23 White Actors Miscast in Nonwhite Roles, From Mickey Rooney to Emma Stone
Rooney as Japanese? Stone as Chinese/Swedish/Hawaiian? TheWrap looks at history of racially misguided castings
Wrap Staff
| June 22, 2021 @ 1:03 PM
Hollywood just doesn't seem to learn from its mistakes as it continues to cast white actors in nonwhite roles again and again. And again.
Katharine Hepburn in "Dragon Seed" (1944)
Caucasian Hepburn played a Chinese woman in this big-screen adaptation of the Pearl S. Buck novel.
Marlon Brando in "The Teahouse of the August Moon" (1956)
Brando starred as an Okinawan translator for the U.S. Army in this comedy about the American occupation of the island nation.
John Wayne in "Conquerer" (1956)
Wayne was cast as Mongol conquerer Genghis Khan in what's considered by many to be one of the worst films of all time.
Charlton Heston in "Touch of Evil" (1958)
Heston starred as Ramon Miguel Vargas in the 1958 crime film, a Mexican narcotics officer.
Mickey Rooney in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1961)
More caricature than character, Rooney starred as the buck-toothed, Japanese Mr. Yunioshi in the 1961 film, which has faced volumes of criticism since.
Natalie Wood in "West Side Story" (1961)
Wood plays a Puerto Rican teenager in the 1961 musical film, although she was Russian-American in real life.
Laurence Olivier in "Othello" (1965)
Not only did the white actor play a Moor in 1965's "Othello," he did so while wearing blackface.
Elvis Presley in "Stay Away, Joe" (1968)
The "Jailhouse Rock" singer played a Native American rodeo rider in the 1968 comedy Western. Along with this miscasting, many also criticized the film's use of stereotypes and offensive humor.
Peter Sellers in "The Party" (1968)
The English actor wore brown face for his role as Hrundi V. Bakshi, an Indian actor, in the comedy film. "The Party" was also called out for its racist humor and perpetuating South Asian stereotypes.
Al Pacino in "Scarface" (1983)
Pacino plays a Cuban gangster in the 1983 film, and many criticized his over-the-top accent as offensive.
Anthony Hopkins in "Mask of Zorro" (1998)
Welsh actor Hopkins starred as the Spanish Zorro, a.k.a. Don Diego de la Vega, in the 1998 film.
Rob Schneider in "50 First Dates" (2004)
Schneider seems to play a different ethnicity in every Adam Sandler movie. In "The Waterboy" he was the "You can do it!" guy, in "Big Daddy," he was a Middle-Eastern deliveryman, and in "50 First Dates," he plays a native Hawaiian. Badly.
Angelina Jolie in "A Mighty Heart" (2007)
In the 2007 drama film, Jolie plays Mariane Pearl, a real-life journalist of Afro-Chinese-Cuban descent, though the actress herself is of mixed-European descent.
Mike Myers in "The Love Guru" (2008)
Myers played an Indian-American guru in the roundly panned movie, in which he dressed up a lot of racist jokes in a terrible accent.
Every lede character in "21" (2008)
The movie follows a group of math students who come up with a card-counting strategy to win big in Vegas. While the movie had a predominantly white cast, the real-life MIT students were Asian American.
Jake Gyllenhaal in "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" (2010)
Gyllenhaal plays a Middle Eastern prince in the film, which many called "insulting" and "the perfect example of whitewashing."
Ben Affleck in "Argo" (2012)
Affleck plays Mexican American Tony Mendez, a former CIA technical-operations officer whose life this film is based on.
Johnny Depp in "Lone Ranger" (2013)
Johnny Depp played a Native American in Disney's film, which sparked outrage among fans and critics despite the actor's claims that his great-grandmother had mostly Cherokee blood.
Benedict Cumberbatch in "Star Trek Into Darkness" (2013)
In this "Star Trek" installment, Cumberbatch plays villainous Khan Noonien Singh, a genetically engineered human from North India.
Rooney Mara in "Pan" (2015)
Mara was cast as Tiger Lily, a Native American, in the 2015 film based on the Peter Pan story.
Emma Stone in "Aloha" (2015)
Stone played a Chinese/Swedish/Hawaiian woman in this critically and commercially disappointing Cameron Crowe romantic comedy.
Juliette Binoche in "The 33" (2015)
Binoche plays a Chilean miner in the 2015 film, which is based on the real events of the 2010 mining disaster.
Scarlett Johansson in "Ghost in the Shell" (2017)
Scarlett Johansson, who consistently takes on roles for nonwhite actors, plays the Japanese lead in this lackluster film. Nevertheless, this miscasting sparked a larger conversation on Hollywood's whitewashing of Asian roles