12 Aussie Accents By Non-Aussie Actors Ranked From "Inauthentic" To "Secretly An Aussie"

Everyone definitely gets an "E" for effort!

Hello, everyone! My name is Kayla and this is my lovely Australian friend, Natalia.

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While the two of us don't share the same time zone, since I'm based in the USA and she's based in Australia, one of our shared interests is our love for Australian characters in movies. However, as I'm not super well versed when it comes to spotting good or bad accents in films, I thought I'd bring in my own Aussie expert to set the record straight when it comes to these actors' portrayals of our friends down under.

Dimension Films

I did some research and picked out 12 actors whose accents are highly debated among Aussie and non-Aussie viewers alike!

Kate McKinnon in Rough Night

Columbia Pictures

A seemingly innocent bachelorette party in Miami goes haywire when a group of women accidentally kill a male stripper.

Listen to her accent here at 0:35:

Columbia Pictures / Via youtube.com

Natalia's thoughts: Yeah look, as much as I like Kate McKinnon, listening to her do the Aussie accent makes my skin crawl. It's bad. It moves between Aussie, American, and Kiwi, yet sounds like none of them at the same time. Very inauthentic.

Authentic Aussie meter: 1/10

Quentin Tarantino in Django Unchained

Weinstein Company

A freed slave (Jamie Foxx), with the help of a German bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz), sets out on a perilous mission to save his wife from a plantation in Mississippi. 

Listen to his accent here at 1:03:

Weinstein Company / Via youtube.com

Natalia's thoughts: This is terrible. But, because it's Quentin Tarantino, I almost expect that to be part of the schtick? 

Authentic Aussie meter: 3/10

Max Martini and Robert Kazinsky in Pacific Rim

Warner Bros. Pictures

The film follows a small army of humans as they try desperately to fight back against the Kaiju, huge sea monsters that emerged from a portal at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

Listen to their accents here:

Warner Bros. Pictures / Via youtube.com

Natalia's thoughts: Okay, this is straight-up not good. Robert Kazinsky sounds English — and even Welsh at times — whereas Max Martini sounds like he's learned the Australian accent from The Crocodile Hunter. 

Authentic Aussie meter: 4/10

Meryl Streep in Evil Angels

Warner Bros.

After their 9-week-old daughter disappears from the campground they were staying at, Michael Chamberlain (Sam Neill) and Lindy Chamberlain (Meryl Streep) try desperately to prove their innocence to the public, who believe they had a hand in their daughter's disappearance. While Evil Angels was the release title in Australia, it was released as A Cry in the Dark in the US.

Listen to her accent here at 0:15:

Warner Bros. / Via youtube.com

Natalia's thoughts: This is...not the best. Meryl's Aussie accent drops in and out here, and at times even sounds South African to me. However, it was the '80s and the Aussie accent that was celebrated on media was a lot more British sounding, so I'll cut her some slack there. 

Authentic Aussie meter: 5/10

Daniel Radcliffe in December Boys

Warner Bros.

Four orphaned best friends find themselves competing for the attention of the same family.

Listen to his accent here at 0:58:

Warner Bros. / Via youtube.com

Natalia's thoughts: No matter what accent Daniel Radcliffe uses, I only hear Harry Potter. His Aussie accent is alright, but definitely over the top.

Authentic Aussie meter: 6/10

John Lithgow in Pitch Perfect 3

Universal Pictures

The Barden Bellas hit the road as they join a USO Tour that doubles as a talent competition headed by DJ Khaled. While touring in Spain, Fat Amy's (Rebel Wilson) father, the ruthless crime lord Fergus (John Lithgow), arrives to beg to be in his daughter's life again.

Listen to his accent here:

Universal Pictures / Via youtube.com

Natalia's thoughts: This accent is neither here nor there. I can pick up that he's playing an Aussie, but like, John Lithgow is an accent in its own right.

Authentic Aussie meter: 6/10

Benedict Cumberbatch in The Fifth Estate

Touchstone Pictures

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and colleague Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Daniel Brühl) embark on a quest to expose the deceptions and corruptions in our government and financial systems.

Listen to his accent here at 0:30:

Touchstone Pictures / Via youtube.com

Natalia's thoughts: This isn't that bad! Pretty passable for an Aussie accent — but I would think it was from someone who was born overseas or grew up in a fancy area. You can hear his British accent come through in phrases like "his own person" — but other words, like "truth" and "whistleblower," are pretty on point for Aussie pronunciation. 

Authentic Aussie meter: 7/10 would pass 

Kate Winslet in Holy Smoke!

Miramax

After being brainwashed by a guru in Delhi, India, Ruth's (Kate Winslet) parents hire P.J. Waters (Harvey Keitel), a famous exit counselor who specializes in deprogramming members of religious cults.

Listen to her accent here at 0:15:

Miramax / Via youtube.com

Natalia's thoughts: Pretty good! Again, you can hear some of the British coming through, mainly because she actually pronounces the letters at the end of the words. Us Aussies don't do that.

Authentic Aussie meter: 7/10

Liev Schreiber in Mental

Universal Pictures

After his wife, Shirley Moochmore (Rebecca Gibney), suffers a mental breakdown, Barry Moochmore (Anthony LaPaglia) hires surly hitchhiker Shaz Thornbender (Toni Collette) as a nanny for his five daughters.

Listen to his accent here at 1:27:

Universal Pictures / Via youtube.com

Natalia's thoughts: Liev's accent is excellent here. But I also think the fact that he plays the silent, brooding male type here probably helps — they don't say that much anyway. 

Authentic Aussie meter: 9/10

Robert Downey Jr. in Natural Born Killers

Warner Bros.

Mickey and Mallory Knox are fugitive mass murderers on the run from the law while sensational journalist Wayne Gale (Robert Downey Jr.) irresponsibly documents their crimes to his captive audience. 

Listen to his accent here:

Warner Bros. / Via youtube.com

Natalia's thoughts: I wanted to hate this one, but it's actually really good. It's a little stereotypical, but once he starts ranting, you realize how much he's really nailed the intonation here.

Authentic Aussie meter: 9/10

Emily Blunt in Irresistible

First Look International

Book illustrator Sophie (Susan Surandon) has it all: a thriving career, a loving husband, wonderful kids. However, her life gets turned upside down by the arrival of her husband's new coworker, Mara (Emily Blunt), who seems to be hiding a mysterious secret.

Listen to her accent here:

First Look International / Via youtube.com

Natalia's thoughts: I'm trying not to be biased because I love Emily Blunt, but this accent is really good. It's not as overdone as some of the others, but she really nails the vowel sounds. 

Authentic Aussie meter: 9/10

Dev Patel in Lion

Weinstein Company

This true story tells the tale of Saroo Brierley (Dev Patel), a young man who, after being separated from his family in India for 25 years, sets out on a journey to find them.

Listen to his accent here at 0:23:

Weinstein Company / Via youtube.com

Natalia's thoughts: Dev Patel's accent is flawless in this film. I remember watching it at the cinemas and thinking, "Damn, he really nailed this."

Authentic Aussie meter: 10/10

Do you know of other non-Australian actors who've attempted an Aussie accent in TV shows/movies? Let us know in the comments below!