When can/can't actors play a character and/or a historical figure that is a different race?

Have you heard of the Broadway play "Hamilton"?

Anyone can play any character of any race or ethnicity of a theater performance, provided they obtain a copyright permission to do it. Sometimes, playwriters do not give permission, if they do not approve of the way it will be performed. After all, it is their intellectual property. Even schools have to obtain a copyright permission, plus pay a fee, their performances.

Back in the 60's, actor James Whitmore played a black man in 'Black Like Me'. James is lilly -white by birth.

( . . . who is a different race?)

That's interesting; it brings to mind the myriad of Caucasians who have portrayed Jesus Christ. 
~

I don't think there is a hard and fast answer to this question. A lot depends upon the nature of the work and the intentions of the people (producers/directors/etc.) casting the actors.

For example, the works of Shakespeare have become so widely distributed in Western/European culture the ethnicity of the characters is not strictly relevant. If Hamlet is played by a white actor, a black actor, or an Elcor actor, it doesn't really matter.

On the other hand, would you have Hulk Hogan star in The Stephen Hawking Story? How about Peter Dinklage in 20,000 Women: The Story of Wilt Chamberlain? Keanu Reeves in anything but "Bill & Ted" or "Speed"? At some point, the mismatch between actor and role is large enough to damage the credibility of the work.

The tricky borderline happens when the ethnicity of the characters being portrayed is germaine to the story being told. Arguably, only Danes should be cast for roles in Hamlet, but as I noted above, the nature of the work and the universal themes presented suggest the Danish-ness of the characters is not particularly important. On the other hand, in a production of Roots, the fact people of one ethnic background are the enslaved, while people of another background are the enslavers is highly central to the nature of the work. You might cast red-haired pale-skinned Irish people as the slave characters, but that's a fundamental change to the work. Maybe there's an artistic point to be made by doing so, but that makes the production a derivative work, not true to the original intent of the story.

I think the instances where this sort of thing causes the most uproar is when the artistic intent of the work DOES incorporate ethnic background as a significant part of the story, but that intent is ignored/subverted because of "box office" reasons.

Two works that come to mind recently are Aloha, where the majority status of Asian/Polynesian people in Hawaii is whitewashed away and a 1/4 Native Hawaiian-1/4 Chinese major character is portrayed by whiter-than-white actress Emma Stone, and the upcoming Ghost in the Shell, where Scarlett Johansson portrays an Asian character...because ScarJo is "box office" while Ming Na-Wen is not.

And, of course, the argument over this topic intersects with other issues about Mass Media Culture's obsession with youth and whiteness. If ScarJo plays the main role in Ghost in the Shell because she's already "box office", when does Ming Na-Wen get to play a role which brings her critical acclaim and name recognition, so that maybe Na-Wen is "box office" enough to portary Black Widow in the next Avengers reboot?


As with most topics this complex, the answer boils down to "it depends"...and the discussion starts from that point.

January 11.   And every other February 3.   Also do not ever try it on leap year.

Not funny. I know.  So, let's ask the smart people on Quora:     I think I want to join that site.  Stepper (RIP) said that it was for the smart people, so I want to join and see if they notice that I am not.  I fooled no one on here, maybe you guys are smarter than they are.

Is an actor playing a different race considered politically incorrect? What about voice acting?
Joel Montgomery, Actor! Worked both onstage and backstage in various roles for many years

Then there was Robert Downey Jr.  Interjection by me Sharonna Nuka Towel




Written 19 Oct 2014

Regarding political correctness, or the lack thereof... it's incredibly subjective. Depending on who you ask, you'll hear a lot of different answers: many people would say it's incredibly insensitive, and history generally supports this notion. Our entertainment industry is filled with examples of terrible demonstrations of racial stereotyping and outright mockery of races being perpetuated by Caucasian actors, for example.

Al Jolson is one of the most famous examples of this - he performed in blackface in the style of old minstrel shows, which made him incredibly famous - but it was also a terrible caricature of African Americans that was prevalent in American culture (and still is in many places). Blackface is not technically illegal today, but doing what Al Jolson did today would be career suicide in most cases without compelling reason to do so. Robert Downey, Jr. succeeded at doing this in Tropic Thunder without killing his career:

In fact, he was nominated for an Oscar for his performance in the film, despite some of the controversy it created. But as Robert Downey, Jr. explained in several different interviews explaining why he was hesitant to take the role in the first place, it was successful for several reasons: 1) It was lampooning Hollywood and the extremes to which method actors go to get into a role, and 2) It was done as "tastefully" as blackface can be done - in fact, one of the real black actors consistently calls Kirk Lazarus (RDJ's character) on his BS portrayal of a black person.

Interestingly enough, since you ask about voice-over work, you'd be amazed at how much voice-over work, especially today, is about as close to being "racially blind" as any industry could be. I'd highly recommend seeing the documentary I Know That Voice (2013). John DiMaggio (best known as the voice of Bender in Futurama) is actually mentioned by some of his co-actors as the "blackest white man they know" because of his ability to perform black characters so convincingly. In voice-over work, you'd be amazed at how many of the voices in things that you have heard are completely opposite of what you'd think the voice actor would look like.

What it comes down to is that, like all performance art forms, it's entirely subjective. If an actor does something tastefully and for a valid artistic purpose, things like playing another race entirely can be perfectly acceptable. But 90% of the time, you'll find that any attempt to play race differently usually ends up a gross caricaturization of racial stereotypes that does more harm than good.

317 Views · View Upvotes This post was edited by WM BARR . =ABSOLUTE TRASH at November 19, 2016 3:20 PM MST

To be historically accurate methink never. Why would you want misrepresentation unless there be a shortage of actors and you must make do. This post was edited by O-uknow at November 19, 2016 3:31 PM MST

When the filmmaker says so.  But it happens all the time.