Do you think British actors are really better trained than American ones?

[StickStickly]

Yes

BUT there are plenty of trained American actors out there. The problem is Hollywood only wants to cast one note musicians in roles that take away from decent actors. Think Rihanna, Luda, 50. The early 2000s was notorious for doing this.

 

[the next guy]

basically americans put style and looks over substance. In the UK they train from a very young age, and it is more theatre based. This is why there is a huge vacuum of US talent under 40, particularly with men. With that being said, i think it has gone to far. There seems to be an English bias and americans find it almost impossible to get roles, unless they have celebrity pull. A black american male around 25 y/o has zero hope of getting any serious roles ahead of an english actor.

That's the thing, we talk about black representation in Hollywood but it's because almost an exclusive afro-american problem, black british and african actors have less issues getting roles. And on top of that, there is a huge vaccum of under 40 talent. I think it started with Josh Hartnett dropping the ball years ago and then Shia spending more time getting in trouble. All that generation has to show for is the two canadians, Reynolds and Gosling, and Reynolds had a downturn a few years ago and almost was run out of Hollywood. Americans are not taking acting seriously as a whole, and now Superman is being played by someone from the Isle of Wight (where?), right?

 

[Kunty McPhuck]

That's the thing, we talk about black representation in Hollywood but it's because almost an exclusive afro-american problem, black british and african actors have less issues getting roles. And on top of that, there is a huge vaccum of under 40 talent. I think it started with Josh Hartnett dropping the ball years ago and then Shia spending more time getting in trouble. All that generation has to show for is the two canadians, Reynolds and Gosling, and Reynolds had a downturn a few years ago and almost was run out of Hollywood. Americans are not taking acting seriously as a whole, and now Superman is being played by someone from the Isle of Wight (where?), right?

A British Island off the south coast of England.

 

[parallax]

That's the thing, we talk about black representation in Hollywood but it's because almost an exclusive afro-american problem, black british and african actors have less issues getting roles. And on top of that, there is a huge vaccum of under 40 talent. I think it started with Josh Hartnett dropping the ball years ago and then Shia spending more time getting in trouble. All that generation has to show for is the two canadians, Reynolds and Gosling, and Reynolds had a downturn a few years ago and almost was run out of Hollywood. Americans are not taking acting seriously as a whole, and now Superman is being played by someone from the Isle of Wight (where?), right?

how do you figure this though?

 

[the next guy]

A British Island off the south coast of England.

I was joking lol its south of Portsmouth.

how do you figure this though?

Simple. Look at the best actors winners from the past 5-10 years. Or even the nominees. The amount of british actors has increased greatly since about 2000

 

[AnonymityX1000]

I think foreign actors are just getting more of a look nowadays plus they are cheaper. I think there
are talented young American actors they just aren't getting work like foreigners nowadays. America has theater and fukkin' dope ass drama departments at Yale, NYU etc. They are just getting looked over.

 

[parallax]

I was joking lol its south of Portsmouth.

Simple. Look at the best actors winners from the past 5-10 years. Or even the nominees. The amount of british actors has increased greatly since about 2000

none of that means that american actors arent taking acting seriously though. we have whole schools of young talented actors all over the country.

 

[KravenMorehead™]

Great thread.

 

[Colin X]

none of that means that american actors arent taking acting seriously though. we have whole schools of young talented actors all over the country.

Yeah but we also shyt on anybody who goes to school for anything other than STEM in America

 

[Mr. Manhattan]

They sure can't cook worth a damn

 

[JerseyBoy23]

Most American actors nowadays skip drama school and sometimes theater all together thanks to the increase of scripted television.

Also it seems like the kids that do go to drama school get stuck on Broadway and never make it to the national stage unless they happened to write a musical about a Founding Father (Hamilton reference).

Combine that with the fact that people of both genders would rather watch hot and mediocre actors/actresses than a mediocre looking and talented actors/actresses and we get the predicament we have today.

 

[Barbados Slim]

Some good points in this thread.

My take is that the big difference is Brits coming up thru theatre - this is the land of Shakespeare!

I don't know what the American way is, but having worked in the UK industry for a while (no longer btw), majority of the actors I worked with, their training was more from a stage/theatre background where ad-libing, vocal projection and body language are keys to performing on the stage. Also I did notice that alot of the younger actors also came from a musical backgrounds whether it was singing or emceeing, so they were already use to performing to an audience, then it was just a case of transitioning to taking direction.

Was saying the same thing to my missus the other day while watching a BBC mini drama series - we just do drama better here, hence why BBC recast so many of the same actors in shows.

Broadchurch was a brilliant drama series, when I saw some of the US remake, I just didn't feel it.

 

[rantanamo]

Employers here love people not from here in general in all industries. Especially when you're talking about black people. Its that simple. People here have formal training and go through the theater.

 

[Booker T Garvey]

you answered it yourself, the older guys had formal training, the new ones not so much, and all this ''model turned actors'' thing aint helping either, plus none of them got range..

british actors spend years in film school, the talented ones acted in theatres before getting that hollywood break, dont think you guys realize how hard it is to do theatre, you master that you're pretty much game..

Bruh. Thank you...how hard is this to understand?

 

[Field Marshall Bradley]

how do you figure this though?

He can't figure it...... it's just a baseless assumption