
Even if you've never heard of Hollywood whitewashing, chances are you've seen it anyway. It's a kind of casting where film studios have placed white actors in lead roles under the assumption that the majority of Americans would rather see a white face than a non-white one—despite what the role calls for. And while Hollywood may not resort to putting actors in blackface anymore, the practice of just bending the race of a character is not an uncommon one. Hence, Jake Gyllenhaal playing a Persian.
The major problem with racebending and whitewashing—aside from, you know, it being deeply offensive—is that it takes roles from actors who actually are of that ethnicity/race. In turn, they get stuck with minor roles that only serve to supplement the story of the white lead, or with stereotyped roles. For instance: If you're Middle Eastern, you'll be cast as a terrorist.
To demonstrate what a common practice this is, we look at 25 minority characters in major films that were portrayed by Caucasian actors, whether in make-up or not.
Written by Tanya Ghahremani (@tanyaghahremani)
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Wang and O-Lan in The Good Earth (1937)

Jade Tan in Dragon Seed (1944)

Massai in Apache (1954)

Genghis Khan in The Conqueror (1956)

Sakini in The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956)

Miguel Vargas in A Touch of Evil (1958)

Ira Hamilton Hayes in The Outsider (1961)

I.Y. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

Maria in West Side Story (1961)

Cleopatra in Cleopatra (1963)

Othello in Othello (1965)

Hrundi V. Bakshi in The Party (1968)

Alicia Nash in A Beautiful Mind (2001)

Brandi Boski in Stuck (2007)

Eben Oleson in 30 Days of Night (2007)

Mariane Pearl in A Mighty Heart (2007)

Ben Campell in 21 (2008)

Goku in Dragonball: Evolution (2009)

Dastan in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)

Katara and Sokka in The Last Airbender (2010)

Irene in Drive (2011)

Hae-Joo Chang in Cloud Atlas (2012)

Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games (2012)

Tony Mendez in Argo (2012)

Nora in Warm Bodies (2013)
