| When you think of Britain and the British, images of | | | | In the most recent US Census (2000), there were |
| pomp, chivalry, royalty, tradition, authenticity, and power | | | | 824,000 citizens of British birth living in the United |
| come to mind. To some, the UK musters romance, | | | | States, the majority of which prefer to live outside of |
| dignity and prestige, reminiscent of Jane Austen novels | | | | large cities scattered throughout the country. |
| or the strength, bluntness and grit of a book by | | | | The article also reported that a fifth of all British people |
| Charles Dickens. For others, perhaps it's fashion, | | | | who live in the United States are living in the state of |
| cosmopolitan airs, trend setting ways, stoicism, and dry | | | | California with only a slight margin living in metropolitan |
| wit. Whatever their reasons, thousands of companies | | | | Los Angeles and the surrounding area. Additionally, |
| in Canada and the US are strategically hiring voices | | | | most British people living in America have American |
| from across the pond to represent their corporate | | | | spouses. That's quite a number, which makes even |
| images. | | | | more of a case for British talent in the Americas. |
| Why is that? Let's look at some of the reasons why | | | | People hear their lilting, distinguished accents and find |
| some companies find British voice talent more | | | | them comforting and pleasing not to mention |
| attractive to sell their product or service. British voices | | | | sophisticated. |
| are in the mainstream and in most cases are | | | | Surely if there are that many people living in the US |
| respected for their perceived intelligence and vocal | | | | and Canada, some of them are personalities who are |
| eloquence. | | | | in the media or use their voice to make a living. Those |
| North Americans have always had a love affair with | | | | individuals are seeking work opportunities and |
| the British. Starting in the early days of settlement in | | | | promoting their British voices as an asset and |
| the New World and confederation of both the United | | | | differentiator, offering refinement and exotic appeal. |
| States of America and Canada, the British have | | | | To sum up, here are the key reasons why people opt |
| played a major role in the development of the land and | | | | to hire British voices in North America: |
| establishment of policy, culture, government and | | | | - Elevate their company status |
| education. | | | | - Help connect with people on an intellectual level |
| The British, among other nations, principally the French, | | | | - Give perceived refinement to a product or service |
| gave us a heritage and shared connections with | | | | - Tap into the sentimentality of people of British |
| trading partners. Tens of thousands of these brave | | | | heritage |
| people opted to stay in this new found land to nurture, | | | | - Differentiate themselves from standard North |
| protect, and establish their own communities. | | | | American branding |
| All loyalties aside, another aspect that influences | | | | - Present listeners with subtle yet persuasive |
| people to hire a British voice talent is that many high | | | | marketing |
| profile celebrities in Hollywood are from England, Ireland, | | | | British voice-overs and what they embody are very |
| Scotland and Wales. If you stopped to think, you could | | | | powerful without seeming salesy. They establish and |
| likely name at least 20 people who hail from the UK in | | | | engage. British voice-overs can be elegant, heroic, |
| the movies. | | | | strong, graceful, jovial, quaint, condescending, posh, |
| To illustrate, Scotland has given us Russell Waters, | | | | school masterly, didactic, forceful, and influential among |
| Sean Connery, Ewan McGregor, and Dee Hepburn. | | | | other adjectives. |
| Ireland has yielded Peter O'Toole, Pierce Brosnan, Liam | | | | The dialects in Britain are numerous with each nook |
| Neeson, and Colin Farrell. Wales has given us | | | | and cranny possessing their own twist on the Queen's |
| Catherine Zeta-Jones, Ioan Gruffudd, Richard Burton, | | | | English. If you went from one end of the nations capital |
| Sir Anthony Hopkins, and Christian Bale. England, | | | | to the other, you will be exposed to several completely |
| perhaps the most generous of them all for celebrities, | | | | different dialects; such is life in the bustling city of |
| produced greats over the decades like Sir Laurence | | | | London. |
| Olivier, Dame Julie Andrews, Dame Judi Dench, John | | | | While it is true that other accents embody those |
| Cleese, Helena Bonham-Carter, Orlando Bloom, Keira | | | | attributes, somehow (likely due to shared heritage and |
| Knightley and more. | | | | the entertainment industry), the British manage to pull |
| A statistic published on January 27th, 2007 in a British | | | | them off with a more universal style, making them |
| newspaper states that there are currently 678,000 | | | | citizens of the world as well as the lands from which |
| landed immigrants from Britain living in the United | | | | they came. |
| States today. This is merely a conservative estimate. | | | | |