Discovering a Young “American” Actor in Band of Brothers: Kana and Cindee’s Stories

Hello, everyone! Damianista welcomes you to a NEW Fan Story Tuesday!

As Band of Brothers is having the 16th anniversary of its debut on HBO this week, what can be a better celebration than sharing with the fandom lovely stories from fans who “discovered” Damian Lewis as Dick Winters in Band of Brothers? And Kana and Cindee have more in common than “meeting” Damian in Band of Brothers: Both were extremely surprised when they found out the actor who brings Major Dick Winters to life on television was, in fact, British! 😀 Thank you, Kana and Cindee, for sharing your wonderful stories with us. Here’s to sharing Damian Lewis love for many years together! 

Kana:

Hello there!

First I apologize for any mistakes in my writing and would not at all be offended if you made corrections since English is not my first language. I am a Japanese woman married to a Canadian. I am a Damian fan and here is how I became one.

I’ve been married for almost 13 years to my husband who is interested in historical films and dramas. It may be something to do with the fact that his father was once in Canadian Military. Anyways, my husband introduced “Band of Brothers” to me shortly after we got married.

Every year he watches this series around Remembrance Day (November 11^th) and of course I do, too. To tell you the truth, I didn’t care much about the series the first couple of years. It’s about what really happened in the war and there are crucial scenes. Also it was still quite difficult to understand the dialogues without subtitles. However, as I watched it over the years, I started being focused on this amazing actor who plays Captain Winters.

I never doubted he was an American actor by listening his accent. How I was surprised to find out later on that he was British! Yet still, I don’t think I called myself a Damian fan then. Damian was Captain Winters to me. That’s how real he was in the series, which I believe many of his fans would agree with me.

Then one day I realized that Captain Winter was just one of Damian’s roles and that I wanted to see other characters. The next person I met was Nicholas Brody in Homeland. Brody was completely different from Captain Winters but now it was too late, I was trapped!

Sadness, excitement, tortured soul, sincerity, joy, bravery, dedication… what Damian shows in the character is just so real and captivates you. I zipped through the seasons that were available on Netflix. Now what? I wanted to see more Damian in a different character. So then I watched “Life”. And next, and next and on and on.

The thing about Damian is that he makes you want to watch more of his acting and it just gets better every time.

I truly am glad that I learned English and that I’m able to watch his shows and movies in English. I wish I am able to go see his acting on stage one day. That would be a dream experience for Damian fans.

Lastly, I would like to thank you for your effort on making the fan page actively running. Thank you.

Cindee:

The first time that I had ever seen Damian Lewis was on “Band of Brothers” when it was released in the collector’s metal tin.

I had purchased it for my husband for Christmas of that year. I thought that Damian Lewis was a new American actor that I had never heard of. I fell in love with him right away as he reminded me of my son, with the red hair and blue eyes. His acting was just amazing in that series, so as time went on, I tried to learn more about the “American” actor who had done such a stellar job of playing one of our war heroes, Capt. Richard Winters.

I had to start switching my media to Blu-Ray as I was quickly becoming deaf. I joined Twitter to become a member of Damian’s Fan Club and that is where I started to learn about his present series Homeland, and his past achievements. I began to purchase Homeland in Blu-Ray and Showtime to watch season 5. After watching Seasons 1-3 of Homeland I was in a puddle of tears so I began looking for everything possible on this “American” actor.

The more I read the more I found out that he was not American at all!!!!! I saw him one morning on a network show promoting Billions and I almost fell off my chair. It was the very first time that I had heard Damian speak in his native accent. No, he couldn’t really be British, could he? He speaks amazing American English!!! From then on, I started to look for his older British Works and found the Forsyte Saga in my local library. I fell in love with the British Damian all over again!!

Nick Brody will always be my favorite character of Damian Lewis even though my first love was Richard Winters in “Band of Brothers”. He is the BEST ACTOR that I have ever known on either side of the ocean and he always will be to me.

Author: Damianista

Academic, Traveler, Blogger, Runner, Theatre Lover, Wine Snob, Part-time New Yorker, and Walking Damian Lewis Encyclopedia :D Procrastinated about a fan's diary on Damian Lewis for a while and the rest is history! View all posts by Damianista