British actor Daniel Ezra is widely known for portraying Spencer James in The CW’s sports drama series titled All American. Created by April Blair, the series is inspired by the life of NFL linebacker and Super Bowl XLVI champion Spencer Paysinger.
Upon its release, the show received a positive response from both audience and critics. According to Forbes, the third season of the show premiered on Netflix and recorded 1.43 billion minutes of watch time. The series also soared to the top of Nielsen’s streaming ranks. Lead actor Daniel Ezra was highly appreciated for his performance, especially for his American accent. The actor revealed one little thing he did back in the day to fool the cast and crew of All American.
All American star Daniel Ezra revealed the crew didn’t realize he was British until they wrapped the pilot
Actor Daniel Ezra, who has impressed the audience with his performance as Spencer James in The CW’s All American drama, revealed in an interview with The Real that he didn’t break his American accent until they wrapped the shoot for the pilot episode. He explained,
“I pretty much stayed in the accent throughout the filming, so most of the crew didn’t realize I was British until we wrapped the pilot.”
The actor revealed that the director of the series, Rob Hardy, took him to South Central LA and later to Crenshaw. It has been mentioned that Ezra’s American accent is convincing enough to make the audience [and the crew] believe that it’s his natural way of talking.
Ezra continued to share about his process of how to keep the accent going and said that he’d only listen to LA artists and California rap artists to stay with it. In his interview with E!, the actor detailed his process behind maintaining the accent and said he keeps practicing, especially during real-life conversations. He said,
“Once I got through border control and everything, I practiced going to restaurants and park and talking to as much people as I possibly could.”
In an interview with Collider, the actor once again touched on the subject of having a convincing American accent on the show. He added that the majority of his social media messages are about people being stunned to know that he is British. The actor noted that his rule for accents is that one cannot master it until they can convince a native that they’re from where they are. Ezra added if that’s done, then it’s a good sign.
Daniel Ezra talks about Spencer James as he returns for the sixth season of All American
Ahead of season six’s premiere, the actor spoke to Deadline and shared what the audience can expect from the new season. Daniel Ezra said,
“Spencer is very hyper-focused on the NFL now. His NFL dreams are almost like in touching distance now. In high school, it was like a fantasy. And then now he’s in college, it’s kind of become real. He’s focused on rebuilding this GAU team, but it’s little closer now.”
The lead actor of All American touched upon the subject of his character struggling to navigate the tension between his friendship with Jordan and his relationship with Olivia. The actor shared that the Spencer-Jordan storyline is one of his favorites from Season 6. He explained,
“They both love that team. Their approach to what happens beyond the team is different. There’s million ways to it. College players have to face that choice. Spencer and Jordan are on very different paths. Those paths cut across, and then they are separate, and they’re crossing, and they separate.”
Daniel Ezra mentioned that this causes tension, especially because they are on the same team and want to win the championship. He teased the fans by revealing that the audience is going to see Jordan and Spencer butt heads, but they will also witness the brotherhood returning.
Talking about the relationship with Olivia, he said they’re still going to make mistakes, but they know that they love each other.
All American airs on Monday on The CW.
