Shawn Hatosy & Ben McKenzie

A Working Actor in LA

Shawn Hatosy has had a very good career in Hollywood. He’s currently in the midst of another season of Southland on TNT as officer Sammy Bryant. It’s been a good four-year ride with Southland, but his success didn’t come from nowhere. He’d spent many years doing appearances on a variety of shows, including CSI: Miami, Law & Order, Hawaii Five-O, My Name Is Earl and ER. Originally from Maryland, Shawn has had a very good career in LA.

A Southern Accent

Shawn got called in to read for a role in a film, and he needed a Southern accent – he needed something for a character from Alabama in the 50′s, and he turned to AccentHelp! His initial contact was just to let me know “how great the lessons are working out!” There was even a specific recording of a native speaker with the download that seemed to fit the part just right. ”Any actors out there doing dialect work,” said Shawn in a tweet, “check out AccentHelp – phenomenal tool!”

Auditioning & Passing the Word

In the end, the audition process for films can take a long time before hearing the results, but he felt the accent and the audition went very well. He ended up sending his Southland buddy Ben McKenzie for help with Southern, too. He found the materials “Awesome!” in preparing the accent. Before Southland, Ben worked on a few series, including 92 episodes of The OC. Working actors turn to AccentHelp!

You can catch Southland on TNT Tuesdays at 10/9 central – Catch them in action there, and keep up with Shawn Hatosy and Ben McKenzie on IMDB.