Bad American accent

I used to watch Without a Trace pretty regularly, and at one time it was one of my favorite shows, but I stopped watching it consistently for various reasons, which I'll probably go into in another post or at Gapers Block, where I write about TV (though they prefer Chicago-related topics).

Recently I happened to catch an episode, and it just reminded me how bad Poppy Montgomery's American accent is. She's from Australia, and it seems like she tries so hard to hide her Australian accent that she's developed a speech impediment. Plus, I can still hear traces of her Australian accent.

When I first saw her on TV, I wondered what was wrong with her speech, and if the producers forgave her in that area because she's a pretty blonde. But after I saw her bio, I realized that she probably talks weird["ly" to be grammatically correct] because she's trying really hard to sound American. But those efforts don't work. She also can't act. Well, she can act, but not very well. I've seen her in different roles, and she seems flat. Is it because of her struggle with American English? Who knows.