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Irish Mirror

Entertainment

Lynne Kelleher

Meryl Streep voted the Hollywood star with best Irish accent in movies

Meryl Streep has been voted as the Hollywood star with the best Irish accent, according to a new poll.

US actors are notoriously poor at adopting an Irish accent but the Oscar winner was found to have the most authentic attempt in her role of Kate Mundy in Dancing at Lughnasa.

Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts were also praised for nailing the difficult Irish brogue but Michael J Fox and Tom Cruise were at the bottom of the list for their blarney efforts.

Language learning app, Babbel, who carried out the poll to mark St. Patrick’s Day, asked Irish expats in the US to vote for what they considered to be the most credible accent adopted by an American actor playing an Irish character in a major movie.

Irish expat and heritage organizations in the US which included The New York Irish Center and The Irish Cultural Center of New England – which have over 20,000 members between them – rated the accent attempt in the highest-grossing movies in which an American actor has played an Irish character.

Oscar-winning Streep is famed as a master of different dialects and managed to perfect the Donegal inflections of deeply devout school teacher, Kate Mundy, is the movie adaptation of Brian Friel play.

Brad Pitt was No. 2 in the top ten list for his Belfast accent in his role as Francis “Frankie” McGuire in The Devil’s Own in 1997.

Pitt won widespread praise for his quite believable Norther Ireland drawl in his role as an IRA member sent to America to obtain missiles to shoot down British helicopters.

Julia Roberts attempt at a Longford accent in her role as Kitty Kiernan in Michael Collins made No. 3 on the list.

Meanwhile Tom Cruise landed towards the bottom of the list at No. 8 for his much panned attempt at a Kerry accent in his role as Joseph Donnelly in Far and Away opposite his ex-wife Nicole Kidman.

Julie Hansen, CEO of Babbel comments said there is a tradition of American actors attempting an Irish brogue despite its difficulty .

She said: “We are celebrating the American actors who’ve nailed one of the most distinct accents in the world – easy to approximate, but hard to get right – at a time when many of us will be enjoying movies at home rather than the usual St Patrick’s parades.”

Cameron Diaz scored in fifth place in her role as Jenny Everdeane in Gangs of New York opposite Leonardo di Caprio who landed in seventh place.

The accent voted least convincing was that attempted by Michael J. Fox in the role of Seamus McFly in Back to the Future III .

Seamus McFly is the Irish-born great-great grandfather of Marty McFly, protagonist of the Back to the Future movie franchise.

Seamus emigrated to America from Ballyboghil, County Dublin, in the late-19th century.

Babbel ranking of the ten actors (alongside information on their roles, US domestic gross figures, and YouTube links to trailers or relevant excerpts):

Meryl Streep as Kate Mundy in Dancing at Lughnasa (1998) – 3.0 / 5.0

$2,287,818 domestic gross, https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=wuCWRknHxrE (from 0:13)

Brad Pitt as Francis “Frankie” McGuire in The Devil’s Own (1997) – 2.6

$42,868,348, https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=8w2tRq3BQMg

Julia Roberts as Kitty Kiernan in Michael Collins (1996) – 2.4

$11,092,559, https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=hs9JQOuXytU (from 0:30)

Richard Gere as Declan Joseph Mulqueen in The Jackal (1997) -2.0

$54,930,280, https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=Y81PwPRmAVI

Cameron Diaz as Jenny Everdeane in Gangs of New York (2002) – 1.8

$77,812,000, https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=dpHcMfLUFA4

Tommy Lee Jones as Ryan Gaerity in Blown Away (1994) – 1.7

$30,156,002, https://www. youtube. com/watch? v=mzdk7gg279Q (from 0:30)