Josh Lawson On How He Perfected His American Accent for St. Denis Medical
Australian actor Josh Lawson pulled from unusual inspiration to perfect his American accent on St. Denis Medical and Superstore.
When it comes to St. Denis Medical, the stellar cast pulls out all the stops to make their characters come to life.
For starters, none of the cast members are real-life medical professionals, but every procedure and operation they appear to do on-camera is learned from actual medical technicians to ensure that it is done and explained accurately. Plus, the actors have taken on members of the hospital’s fictional ER department, each dawning their own big and bold personalities.
Actor Josh Lawson plays Dr. Bruce, a talented surgeon who has let his profession of saving lives go straight to his head. He also has no issue getting into arguments with his fellow co-workers, his opponent usually being Dr. Ron (David Alan-Grier).
RELATED: Josh Lawson On the Difference Between His St. Denis Medical and Superstore Characters
Not only does Lawson not have the same outrageous ego that his St. Denis Medical character does, but he doesn’t share the same accent either.
St. Denis Medical's Josh Lawson Used TV To Learn This Accent
Born in Brisbane, Australia, Lawson used his Australian accent in a lot of his notable roles, including portraying actor Paul Hogan in Hogues and playing the fan-favorite cyborg Kano in the 2021 Mortal Kombat film.
However, his role in St. Denis Medical requires him to use an American accent instead. And, sure-enough, he was successfully able to make Bruce sound like an Oregon native.
Lawson recently revealed in an interview that he was able to develop a convincing American accent for the mockumentary.
“I got to be honest, ever since I was a little kid...I would just stare at the screen and just look at sitcoms like 'Golden Girls' and 'Cheers' and 'Family Ties' and I would emulate the American accent just growing up,” he told Latin Times, adding, “I was just an 'Americaphile' since I was a kid. I just sort of loved the syntax and the cadence of the American accent.”
Catch new episodes of St. Denis Medical when they premiere on Tuesday on NBC at 8/7c. Episodes are available to stream on Peacock the next day.
