The White Lotus' Aimee Lou Wood explains the specific reason she does a British accent in the show

The White Lotus actor Aimee Lou Wood has revealed the specific reason behind why she uses her real British accent in the show, rather than matching the American accents of her co-stars.

Manchester-born Wood plays Chelsea and is one of the few characters portraying guests at The White Lotus hotel, this time set in Thailand, who doesn’t have an American accent.

Wood recently revealed that she tried both an American and her Stockport accent during the audition stage, but said that the show’s creator, Mike White, preferred her own.

“I can do an American accent. But Mike just wanted my Manchester one,” Wood explained to The Sun.

The actor revealed that she perhaps doesn’t suit an American accent because of a specific feature – her teeth.

“It’s the teeth! No Americans have my teeth. I think that genuinely is one of the things,” Wood said.

She added: “I played an American in a play in Chicago and afterwards this guy in the bar, he was talking to me and he went: ‘I knew it. I knew it. Your accent was great but I knew you weren’t American. You just don’t look American’”.

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Wood previously told Elle she can do a good American accent, but White didn’t see any reason why her character shouldn’t be British.

“He just didn’t see why she needed to be American and why we needed to add that extra layer of distance between me and her,” Wood explained.

“So he was like, ‘Let’s just make her from Manchester.’ And I was like, ‘Great.’ And it worked. But it was so funny because everyone keeps being like, ‘So you couldn’t do the American accent.’ And now I’m like, ‘I need to correct this guys! I can do an American accent! I swear!’”

Elsewhere, co-star Patrick Schwarzenegger snapped back at nepotism claims about his role in the show over his dad Arnold. But, on the positive side, the show has driven a global interest in learning Thai.

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