-Irish).
* In ''Film/TheBoondockSaints'', American Creator/NormanReedus plays one of two Irish twin brothers. Irish-American Sean Patrick Flanery plays the other. In the second movie they seem to be doing the accent intentionally badly.
* American Aidan Quinn and Danish Creator/ConnieNielsen in ''A Shine of Rainbows''. Although as the name might hint, Quinn is of Irish descent.
* ''Film/InTheNameOfTheFather'' had English actors Daniel Day-Lewis, Creator/MarkSheppard and Creator/PetePostlethwaite play Irish characters. However Day-Lewis has some Irish ancestry, possesses Irish citizenship and lives there, while Sheppard also has some Irish heritage - though it should be noted they play ''Northern'' Irish characters. All of them put on good accents too. It's averted with most Irish characters played by wholly Irish actors anyway.
* Creator/JohnFord's ''Film/TheInformer'' has an Englishman -- Victor [=McLaglen=] -- in the lead. The IRA leader is played by Preston Foster, from New Jersey. To his credit, Ford doesn't even have him try to fake an Irish accent...which makes it easier for the audience to suspend disbelief and just enjoy some great performances.
* Music/MickJagger's laughable attempt to imitate an Irish accent in ''[[Film/NedKelly1970 Ned Kelly]]''.
* ''Film/StonehearstAsylum'': The English actor Creator/DavidThewlis plays an Irishman, Mickey Finn.
* British actor Heather Sears pulled out a very creditable Irish accent for her few lines in ''The Story of Esther Costello''.
* The film ''Film/RoryOSheaWasHere'' (European title ''Inside I'm Dancing'') features Creator/JamesMcAvoy, Romola Garai and Stephen Robertson all playing Irish characters, though Robertson is a marginal case as his character has cerebral palsy. Garai in particular nails the upper class Dublin (or 'D4' as it's nicknamed) dialect.
* ''{{Film/Brooklyn}}'' has Creator/JulieWalters playing the Irish landlady Mrs Keogh. Walters has Irish ancestry but speaks in a Liverpool accent naturally. Creator/JimBroadbent also plays an Irish priest, though his accent seems to be a bit all over the place to imply it has simply faded from his many years in New York. Elsewhere averted with the majority of Irish characters played by Irish actors. It also marks the first major role where Saoirse Ronan and Domhnall Gleeson play Irish characters. Although Saoirse speaks with a Dublin accent naturally and adopts a more rural accent as her character Eilish is an Enniscorthy native.
* The film adaptation of ''Theatre/DancingAtLughnasa'' features a family of five Irish sisters, and only one of them played by an Irish actor. Creator/MerylStreep does quite a good job of adopting the Donegal accent, as do the rest of the female English actors. Only Kathy Burke's accent slips from scene to scene.
* Kathy Burke again plays an Irish character in ''{{Film/Pan}}'' - this one with a more stereotypical {{Oireland}} accent.
* ''Film/MyNameIsEmily'' has a quasi-example. Arden, played by English actor George Webster, has an Irish and English parent but keeps his own accent. The character was written to be Irish and just changed to accommodate Webster.
* ''Film/TheTown'' features British actor Creator/PetePostlethwaite as a Boston Irish gangster Ferdie.
* ''Film/SingStreet'' features a mostly Irish cast; the exception is American-born British actor Lucy Boynton as Raphina.
* Nominally Irish assassin Nina Williams from the ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' game series is played by South African actor Candice Hillebrand in the film adaptation. Her sister Anna is played by Spanish actor Marian Zapico. The characters are heard speaking with American accents (which admittedly they do in the games too), so presumably they lost their accents at some point.
* ''About Adam'' is a 2000 RomanticComedy about four Irish sisters. Two of them are played by Frances O'Connor (English) and Creator/KateHudson (American). The accents aren't half bad either.
* ''Agnes Browne'' is a 1999 film that features a majority Irish cast. The exceptions are Creator/AnjelicaHuston - who does a very impressive job - and Creator/RayWinstone - who [[OohMeAccentsSlipping does not]].
* Creator/AnjelicaHuston previously played an Irish woman in ''Film/TheDead1987'' - very impressively again alongside an all-Irish cast and sounding appropriately like an early 20th century Galway woman. Both examples were undoubtedly helped by the fact that she spent a good portion of her childhood in Ireland.
* Creator/RobertShaw famously played Irish characters in the likes of ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'' and ''Film/TheSting''. It may come as a surprise to learn that he was actually English (he was born in Cornwall but spent a lot of his life in Ireland).
* ''Film/TheLastLeprechaun'': Finn the leprechaun is played by English actor Mick Walter.
* In ''Leapin' Leprechauns'' and ''Spellbreaker: Secret of the Leprechauns'', Creator/JohnBluthal, a Polish-born actor raised in Australia and later a British citzen plays Michael Dennehy, an English actor plays the king of the leprechauns, and Tina Martin, an English actor plays the queen of the fairies.
* Most, if not all portrayals of Creator/JoseRizal's common-law wife Josephine Bracken were played by Filipinos, despite the real-life Bracken being of Irish descent.
* ''Fifty Dead Men Walking'' is set in 1980s Belfast and features a few:
** English actors Jim Sturgess and William Houston as IRA members, both very convincing. Englishwoman Creator/NataliePress is also decent enough as the love interest Lara.
** Kevin Zegers (Canadian) is extremely impressive as Sean.
** Creator/RoseMcGowan meanwhile speaks with an American accent naturally and does have Irish ancestry, but her accent comes and goes as Grace.
* The 2020 film ''Wild Mountain Thyme'' features Creator/EmilyBlunt and Creator/ChristopherWalken faking rural Irish accents. Creator/JamieDornan is himself Irish, but from Northern Ireland, and thus has to fake an accent too. Due to the film's criticism of {{Oireland}} stereotyping, all the accents (except perhaps Christopher Walken's) were slammed pretty badly when the trailer dropped. The director defended this, claiming an international audience wouldn't be able to understand the accents if they were authentic.
* The film ''Black 47'' is set during the UsefulNotes/IrishPotatoFamine - yet its three highest billed actors are Australians Hugo Weaving and James Aitken Frecheville, and British Jim Broadbent (although this character is at least an Anglo-Irish landlord). Irish actors Moe Dunford, Barry Keoghan and Sarah Greene do at least play prominent supporting roles.
* French-English actress Creator/EmmaMackey pulls off an Irish accent rather effectively in 2020's ''The Winter Lake''.
* ''Film/{{Leprechaun}}'': In the first six movies, Lubdan is played by English actor Creator/WarwickDavis. In ''Film/LeprechaunReturns'', he's played by Canadian actor Linden Porco.
* ''Film/TheGreatWhiteHype'' has an InUniverse case. Despite having an extremely Irish name, Terry Conklin is not Irish at all. The boxing promoter who lured Conklin back into the ring in hopes of generating a big payday from racist white audiences tuning in to see a white fighter take on the black undefeated heavyweight champion, however, claims that Conklin is Irish-American so he has an easy way to hype the fight. It also lets said promoter be practically open about the racial motivations for the fight even while denying that race is a factor.
* The 2020 film ''Here Are the Young Men'' is set in Dublin, and has the following Brits portraying Irish characters; Dean Charles Chapman, Finn Cole, Ralph Ineson and Anya Taylor-Joy. Of them all, Anya Taylor-Joy's is the most convincing.
* ''Film/TheMagdaleneSisters'':
** Geraldine [=McEwan=] did have Irish grandparents on both sides, but she was English born, and thus fakes a passable attempt at an Irish accent as Sister Bridget.
** Anne Marie Duff is in a similar boat to the above; Irish ancestry but English born, and thus putting on an accent.
** The Scottish director Peter Mullan has a small role as Una's father, putting on a decent Dublin accent.
* The same year as ''The Magdalene Sisters'', Anne-Marie Duff also starred in the very similar ''Sinners'', again playing an Irish-accented woman.
* ''Film/AllAboutE'': Australian Brett Rogers plays Irishman Matt O'Halloran.
* ''Film/DoctorAtLarge'': O'Malley was played by John Chandos, a Scottish actor.
* ''Film/NoKidding'': While Tandy is played by an Irishman (Noel Purcell), his grandson Will isn't and is instead played by the British Brian Rawlinson.
* ''Film/BoyEatsGirl'': David Leon, who's English, plays the Irish lead character Nathan.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/{{American Gods|2017}}'': Canadian Creator/PabloSchreiber plays Irish leprechaun Mad Sweeney, and Australian Creator/EmilyBrowning plays Irishwoman Essie [=McGowan=].
* ''Series/BoardwalkEmpire'':
** Scottish actor Creator/KellyMacdonald plays Irish immigrant Margaret Schroder with quite a convincing accent for a character from early 20th century Kerry.
** The IRA fighter Owen Sleater is played by the English Creator/CharlieCox.
** The Sinn Féin politician John [=McGarrigle=] is played by the American Ted Rooney.
** Margaret's brother, Eamonn is played by the Scottish Creator/TonyCurran.
** Irish-American Nucky Thompson is played by Italian-American Creator/SteveBuscemi, who is of half Irish descent.
** InUniverse case with Mickey Doyle. He's a Pole, with the real name Mieczyslaw Kuzik, posing as an Irishman.
* ''Franchise/{{Buffyverse}}'':
** Galway-born Angel is portrayed by Buffalo-born, UsefulNotes/{{Philadelphia}}-raised American Creator/DavidBoreanaz.[[note]]Borenaz is of ''very'' partial Irish descent.[[/note]] This tends to come up only in flashback scenes. While Spike is still [[FakeBrit proudly English]], Angel has buried his brogue due to the bad memories.
** Most of the flashback scenes in ''Series/{{Angel}}'' contain some dreadful examples of {{Oireland}}, including a delightful buxom wench played by American Creator/ChristinaHendricks who sounds - well - not Irish. playing Samuel.
* ''Series/BurnNotice'' has both a regular and an in-universe example. Brit Creator/GabrielleAnwar plays former-IRA Fiona Glennane; however, you'd be forgiven for not noticing, as she adopts another, American-ish accent in the second episode (and her original Irish accent was bad enough that it comes as a relief). American Creator/JeffreyDonovan plays American Michael Westen, who uses a cover as Irish terrorist Michael [=McBride=]. Also, Michael's Irish accent is so good, Fiona's brother Sean tells him his ''American'' accent is [[YourCostumeNeedsWork "a bit dodgy"]]. Made even funnier by the fact that Fiona's brother is played by Creator/GideonEmery, an Englishman and fellow Fake Irish.
* ''Series/ConversationsWithFriends'': Unlike the ''Literature/NormalPeople'' adaptation in which Daisy Edgar-Jones was the only non-Irish cast member (and even so, her mum is from the North), Alison Oliver is the only Irish actor out of the main four.
* ''Series/CoppersEnd'': Paddy from "The Drunken Irishman" was played by the British Mark Eden.
* ''Series/{{Daredevil|2015}}'' gives us Creator/CharlieCox as Irish-American Matt Murdock and Creator/EldenHenson as Irish-American Foggy Nelson. With Foggy, they make this more convincing in season 3 by the casting of native Irish actor Peter Halpin as Foggy's brother Theo.
* The Classic ''Series/DoctorWho'' serial "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E7TheWheelInSpace The Wheel in Space]]" took place on a space station featuring a multinational crew, nearly all of whom were played by British actors adopting fake accents. One such crew member was the Irish Sean Flannigan, played by English actor James Mellor.
* ''Series/FatherTed'' - of all shows - used this at least once with native Glaswegian Creator/ClareGrogan playing Niamh Connolly, an Irish radical feminist pop singer.
* British actor Paul Whitehouse played Irish estate worker Ted (of the Ted & Ralph sketches) in ''Series/TheFastShow''.
* In ''Series/GeneralHospital'', American actor Erin Chambers plays Galway native Siobhan [=McKenna=]...with an ''extremely'' thick accent that sounds as fake as it is.
* This trope was explicitly parodied and {{Lampshaded}} in the first episode of UsefulNotes/TheTroubles themed sitcom ''Give My Head Peace'' when the IRA characters (played by genuine Northern Irish actors) are given 'dodgy English' accents.
* In ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'', the Irish demi-goddess Morrigan is played by the Canadian Tamara Gorski (and no, she doesn't have an ounce of Irish blood in her, she's of Ukrainian descent). Then again, no character in that show is played by an actor of the same nationality (e.g. the lead is a Greek with a Roman name played by an American).
* None of the characters who appeared in the brief 'Peter in Ireland arc' in ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' were portrayed by Irish actors ([[{{Oireland}} and it shows]]), though one ''was'' an Irish-American, and another was Dominic Keating, who is half Irish, although he was raised in England. Two seasons later we had American Robert Knepper
* Subverted with British actor Creator/JamieBamber, who was born in London, but is of Irish ancestry and has Irish citizenship, thanks to his mother. However, his character from ''Series/LawAndOrderUK'', Matt Devlin, was given a slightly different background--born in Ireland, but emigrated to London at young age.
* ''Series/KnotsLanding'' has an in-universe example. Although it was hinted in several episodes soon after his introduction in Season Nine that Johnny Rourke wasn't really Irish, this was not confirmed until the Season Ten episode "Deserted". When Johnny, Michael, Paige and several Mexicans are trapped in a deserted truck in rapidly increasing temperatures, Michael notices that Johnny has dropped his (painfully fake) Irish accent. Johnny replies that he is too tired to make the effort. He explains that he was about to commit a robbery in Belfast when he happened across an IRA cell. He adopted an Irish accent, told them that he was a nationalist and immediately started working for them, an explanation which is almost as unconvincing as his accent. He met Paige in Dublin some time after that.
* ''Series/TheLastKingdom'': Scottish actor Mark Rowley puts on an Irish accent to play the Irish character Finan.
* ''Series/MurderSheWrote'': The Celtic Riddle. [[SoBadItsGood Good gravy]]. We even get a sub-plot where there's a secret message coded in Ogham. And the "Irish" characters ''can't even pronounce "Ogham" properly!'' (it's "oh-am" in case you're wondering)
* The 2020 adaptation of ''Literature/NormalPeople'' featured North London native Daisy Edgar Jones as the female lead. She does have a Northern Irish mother, but the dialect she goes for is that of Sligo, which is quite different. She was praised for her authenticity, many not even realising she was English in the first place.
* ''Series/PeakyBlinders'' takes place in Birmingham, but there are two Irish characters in the cast. New Zealander Sam Neill comes by his Ulster accent honestly - it's based upon his own father's County Tyrone accent - but Englishwoman Creator/AnnabelleWallis has to also affect a Northern Irish accent. It's pretty good; her costar Creator/CillianMurphy praised the work she did.
* ''Series/PennyDreadful'': English actress Creator/BilliePiper portrays Irish immigrant Brona Croft/Lily Frankenstein.
* ''{{Series/Raw}}'' was made and set in Ireland, and featured other nationalities but still...
** Joe Doyle (English) fakes an Irish accent as Richard.
** Amy Manson (Scottish) as Zoe, though where she's from is never actually stated.
* ''Series/{{Roar}}'': a pre-fame Creator/HeathLedger played a young Irish warrior prince.
* Jimmy O'Phelan on ''Series/SonsOfAnarchy''; his accent's pretty painful as played by American Creator/TitusWelliver. In fact, the entire Belfast sequence was painful. Seems they couldn't combine filming on location with hiring actual Irish actors, with the exception of Paula Malcomson. Though maybe choosing not to surround terrible accents with genuine ones was a wise decision.
* ''Series/StElsewhere'':
** American Creator/EricStoltz as Eddie Carson in "Under Pressure", "Entrapment" and "All About Eve".
** American Edward Herrmann as Father Joseph [=McCabe=] in "Time Heals, Part 1", "Time Heals, Part 2" and "Where There's Hope, There's Crosby".
** American Fredd Wayne as Pat [=McGroyn=] in "Up and Down".
* The three Irish characters in ''Literature/TheThornBirds'' (Ralph, Paddy, Mary) are played by Americans and Brits. Adding insult to injury, as is par for the course with this trope, only one of them even bothers to try sounding like an Irishman, and he does it badly.
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'':
** The entire cast of "The Little People of Killany Woods".
** American Cork Hubbert as the {{Leprechaun}} Shawn [=McGool=] in "The Leprechaun-Artist".
** Canadian Bunty Webb as Maggie Dugan in "The Crossing".
* In ''Series/TheWildWildWest'' two episodes - "The Night of the Double-Edged Knife" and "The Night of the Ready-Made Corpse" - feature some actionably bad Irish accents, particularly Elisha Cook in the former and Karen Sharpe [[LargeHam hamming it up]] in the latter ("Terrible! TERRIBLE!" indeed). On the other hand, "The Night of the Firebrand" has Pernell Roberts not only playing a convincing Irishman but also playing a convincing [[FakeAmerican Irishman pretending to be American]]!
%% This list is arranged in alpahbetical order of TV series, please add new entries in the correct alphabetical position!
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[[folder:Music Videos]]
* In Stolen City's video for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksYre7Av4OE "Faces"]], two of the small town Irish thugs are played by French-born Thomas Sharkey and British-born Bobby Calloway.
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[[folder:Video Games]]
* Henry of ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'' fame is played by Creator/QuintonFlynn. Quite fitting, considering the [[Creator/RobinAtkinDownes voice actor]] of Henry's rival [[spoiler:and twin brother]] Travis Touchdown pulls a FakeAmerican accent.
* Sean Devlin, the Irish protagonist of ''VideoGame/TheSaboteur'' is played by the English voice actor Creator/RobinAtkinDownes, and he isn't all that convincing.
* Interestingly, ''Videogame/BioShock1'' accomplishes this in-story. The very Irish revolutionary "Atlas" is actually [[spoiler:a monstrously amoral New Jersey businessman putting on an accent]], but the character is voiced by Irishman Karl Hanover, and [[spoiler:his true identity is voiced by a different actor]].
* Cait of ''Videogame/{{Fallout 4}}'' is supposedly Irish, but is voiced by a Scottish VA.
* SpacePirate Kaptin Bluddflagg of ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar Retribution'' occasionally sounds Irish in addition to the standard ork and TalkLikeAPirate lingo, but is voiced by an American.
* Shay Cormac in ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedRogue'' is voiced by a Canadian and his accent is absolutely horrible to say the least.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* During one review in ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'', Yahtzee did half the review in a stereotypical Irish accent, including changing the cartoon version of himself to wearing a green hat and sporting a large, red beard.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Videos]]
* ''WebVideo/{{Aaron}}'' features Bobby Calloway playing the Irish Chris. He has Irish parents but was born in England and has an English accent. He uses his real voice, with the HandWave that Chris's accent faded from years of living in England.
* Another Charlie Cox example? [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb1Yr3CzNqY Watch him role-play as an Irish-accented pirate]] on his former ''Daredevil'' co-star Creator/DeborahAnnWoll's ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' game ''Relics and Rareties''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Of all the Irish characters in ''WesternAnimation/JakersTheAdventuresOfPiggleyWinks'' only the adult version of Piggley is voiced by an Irish actor (Peadar Lamb). The others are all voiced by Americans, except Molly and Dannan O'Mallard who are voiced by Canadian Creator/TaraStrong.
* The '''infamous''' ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanet'' episode set in Belfast. Setting aside its [[SoBadItsGood magnificently terrible]] stereotyping and complete lack of research, all the voice acting clearly wasn't performed by anyone raised remotely near Belfast.
* Creator/PhilipWilliams (Canadian) voices Sgt. Murphy in an Irish accent on ''[[Creator/RichardScarry The Busy World of Richard Scarry]]''.
* WesternAnimation/CareBears1980s: The first series, which was produced by Creator/DICEntertainment, attempted to give Good Luck Bear an Irish accent, courtesy of the Canadian Creator/DanHennessey. The accent ended up sounding more like a Sean Connery impression, and afer Creator/{{Nelvana}} took over for the show, Good Luck was recast (by the also-Canadian Marla Lukofsky) and the accent was dropped.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Patrick O'Brian (born Richard Patrick Russ), the Hibernophile English author of the ''Literature/AubreyMaturin'' series at the very least made no move to correct journalists who thought he was Irish though whether he actively ''pretended'' to be Irish is a bit murkier.
* Creator/ErrolFlynn, who was an Australian of partial-Irish descent, passed himself as Irish in his early Hollywood career in the belief that few people knew of Australia.
* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miche%C3%A1l_Mac_Liamm%C3%B3ir Micheál Mac Liammóir]], "the Father of Irish Theatre", claimed to have born in Cork and educated by Catholic monks. He was actually born "Alfred Wilmore" in London to English Protestant parents with no Irish ancestry, and only moved to Ireland in his early-twenties. He even acted under his real name as a child.
* People figured out at one point that if you want to be elected a judge in the UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} area, you need an Irish-sounding name--nobody's ever heard of any of the candidates, so the "vote for the person who sounds Irish" contingent swamps the people who are actually voting based on policy. So many lawyers who wanted to be judges changed their names that the county started requiring their old names to appear next to their new ones on the ballot.
* It was also a trend for boxers in the late 1800s and early 1900s to adopt Irish names, as it was believed that Irish boxers drew better crowds than the former. Examples include the Italian-born Johnny Dundee (born Guiseppe Curreri), Italian-American "Fireman" Jim Flynn (Andrew Chiariglione), Lithuanian-American former heavyweight champion Jack Sharkey (Joseph Zukauskas), and even Frank Sinatra's Sicilian father Anthony Martin Sinatra (as Marty O'Brien; he later opened a tavern called Marty O'Brien's). In a bit of an inversion, there's Michael Gomez, an [[UsefulNotes/IrishTravellers Irish Traveller]] boxer who was born Michael Armstrong, but adopted Gomez in homage to Puerto Rican legend Wilfredo Gomez. Ironically, his nickname is the Manchester Mexican.
* For a time during TheSeventies and TheEighties, this was a trend in professional wrestling, likely for the same reasons. Wrestling/HulkHogan is probably the most famous example.
* Robin Wilson from Music/GinBlossoms would for some reason sing with a slight Irish accent.
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