From blockbuster heroes to Oscar contenders – how Britain’s world-class acting talent keeps delivering on the big screen

HOLLYWOOD’S most hotly anticipated, big-budget movies feature a Brit of a twist this summer – as UK stars dazzle in leading roles. From Londoner Tom Holland saving the world as Spider-Man to Scots actor Ewan McGregor battling dinosaurs in The End Of Oak Street, it is homegrown talent that is set to fill cinemas. Tom Holland has a leading role at the cinema in two of the summer’s biggest blockbusters Credit: Getty Another Brit actor Colin Firth had top billing in Steven Spielberg blockbuster Disclosure Day Credit: Getty Born-and-bred Brit actors are beating the Yanks to big roles as they adopt convincing American accents to appear in a string of US blockbusters. But how is it that actors from our little island have top billing against those from the country that invented popular movies and with five times our population? Sign up for the TV newsletter Thank you! As the birthplace of Shakespeare, many believe the UK’s traditional acting training and long theatrical history puts us in a league of our own. In Britain, showbiz wannabes go through the proper channels, attending prestigious acting schools such as the National Youth Theatre, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art or Guildhall School of Music & Drama. Others tread the boards or join the Royal Shakespeare Company. Meanwhile, in Hollywood, A-listers such as Tom Cruise and Jennifer Lawrence have had no formal acting training. And while Americans struggle with other accents, Brits have the US twang nailed as we grew up watching TV shows and films from across the Pond. Lucinda Syson, a casting director who worked on Batman Begins and X-Men, once said: “A lot of agents in America will come to the UK to theatres and drama schools looking for the next hot thing.” Here, we look at some of the latest blockbusters that feature Brits as the star of the show . . . Most read in TV Anne Hathaway as Penelope and Tom Holland as Telemachus in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey Credit: PA Batman actor Robert Pattinson has a villainous role in The Odyssey Credit: PA THE ODYSSEY (In cinemas now) LONDON-born director Sir Christopher Nolan certainly came back to his motherland when casting for his Greek epic. While the stars speak with American accents throughout the three-hour film, which has already grossed £700million at the box office, five Brits play lead roles. TOM HOLLAND: With his American superstar wife Zendaya in the same film, the 30-year-old from Kingston-on-Thames, South West London, plays Prince Telemachus, the son of Odysseus (Matt Damon) and Penelope (Anne Hathaway). ROBERT PATTINSON: Having bagged the lead role in DC’s reboot of the all-American Batman franchise in 2022, Pattinson, 40, from Barnes, West London, has been praised for his part as sneering villain Antinous. SAMANTHA MORTON: The multi-award-winning actor, 49, from Nottingham, shows fearless style and range in her scenes as terrifying witch and goddess Circe. Samantha Morton starred in The Odyssey as terrifying witch and goddess Circe Credit: Getty Former EastEnders actor Himesh Patel joined Hollywood royalty in the huge summer hit Credit: Alamy MIA GOTH: No stranger to playing multiple roles with an American accent, the 32-year-old from Southwark, South London, portrays disloyal maidservant Melantho, who has scenes with fellow Brit, Pattinson. HIMESH PATEL: Having trained at the National Youth Theatre, and then on EastEnders for nine years, the 35-year-old from Huntingdon, Cambs, plays Eurylochus, second-in-command to Matt Damon’s Odysseus and by his side for most of the intense action sequences. SPIDER-MAN: BRAND NEW DAY (In cinemas now) Spider-Man: Brand New Day has been setting new records at the box office Credit: PA Florence Push has a minor but entertaining role in the Spider-Man movie Credit: AP DIRECTED by American Destin Daniel Cretton, this is the fourth solo Spider-Man film for Holland, who took over the role in 2016. Critics are calling it the best of the franchise and a more mature take on the comic book hero. TOM HOLLAND: He first landed the role ten years ago in Marvel’s Captain America: Civil War. The fan favourite then followed in the footsteps of British-raised Andrew Garfield to play the superhero from New York in standalone films. FLORENCE PUGH: Reprising her role as Yelena Belova from the Marvel Universe’s Black Widow, the 30-year-old from Oxford has a particularly funny scene in a Turkish bath with her Brit co-star. Ewan McGregor has a lead role in sci-fi survival flick The End of Oak Street Credit: Getty The movie by JJ Abrams features a family dealing with a mysterious event that causes the appearance of dinosaurs Credit: Alamy THE END OF OAK STREET (In cinemas Friday) THIS sci-fi survival flick, produced by J.J Abrams, is set in a suburban American neighbourhood, and sees a family struck by a mysterious event that causes the appearance of dinosaurs. EWAN McGREGOR: Playing Greg Platt, a protective dad of two and husband of Denise (Anne Hathaway), the 55-year-old Scot from Perth has definitely dropped his native brogue for this leading role. Emily Blunt has a lead role in alien thriller Disclosure Day, which was released earlier this summer Credit: AFP Colin Firth features as the head of a shady organisation which is a contractor for the US government Credit: PA DISCLOSURE DAY (In cinemas now) IT seems that legendary director Steven Spielberg got on a flight to Blighty to cast for this alien thriller, with his three main leads all home grown. The fourth, Eve Hewson, is Irish, so no Americans got a look-in. EMILY BLUNT: The 43-year-old from Roehampton, West London, has led several films with an accent, including the A Quiet Place series. In Disclosure Day, she plays all-American weathergirl Margaret Fairchild, who can communicate with aliens. JOSH O’CONNOR: Starring as a cybersecurity specialist, the Southampton-born actor, 36, is fresh from a top role in Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out mystery, in which he played an American priest. COLIN FIRTH: He may keep his actual accent in this one, but our Mr Darcy, 65, from Grayshott, Hants, still gets top billing as the head of a shady organisation which is a contractor for the US government. Callum Turner (pictured with Monica Barbaro) features in upcoming rom-com ‘One Night Only’ Credit: Getty ONE NIGHT ONLY (In cinemas August 28) THE rom-com about two New Yorkers in search of love, directed by American Will Gluck, decided to cast the male lead from UK shores. CALLUM TURNER: Newly married to pop queen Dua Lipa, the ex-model, 36, from Hammersmith, West London, stars opposite Top Gun: Maverick’s Monica Barbaro. He has finely tuned his American accent recently, in last year’s Eternity and 2024’s WWII TV series, Masters Of The Air. Leo Woodall stars in biographical comedy-drama Tony about the early career of world-famous chef Anthony Bourdain Credit: AP TONY (In cinemas Friday) THE biographical comedy-drama about the early career of world-famous chef Anthony Bourdain is set in Massachusetts in 1975. But that didn’t stop Canadian writer and director Matt Johnson casting two Brits in top roles. LEO WOODALL: The 29-year-old star of smash hits One Day and The White Lotus may be from Hammersmith, West London, but in Tony he plays a fast-talking, drug-loving American kitchen worker who leads Bourdain into temptation. EMILIA JONES: Having used an American accent in Running Man and Cat Person, Emilia, 24, from Westminster, central London – daughter of singer and TV’s Aled Jones – plays Tony’s love interest. Comment now