James McAvoy has spoken out against the film industry’s bias towards Scottish actors, saying his accent has often seen him “reduced to a noise that comes out of my mouth.” The 46-year-old actor was speaking at the Glasgow Film Festival ahead of the premiere of his directorial debut, California Schemin’, which tells the true story of two Dundee rappers who faked American accents to secure a record deal.
McAvoy, who grew up on a Glasgow council estate, said he wanted to make a film “for people from the kind of council estate I grew up on.” He described how his own accent has led to him being stereotyped, saying: “With my accent, I’ve had that experience where I’m suddenly no longer a person with infinite possibilities and potential – I am ‘that Scottish person’.”
Despite a career that includes roles in Atonement, Split, and the X-Men franchise, McAvoy noted that he has played “four or five Scottish people in my entire 30-year career.” He acknowledged his privilege as a “white northern European male” but argued that accent bias remains a barrier in the industry.
McAvoy previously challenged a Sunday Times critic who described his and fellow Glaswegian James McArdle’s accents as “whining” in a 2019 production of Peer Gynt, inviting the reviewer to discuss “why you think it’s OK to label the sound of an entire nation in such a derogatory fashion.”
His film, California Schemin’, follows Gavin Bain and Billy Boyd, who were dismissed as “the rapping Proclaimers” before reinventing themselves as LA hip-hop artists. The film explores themes of authenticity, friendship, and who gets to tell Scottish stories, and premiered to a warm reception at the festival.
