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A Taxonomy of Hot Male British Actors

The HBAs of Cumberbatch Island

by Michael Baumann | The Ringer | March 24, 2022

This weekend marks the return of ‘Bridgerton,’ a series that celebrates society journalism—and lusting after Brits. To celebrate, here’s an exploration of the different types of attractive male British actors—from the prototypes to the ones currently ruling the screen and a select group of men who currently dominate Hollywood: Hot British Actors™ (HBAs).

The HBA is hardly a new phenomenon; it’s been part of the American cultural furniture since your grandparents were down bad (or whatever the postwar equivalent is) for Sean Connery and Richard Burton. But now these actors are everywhere—wielding affected American accents like a plumber wields a wrench. They’re hiding in plain sight, not just in our romantic dramas and superhero movies, but our network sitcoms and prime-time soaps as well. Paul Revere is rummaging through his saddlebags right now, trying to figure out how many lanterns to light for “by screen.”

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British Actors With the Best American Accents – Feb 25, 2021

Hall of Fame

by Vince Mancini | Uproxx | February 25, 2021

Mastering an American accent has become a rite of passage for British and Australian actors, and assorted other former British colonies. It’s an interesting phenomenon: in America we send most of our young actors through the teenybopper homogenizing machine, which spits out enough semi-interchangeable over-coiffed influencers every year to fill Disney Channel sitcoms and country music contracts. The downside of which is that casting directors looking for someone “authentic” looking frequently land on actors born and raised thousands of miles away. Half of our superheroes are English and Australian.

This, in turn, has led to a class of actors so good at American accents that hearing their natural ones in interviews is downright shocking. This past month alone has seen the release of Judas And The Black Messiah, starring British actor Daniel Kaluuya as American revolutionary Fred Hampton, and now Cherry, starring Brit Tom Holland as an Ohioan with an opiate addiction (actually Holland’s second turn as an Ohioan after Devil All The Time). Kaluuya looks like a lock for a Best Actor nomination, but both are quickly proving themselves masters of the American accent, and American regional accents.

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Watch Out for The Young Dudes, Evening Standard, July 8, 2000

Young, gifted and British: the new crop of Brit actors seems to have been cast in the mould marked “Good-Looking — But In An Unconventional Manner”. And there is nothing the film industry likes more than faces that stick in the mind long after they’ve smiled or scowled their way across a screen. Continue reading Watch Out for The Young Dudes, Evening Standard, July 8, 2000