Sean Connery Told to Ditch Signature Accent Early in His Career — Plus 4 Stars Who Aren’t Actually American!

Can you imagine a world without Sean Connery's signature brogue? Neither can we! But the actor was initially told to ditch his accent early on because it was "off-putting," according to one producer.

Alvin Rakoff, who worked with Sean on the '50s TV drama, Requiem for a Heavyweight, admits he tried to convince the Scottish star to tone down his natural voice.

"I met Sean in his 20s," Alvin told The Sun newspaper. "He had the looks but I couldn't see him as a star. We thought his accent was distracting — how wrong we were."

The now 83-year-old went on to become a Hollywood hunk and is best known for portraying James Bond in seven of the franchise's 23 films.

Actors are still being told in the industry today to mask their accents, whether for a movie role or to make them more marketable. Here are 4 mainstream stars who've had us fooled!

Andrew Garfield

He may play America's boy-next-door/superhero Spiderman in the blockbuster franchise, but Andrew was raised in the U.K. and has a distinct English accent. He was, however, born in Los Angeles and lived there until he was 3.

Idris Elba

This guy has used so many different accents (American, South African, English) it's hard to decipher which one's real! The truth is, Idris is British and was raised in the U.K. You're pretty impressed right now, aren't you?

Matthew Rhys

He played an American on Brothers & Sisters before portraying a Soviet spy posing as an American on The Americans. Suffice it to say, we all thought Matthew was…well…American, until he spoke. The actor is in fact Welsh, born and raised in Cardiff, Wales.

Hugh Laurie

He played a pill-popping American doctor on House for eight seasons, but Hugh is actually British, raised in Oxford, England.