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.
'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.
ScarJo was accused of "whitewashing" the role of Motoko Kusanagi, a character who's originally Asian in the Japanese manga series.
In this cult comedy, widely praised for its slapstick humor in 1968, Peter Sellers performs in brownface, using an uncomfortable Indian accent.
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."
For reasons unknown, Linda Hunt played a male Chinese-Australian dwarf in this 1982 film.
The actor was cast as Genghis Khan, who was Mongol, in this 1956 film which chronicled the rise of the legendary emperor.
The King went from music to movies and back, but in 1968 he played Joe Lightcloud, a Native American character.
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.
Check out some other films that have not aged well.
Famous white actors who played people of color
A shocking list with some of Hollywood's most celebrated actors
MOVIES Controversy
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.