Casting choices have become a sore spot in Hollywood, what with the amount of white actors who have been cast as characters of other races—the so-called “whitewashing” of Hollywood.
But despite there being waves of protest when actors of color are considered for fictional roles like Spider-Man or James Bond, there hasn’t always been major backlash when white actors played characters of color, even when those characters were based on real-life people of color.
Many of the most revered and beloved white actors have at one point in their career taken on a non-white role on screen. Click on to find out more.
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Tilda Swinton
‘Doctor Strange’ was released by Marvel in 2016, with Tilda Swinton cast in the role of the ‘Ancient One.’ The movie was based on a comic book series which originally portrayed Swinton’s character as an elderly Tibetan man. It was decided to cast a woman for the film adaption, but controversially, they chose to cast a white woman. Years later as conversations about whitewashing have finally come to the forefront, the casting choice has been widely criticized. Swinton addressed the incident in an interview with Variety. She recalled questioning the decision herself at the time and paid attention to the public response, but was surprised that it was met with no resistance that she was aware of. She expressed “an enormous amount of sympathy” for the perspective shift that has now occurred.
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Jake Gyllenhaal, ‘Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time’
In the film adaptation of the video game Gyllenhaal plays the main character, who unsurprisingly is supposed to be Persian, or what many people recognize as present-day Iran.
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Scarlett Johansson, ‘Ghost in the Shell’
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Rooney Mara, ‘Pan’
Huge waves of criticism flowed in when Rooney Mara was cast as Tiger Lily, a Native American warrior from the world of Peter Pan.
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Peter Sellers, ‘The Party’
In this cult comedy, widely praised for its slapstick humor in 1968, Peter Sellers performs in brownface, using an uncomfortable Indian accent.
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Ben Affleck, ‘Argo’
Though the film won the Oscar for Best Picture, many criticized Affleck’s decision to cast himself as the real-life CIA operative Antonio J. Mendez, who is Hispanic in real life. Mendez himself, however, has said he was fine with the choice of Affleck, and that “I don’t think of myself as a Hispanic.”
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Meryl Streep, ‘The House of Spirits’
This 1993 film adaptation of Isabel Allende’s best seller of the same name tells the story of a rancher’s family in Chile, and the character Streep plays is naturally supposed to be Chilean. But so too are characters played by Glenn Close, Jeremy Irons, Winona Ryder, and more.
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Linda Hunt, ‘The Year of Living Dangerously’
For reasons unknown, Linda Hunt played a male Chinese-Australian dwarf in this 1982 film.
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Natalie Wood, ‘West Side Story’
In the 1961 musical, Maria and the Sharks are supposed to be Puerto Rican, but most characters were played by white, non-Latino actors, with the exception of Rita Moreno, who won an Oscar for her role as Anita.
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Emma Stone and the ‘Aloha’ cast
Stone has been steadily criticized for playing Allison Ng, a character of Hawaiian and Asian heritage. She famously yelled, “Sorry!” for it at the Golden Globes.
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Mena Suvari, ‘Stuck’
This film was based on the real life of Chante Mallard, an African American woman. However, she was portrayed in the 2007 film by Mena Suvari. The final nail in the coffin for many was putting Suvari in cornrows for the part.
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Al Pacino, ‘Carlito’s Way’
In 1993, Al Pacino played Puerto Rican Carlito.
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The cast of ‘The Last Airbender’
The movie was based on the animated series ‘Avatar,’ which features characters of Asian and Native American-descent. The film’s cast, however, is almost entirely white actors, save for the villains.
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Yul Brynner, ‘The King and I’
The year of 1956 marked the beginning of Brynner’s lifelong role as King Mongkut of Siam, which he would reportedly go on to play 4,625 times onstage.
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The ‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’ cast
Ridley Scott faced backlash for the movie’s casting of mostly white actors, despite its telling of the story of the exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt. Most notably, Christian Bale played Moses, and Joel Edgerton played Ramesses II.
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Christopher Abbott, ‘Whiskey Tango Foxtrot’
The actor played an Afghan man in Tina Fey’s 2016 dramedy ‘Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.’
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Liam Neeson, ‘Batman Begins’
Ra’s al Ghul, one the longest-standing villains in the Batman universe, is originally of Arab descent in the comic books. Neeson is just one of many white actors to portray the character on-screen.
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Johnny Depp, ‘The Lone Ranger’
For this 2013 film adaptation of the hit TV series of the same name, which had originally cast First Nation actor Jay Silverheels back in the ’50s, Johnny Depp was somehow chosen to play the Native American warrior Tonto.
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Joseph Fiennes, ‘Elizabeth, Michael and Marlon’
This 2017 British TV movie was based on the alleged road trip that Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Jackson, and Marlon Brando took from NYC to LA, but a white actor was cast as the legendary King of Pop—who was African American.
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Juliette Binoche, ‘The 33’
The 2015 film tells the true story of 33 Chilean miners who were trapped underground for 69 days, and this French actress is supposed to be Maria Segovia, the real-life Chilean sister of one of the miners.
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Angelina Jolie, ‘A Mighty Heart’
In the 2007 film, Jolie plays the role of Mariane Pearl, who in real life is mixed-race, of Afro-Cuban descent, with naturally curly hair and a dark complexion.
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Katharine Hepburn, ‘Dragon Seed’
The 1944 film is supposed to feature a Chinese woman who leads her village to fight invaders, however Hepburn (in prosthetic eyelids) got the part.
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Elizabeth Taylor, ‘Cleopatra’
In this 1963 historical epic, the English-American actress plays Cleopatra, Egypt’s last independent pharaoh who is widely believed to have been of Macedonian descent.
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Jim Sturgess, ’21’
The 2008 film is based on a real-life student named Jeffrey Ma, of Chinese descent, who became a card counter and blackjack player. British actor Jim Sturgess played the role.
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John Wayne, ‘The Conqueror’
The actor was cast as Genghis Khan, who was Mongol, in this 1956 film which chronicled the rise of the legendary emperor.
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Carey Mulligan, ‘Drive’
The 2011 film adaptation of the novel changed a Latina character named Irina to Irene, played by Carey Mulligan.
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Alec Guinness, ‘Lawrence of Arabia’
Guinness has played people of color several times, and in 1962 he played the Arab Prince Faisal.
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Patricia Neal, ‘Hud’
Neal won an Oscar for her role in the 1963 film as Alma, a character which was adapted from “Halmea” in the original book, which described her as a black woman.
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Anthony Hopkins, ‘The Mask of Zorro’
In the 1998 film, Welsh actor Anthony Hopkins played Mexican hero Zorro, in the same film where the mask of Zorro is passed on to Spanish actor Antonio Banderas.
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Justin Chatwin, ‘Dragonball: Evolution’
In the 2009 film based on the Japanese manga, Canadian actor Justin Chatwin plays the main character Goku.
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Elvis Presley, ‘Stay Away, Joe’
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Mickey Rooney, ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’
In one of the most blatant displays of yellowface, Rooney played Mr. Yunioshi, Holly’s hot-tempered Japanese landlord, complete with taped eyelids, buck teeth, and a thick accent.
