Limey Goes to Hollywood - Television Tropes & Idioms

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 Los Angeles.

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.

The popularity of British actors is also due to the fact that they are a) cheaper, b) less likely to be doing films and c) less likely to be barred from gay roles by their agents.

Oddly, Brits and Europeans seem to have an above average chance of playing villains... See Fake American for when they put on the accent as well.

Examples

Fictional

On 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).
In The TV Set Ioan Gruffudd plays Richard McCallister, a TV executive who moves from England to Los Angeles to take a job as second-in-command at a fictional TV network, which is headed by Lenny (Sigourney Weaver). 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 Lucy Davis, hates Los Angeles and eventually leaves Richard to return to England.
The dream of the titular (Irish) character from Badly Drawn Roy is to go to Hollywood and try to make it big. 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.
The premise of Episodes is that of a husband-and-wife team of British television writers finding themselves living this trope, with all its attendant pitfalls.

Real Life

Michelle Ryan (Bionic Woman)
Jaime Murray (formerly of Hustle, she played Lila in Dexter)
Hugh Laurie
Writer Terry Nation, though he was more successful in England—he worked on shows in the US, but in the UK he created Blake's 7 and Survivors, and he put Doctor Who on the map.
- A number of British writers have also done this, some more successfully than others.
Tim Roth did it so well there's people who forget he's English. Not in the new Hulk movie, though!
"He trained with the ROYAL MARINES!"
Christopher Eccleston did it after leaving Doctor Who
- David Tennant might do the same.
Matthew Macfadyen did it after he left Spooks before giving up and came back to the UK.
Patrick Stewart
Two Older Than Television examples: Charlie Chaplin in the silent era and Boris Karloff in the early talkies.
More or less mandatory in Professional Wrestling, although going to Japan is a common variant.
Gordon Ramsay, of "Hell's Kitchen"
Liz Taylor, Roddy McDowall and other British child actors of the World War II era did this, overlapping with Blitz Evacuees. Taylor was born in the U.K. of U.S. parents.
Peter Sellers divided his time between American and English productions from the 1960s onwards; the English films were generally "smaller" than the American ones.
Clive Owen.
Cary Grant.
David Niven.
C. Aubrey Smith
Claude Rains
Gary Oldman
Gideon Emery, which he was teased for by the announcer at the MCM Expo in London during his Q&A panel.
Stephen Moyer of True Blood, although his accent is VERY convincing.
Anthony Hopkins, said he didn't fit in well in the theater world in England and lived in the States for a time in the Seventies, then moved back after his success after Silence of the Lambs in 1990.
- He has since moved back to the U.S. and become an American citizen.
The high income tax rates in the Britain forced Michael Caine to leave and move to Hollywood in the late Seventies. He moved back to the UK a decade later.
Appropriately enough considering the aforementioned Extras example, Ricky Gervais himself has been getting in some American movies, like Night at the Museum and a starring role in Ghost Town. He has made repeated references to this trope in real life, like appearing by satellite when Steve Merchant won a Bafta to congratulate him — and to casually point out that he himself has won bigger awards, "...American ones."
A directing example is Christopher Nolan. He was born in London but spends a lot of his time in Chicago.
Alfred Hitchcock
Jane Seymour has taken to it so well that she's now an American citizen.
Tracey Ullman. She also became an American citizen.
It hasn't been lost on people that the three biggest American superheroes are all played by Brits. The American-British Andrew Garfield is Spiderman, Henry Cavill is Superman, and Christian Bale is Batman. If Wonder Woman is played by a Brit, it'll complete the set (although the closest they've gotten in the past decade to getting Wondy off the ground was an Australian.)