In the 30 years since Colin Welland collected an Oscar for Chariots of Fire and famously declared that “The British are coming！” there have been plenty of false dawns.

British actors flocked to Hollywood only to find themselves cast repeatedly as villains， fops and toffs. But Cannes Film Festival of 2012 proved that US studios have finally fallen for the charms of the British leading man. The three major US films in competition all have British actors playing American leads.

Tom Hardy is the star of Lawless， a Prohibition-era gangster film in which he plays the toughest of three bootlegging brothers in rural Virginia.

It is a state of affairs mirrored in US television， where British actors are slipping seamlessly into US lead roles， from Hugh Laurie in House to Damian Lewis and David Harewood in Homeland.

Industry watchers say we have entered a golden age for Brits in Hollywood.

“When Laurie appeared in House， Americans said， ‘Who is this actor？ I love him， he’s great.’ Then we found out he’s British， and it’s like a magician has pulled a trick on you. People like to be fooled sometimes.”

In films， it started with Christian Bale in Batman， who showed that British actors can be better at playing Americans than Americans themselves. Maybe a lot of American audiences have no ideas that Bale is not American.

The new waves of British actors have also mastered flawless American accents. In the 1970s， the British would push it a little too hard， they over-enunciated. Now they are really good. Christian Bale is not the only British actor to do a superhero costume. The latest Spider-Man opened with Andrew Garfield in the Spidey-suit， and meanwhile Henry Cavill has been cast as the new Superman. British actresses are also beating their American counterparts to plum roles： Carey Mulligan will be seen as Daisy Buchanan in the big screen adaptation of The Great Gatsby.

Speaking at the premiere of Lawless in Cannes， Tom Hardy said he did not define himself by nationality. “I just see myself as a person， full stop，” said the 35-year-old actor. “I’ve done some American accents and some not so good ones. When I do， I panic—my accent isn’t always amazing.”

In Lawless， he appears alongside Jessica Chastain and Guy Pearce. The drama is based on a book， The Wettest County in the World， by Matt Bondurant. It is a part-fictionalised account of the author’s grandfather and great-uncles， who ran a bootlegging operation in the 1920s.

30年前，当科林·维兰凭借《烈火战车》拿下奥斯卡小金人，发出著名宣言“英国人来了！”之后，英国演员在好莱坞的境遇几经起落。

英国演员成群涌入好莱坞，却发现他们只能重复扮演着大反派、花花公子或者纨绔子弟。但是在2012年的戛纳电影节上，可以发现好莱坞的电影工业已经臣服于英国男星的魅力了。在三部参加主竞赛单元的美国电影中，英国男演员都扮演了主角（角色身份是美国人）。

汤姆·哈迪是《无法无天》中的明星。在这部背景为“禁酒令时期”的警匪片中，他扮演的角色是三兄弟中最彪悍的一个，在蛮荒的弗吉尼亚贩卖杜松子酒。

从美剧中也可以看到这种现状。英国男演员们自如地在美剧中扮演各種身份是美国人的角色，从《豪斯医生》中的休·劳瑞到《国土安全》中的戴米恩·刘易斯和大卫·哈雷伍德。

电影观察家们说，我们已进入了英国演员在好莱坞的黄金时代。

“当休·劳瑞出现在《豪斯医生》中，美国观众就会问：‘那个演员是谁？我爱他，他太棒了。’然后我们会发现他是个英国人，这感觉就像被魔术师捉弄了。有时人们就是乐于被迷惑。”

而在电影中，这种现象开始于饰演“蝙蝠侠”的克里斯蒂安·贝尔。这个英国人扮演起美国人来可比美国同行们更在行。许多美国观众也许不会想到贝尔竟然不是美国人。

如今英国演员风靡的另一个原因是他们能说一口标准的美式口音。上世纪70年代，英国演员在好莱坞有些艰难，他们太强调发音。但现在他们可好多了。克里斯蒂安·贝尔不是唯一一个扮演漫画英雄的英国人。最新一部《蜘蛛侠》中安德鲁·加菲尔德穿上了蜘蛛衣，而亨利·卡维尔被选为新一代“超人”。而英国女演员也在女主角的竞争中击败了她们的美国同行：凯瑞·穆里根将在新版《了不起的盖茨比》中扮演黛西。

在戛纳电影节《无法无天》的首映礼上，汤姆·哈迪说他不会以国籍来给自己下定义。这位35岁的演员表示：“我只是把自己看成一个寻常人，仅此而已。我是学了些美式口音，其中有一些并不标准。当我开口时，我很害怕——我的口音并不总让人惊艳。”

在《无法无天》中，他与杰西卡·查斯坦和盖·皮尔斯一同亮相。这部电影是根据马特·邦杜伦特的小说《湿地传奇》改编而来，部分情节来自于作者的祖父辈们在上世纪20年代做私酒买卖的故事。