Fans Just Now Starting to Realize Florence Pugh is Not, in Fact, an American
Florence Pugh played Dani Ardor, an American student in Midsommar, Alice, an American housewife, in Don’t Worry Darling, and Amy March, one of March sisters from Massachusetts, in Little Women - with that last role earning her an Oscar nomination.
And that, as it seems, led massive numbers of people to believe that she’s American - after all, who else could an actress speaking with such a solid American accent be?
"So many people think I’m American," Florence herself complained to the hosts on the Off Menu podcast. "Then when I do things publicly, like if I present an award or I’m on a stage talking, they’re like, 'That is the fakest English accent I have ever heard.' What do you think I... how... what?"
A very English-sounding name? A considerable number of roles, albeit lesser-known, in which she uses her real accent? Florence herself speaking with that real accent? Her Wikipedia article, clearly laying out her origin, being just a couple of clicks away from any user?
A quick look through the Internet, particularly Twitter, demonstrates that for some people all of that is not enough. In fact, some of them adamantly insist that Florence is American. But then again, the Internet won’t be the Internet without people sticking to their incorrect opinions, despite easily available evidence to the contrary.
In any case, Florence Pugh was born in Oxford. Despite her family moving to Spain for a few years when Florence was three, in hopes that warmer climate would help with her health problems, she spent most of her youth in England.
She attended English private schools. She started her career as an actress by playing in English films and miniseries. She even got a nomination for the BAFTA Rising Star Award for her role of Cordelia in Richard Eyre’s King Lear television film. Sure, she moved to Hollywood on a quest for better career opportunities - like many English actors do. But otherwise it is pretty hard to be more English than her.
Florence Pugh just has a natural talent for imitating accents - in fact, she had it since she was very young, and then refined it through hard work. But, as it happens, her accent imitation became so good that now the results frustrate Florence herself at times.