Australian Actors #9
Australian Actors #9: Hugo Weaving
Born: Nigeria, 1960. Parents shuttled about between Australia, South Africa and the UK when he was a kid, and he didn't permanently move to Australia until he was sixteen, so I was a bit unsure whether to include him in the series, TBH. On the other hand, he does have Australian citizenship, and a genuine, if distinctly CAE, Australian accent, so... well, this is what he has to say about it:
"I'm 'of the world'. There was a time when I thought, 'Oh, I must go back to England. I feel English.' Then I went and the longer I was away, the more Australian I felt. Now, I've come back here and I don't feel entirely Australian. But I certainly feel like this is my country. This is where I live and this is where I want to work."
(from here: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0915989/bio)
Left Australia: Still lives there.
Career went international: Attracted international attention after Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, become a major Hollywood name after being cast as Agent Smith in the Matrix films.
Now lives: In Australia, not sure which city. Anyone? It's Sydney.
Best known as: Agent Smith from the Matrix films, Elrond from Lord of the Rings, V. from V For Vendetta, Megatron from the Transformers film... but he'll always be Mitzi the Magnificent to me.
Assumed accents: RP, various different types of US-American.
This is what Hugo Weaving sounds like when he's working:
(from here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OB6EsUP4tU)
This, on the other hand, is also what Hugo Weaving sounds like when he's working:
It's such a perfect US-American accent, even I have a hard time remembering that he's really One Of Us! :D
(from here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHiX0FZcjkA))
And this is what Hugo Weaving sounds like when he's not working (but also when he's singing! and eating pudding!):
(from here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmKB07BrGQQ)
ETA: If you listen, you can hear him shift between his natural CAE, and Broad Australian English when he's voicing the cartoon character.
Exciting extra PWD trivia: Hugo Weaving was diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of thirteend, and doesn't drive for this reason.
Born: Nigeria, 1960. Parents shuttled about between Australia, South Africa and the UK when he was a kid, and he didn't permanently move to Australia until he was sixteen, so I was a bit unsure whether to include him in the series, TBH. On the other hand, he does have Australian citizenship, and a genuine, if distinctly CAE, Australian accent, so... well, this is what he has to say about it:
"I'm 'of the world'. There was a time when I thought, 'Oh, I must go back to England. I feel English.' Then I went and the longer I was away, the more Australian I felt. Now, I've come back here and I don't feel entirely Australian. But I certainly feel like this is my country. This is where I live and this is where I want to work."
(from here: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0915989/bio)
Left Australia: Still lives there.
Career went international: Attracted international attention after Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, become a major Hollywood name after being cast as Agent Smith in the Matrix films.
Now lives: In Australia, not sure which city. Anyone? It's Sydney.
Best known as: Agent Smith from the Matrix films, Elrond from Lord of the Rings, V. from V For Vendetta, Megatron from the Transformers film... but he'll always be Mitzi the Magnificent to me.
Assumed accents: RP, various different types of US-American.
This is what Hugo Weaving sounds like when he's working:
Click to view(from here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OB6EsUP4tU)
This, on the other hand, is also what Hugo Weaving sounds like when he's working:
It's such a perfect US-American accent, even I have a hard time remembering that he's really One Of Us! :D
(from here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHiX0FZcjkA))
And this is what Hugo Weaving sounds like when he's not working (but also when he's singing! and eating pudding!):
(from here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmKB07BrGQQ)
ETA: If you listen, you can hear him shift between his natural CAE, and Broad Australian English when he's voicing the cartoon character.
Exciting extra PWD trivia: Hugo Weaving was diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of thirteend, and doesn't drive for this reason.