This Monday Madness, we’re looking at (listening to?) awesome accents on TV! Some are real, some are pretend, but all help define the character who speaks them. Whether the accent is straight-laced British, sultry Spanish, or down-home Southern, and whether the character reinforces or subverts the accent’s stereotypes, these accents add flair and texture to their shows.
Special note: I’m choosing to feature accents that stand out in a show – aka the majority of characters in the show don’t have similar accents. Otherwise, accents from shows set in Great Britain, the southern US, India, etc. would make this poll extremely long.
This poll will be open for one week, and you can choose up to 10 of your favorite accents. Be sure to spread the word so your favorites will make it into the top 10! Fans have used Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, forums, Reddit, blogs, and chatboxes to get the word out about past polls. Get creative!
Even though there are 30-some options on this list, I know there are TV characters with great accents I left out! You can nominate ones I missed in the comments until Thursday night, and I may add them to the poll (from live-action scripted shows only, please, and the accents should differ from the majority of the cast).
Want more of a say in who makes it onto the poll each week? Be sure to follow me on Twitter or like TV Breakroom on Facebook, since I usually ask for nominations for the next Monday Madness the weekend before the new poll. Please help out with nominations! There are only so many shows I can watch personally, so I’m counting on you to fill me in!
Without further ado, here’s the poll for this week’s Monday Madness! Voting ends around 1AM July 16th.
Which character has your favorite accent? (Choose up to 10!)
- Eliot Spencer (Christian Kane) - Leverage (12%, 123 Votes)
- Sophie Devereaux (Gina Bellman) - Leverage (10%, 108 Votes)
- Spike (James Marsters) - Buffy the Vampire Slayer (7%, 71 Votes)
- Rupert Giles (Anthony Stewart Head) - Buffy the Vampire Slayer (6%, 63 Votes)
- Ziva David (Cote de Pablo) - NCIS (5%, 56 Votes)
- Ducky (David McCallum) - NCIS (5%, 53 Votes)
- Wesley Wyndham-Price (Alexis Denisof) - Angel (5%, 50 Votes)
- Dr. Robert Chase (Jesse Spencer) - House (4%, 39 Votes)
- Drusilla (Juliet Landau) - Buffy the Vampire Slayer (3%, 36 Votes)
- Patrick Jane (Simon Baker) - The Mentalist (3%, 34 Votes)
- Vincent Nigel-Murray (Ryan Cartwright) - Bones (3%, 34 Votes)
- Raj Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar) - The Big Bang Theory (3%, 32 Votes)
- Fiona Glenanne (Gabrielle Anwar) - Burn Notice (3%, 31 Votes)
- Sheriff Graham (Jamie Dornan) - Once Upon a Time (3%, 28 Votes)
- Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgård) - True Blood (2%, 26 Votes)
- Fred Burkle (Amy Acker) - Angel (2%, 25 Votes)
- Caroline Julian (Patricia Belcher) - Bones (2%, 24 Votes)
- Rory Flanagan (Damian McGinty) - Glee (2%, 24 Votes)
- Divya Katdare (Reshma Shetty) - Royal Pains (2%, 23 Votes)
- Crowley, Sterling, Valda, Badger, Ring Director, more (Mark Sheppard) - Supernatural, Leverage, Warehouse 13, Firefly, Chuck, others (2%, 18 Votes)
- Charles Winchester (David Ogden Stiers) - M*A*S*H (2%, 16 Votes)
- Finn Abernathy (Luke Kleintank) - Bones (1%, 15 Votes)
- Gloria Delgado-Pritchett (Sofia Vergara) - Modern Family (1%, 15 Votes)
- Vala Mal Doran (Claudia Black) - Stargate SG-1 (1%, 15 Votes)
- H.G. Wells (Jaime Murray) - Warehouse 13 (1%, 13 Votes)
- Louis LeBeau (Robert Clary) - Hogan's Heroes (1%, 12 Votes)
- Peter Newkirk (Richard Dawson) - Hogan's Heroes (1%, 12 Votes)
- Jim Taggart (Matt Frewer) - Eureka (1%, 11 Votes)
- Adelle DeWitt (Olivia Williams) - Dollhouse (1%, 11 Votes)
- Derek (Jack Davenport) - Smash (1%, 10 Votes)
- Andrew Martin (Ioan Gruffudd) - Ringer (1%, 8 Votes)
- Sharona Fleming (Bitty Schram) - Monk (1%, 6 Votes)
- Danny Messer (Carmine Giovinazzo) - CSI:NY (1%, 6 Votes)
- Dallas Royce (Cheryl Hines) - Suburgatory (1%, 6 Votes)
- Sayid Jarrah (Naveen Andrews) - Lost (0%, 5 Votes)
- Olaf (Jonathan Kite) - 2 Broke Girls (0%, 4 Votes)
- Han (Matthew Moy) - 2 Broke Girls (0%, 2 Votes)
- Dev (Raza Jaffrey) - Smash (0%, 1 Votes)
Total Voters: 244
Fiona Glenanne from Burn Notice
Sayid Jarrah (Lost). Naveen Andrews’ fake Iraqi accent was the sexiest thing ever.
Ooh, I meant to nominate Crowley for Supernatural! Am I too late? Mark Sheppard has an amazing voice, and coupled with that accent, woo.
I was so sad they killed of Sheriff Graham on OUaT. I could’ve listened to him talk all day.
Even though the show is set in New York, I still think CSI:NY’s Danny Messer’s (Carmine Giovinazzo) strong Brooklyn accent stands out on the show…and it is soo sexy! 😉
Eliot rocks!!! Would eat that guy for brekki!!!
I love Eliot Spencer’s voice on Leverage. Funny thing though I didn’t even notice he has a Southern accent. I guess it all depends where you live. LOL
Can you please add Mark Sheppard of Supernatural? It’s eerie how well he does accents.
Thank you.
Considering that he has an almost identical accent in most of the roles he takes, I think it’s safe to say it’s the London-born Sheppard’s natural speech. Since it’s the same accent (and accent is what we are voting on), I included several of the reoccurring characters he plays.
Christian Kane has the most amazing voice.. Speaking voice and singing voice.. it is MAGIC! It will make your bones melt!
I vote for Rory Flanagan! Also Patrick Jane. OMG. Patrick Jane could take me anytime. Rory’s too young but I love a good Irish accent.