Why focusing on the American accent is getting in the way of you booking a U.S. role

If you're an Actor born outside of the U.S. then you are likely going to need an American accent for an audition or role at some stage in your career. 

The problem so many Actors make is focusing so much on the American accent that it gets in the way of your performance. 

That's why in today's episode I'm sharing with you:

• What’s holding you back from booking U.S. roles
• How perfection gets in the way of your performance
• Why actors need to get out of their heads and back in the moment

LINKS MENTIONED:  Ready to start booking U.S. roles? Join me for my FREE 3 Day Challenge: Master the U.S. Audition and learn what it really  takes to book U.S. roles.
Register for the challenge here: https://www.katherinebeck.com/challenge

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SHOW TRANSCRIPT

You're listening to the All American actors Podcast, episode 83. In today's episode, we are talking about why focusing on the American accent is getting in the way of you booking a US roll that's coming up next. Ready to go behind the scenes and learn what it really takes to build a sustainable career as a working actor in the US film and TV industry. Join me Katherine Beck, your all American accent coach, as I give you the insight and inspiration to take action on your career, learn my best tips and tricks to performing with an American accent and hear from working actors and other industry professionals. To give you a comprehensive overview of this biz we call showbiz. This is the All American actors podcast. We will jump into today's episode in just a moment. But first, I want to let you know I've got some very exciting news. I'm going to be running a three day event, my master the US audition challenge returns in January. It's a new year and a new challenge. So if you've done this challenge with me before, and I know some of you have, you've done it a few times with me. And that's the beauty of it is you can do it more than once because it's a new year, a new challenge a new monologue. So make sure that you get yourself ready to buckle up, because it's going to be a whole lot of learning and experiencing through those three days. All you need to do to register for the challenge is head over to Katherine beck.com Ford slash challenge to register. And I will see you there when it begins. And I want to wish you all a very happy new year. It's 2023. How is it treating you so far? I am so excited to begin this new year and share with you that the podcast is officially two years old. How exciting is that. And because it's the new year, I always love taking a moment just to pause and reflect think about you know what I've achieved so far, and what I would like to achieve in the new year for a lot of you that are listening, you likely have a goal, it's likely a goal related to acting. And if you're a non US actor who wants to break into the US TV and film industry, well, we know that you're likely going to have to have a perfect American accent. So you can book more roles as an actor, but hold up, because that is not what's holding you back from booking those roles. What's holding you back is it being perfect perfection. Nobody wants a perfect American accent. And that is what is likely getting in the way of you booking that role. And I can't tell you how many times I see actors falling into this trap. And even actors that know better. And I've had conversations with about you know, not putting so much focus on the accent and it being perfect, they still forget and focus too much on the accent. Here's the thing is one of the key lessons in theatre is to know the rules, and then break them. And that's exactly what it is for performing in an accent, whether it's American, or another accent, gonna learn the foundations of the accent. But then when you're creating that character and your character's voice, you got to be able to break them. Because nobody sounds perfect. In real life. I want you to give me an example of somebody who has a perfect accent. Go on, I'm waiting, who has a perfect accent? Nobody, everyone sounds differently. And I chuckle when I talk to Americans about this. Because they 100% agree with me that they're like there's no perfect accent. Everyone sounds different. So what's getting in the way of you booking us roles is that you're focusing way too much on the accent being perfect. Way too much what happens when we put so much attention on the accent like that it ultimately creates tension. And if you've been a student of mine, you would have heard me say that tension is not your friend, when you're wanting to speak with an American accent, you want to be tension free. So that pressure that you're putting on yourself to have a perfect accent is actually doing more harm than good. It's also getting in the way of your performance. Right? Because what happens when we're so focused on the accent that we start to get in our head and we start to think about it, we start to clock it and we start to notice when things aren't going right. But all of that gets in the way of your performance. It gets a way of being in the moment, and that's what we truly want. as actors is to be present in the moment, and truly connected to the other person in that scene with us or people in the scene with us, perfection is probably the most boring thing that you could possibly do, as being an actor, perfection is playing safe. Perfection is predictable. And when we think about moments, when we think about people, when we think about life, it is anything but predictable. Therefore, it is anything but perfect. Here's a clear example. Like, let's say you're doing a play, you're on stage, the beauty of being on stage is every night, it gets to be different. Therefore, the delivery of your dialogue is going to be different every night, because you don't know what the other character the other actor is going to throw your way, you've got to be able to bounce off of what they give you, if you're just like a robot and delivering it, the character, the dialogue, the everything the same way every single night, oh, my goodness, that's boring. So boring. You got to be able to roll with whatever comes your way. And every night is gonna be totally different, and might not be like extremely different, but there's going to be differences. And that's what I love about stage is that in those moments, the delivery of the lines comes out totally different. Does that mean that, you know, let's say it's an American accent that your character is less American, because he delivered it differently? No, for example, I remember the last play that I did, which was about 10 years ago, it was a New York accent, Brooklyn accent. And the other actors in the play with me were so worried. They were so worried about being stereotypical with the accent. And I just chuckled because I thought, Oh, my goodness, how much they're holding themselves back. And sure enough, night after night, there was just like, like robots, like a delivery to the lines, that just sounded the same. And I would kind of throw things out there. Because you know, I like to have fun on stage. And I would change things up and maybe, like, do things a little bit differently. And I was so disappointed because there would be moments where, you know, like, do something really cool and slightly different. But the delivery I would get back was exactly the same. They had imprinted a way of delivering the lines in accent and they could not get out of the delivery. And that really upset me not for me personally. Well, I guess a little bit for me because it took some of the jam out of my doughnut, as my husband says, you know, I love that excitement of being in the moment and getting thrown back surprises back my way. So selfishly Yes. You know, I would have loved a little bit more of play, but I felt bad for them. You know, when I see actors and I work with actors like this a lot where they can't get out of a mold that they've created for themselves in the delivery of the accent, the lines, the character, it's all the same. So we know when I work with somebody, one on one, let's say it's for an audition my job, my purpose is to get them out of their head, get them out of that rehearsed delivery, get them out of this notion of thinking that the accent needs to be perfect. So I just want to clear that up right here right now. There is no perfect American accent please don't hope to achieve a perfect American accent. Hope to understand the foundations and practice the foundations of the American accent but make it your own find your voice in the accent find your character's voice and run with that. Have faith that in the moment all the work has been done and you're ready to spread your wings and fly and enjoy being present in that moment because I guarantee that's going to be way more attractive and somebody watching you do a perfect American accent. Alright that is it for today's episode and let me know what you thought of the show if you enjoyed this and you're vowing not to be perfect with your American accent do me a favor take a screenshot of the show let me know on Instagram stories and tag me in it add Catherine underscore Beck underscore you can find me there so send me a DM and let's hang out all right and also do not forget that the master the US audition challenge is back. Make sure you sign up, head over to Katherine beck.com forward slash challenge and I will see you there on day one. Now coming up next week on the show I am sharing with you the four key ingredients that will actually book you a US role. So make sure to share the show with all your actor friends, let them know what's coming up next week and invite them to tune in with you and learn how to become the All American actor so you can be the Working Actor you dream to be I'll see you back here next time.