History Main / AbilityOverAppearance

* Used as the main story in an episode of ''Series/{{Ed}}'', when one of Ed's clients, a high school drama teacher, ''doesn't'' cast on this basis. The problem is that he was holding auditions for the role of Abraham Lincoln, and a black student came in and knocked it out of the park. The teacher cast a white student, explicitly on the basis of race, arguing that it simply wouldn't make sense to cast a black student, no matter how talented, as President Lincoln. The student's family sued him, and Ed represented him in court.

* ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'': Malcolm was originally written to be nine years old whereas Creator/FrankieMuniz was thirteen at when the series first began filming. He even gave his mother a thumbs-down as soon as he came out of the audition room. However, the producers were so enthralled by his performance that they decided to age Malcolm up to a middle schooler, and give Muniz the part. When the young actor found out he got it, he jumped on the hotel bed.

** Originally the parts of Maddie and London were inverted, with the blond Ashley Tisdale playing the obvious Creator/ParisHilton expy London Tipton, and Brenda Song playing Maddie. However, when it was revealed that Brenda Song has a natural affinity for playing TheDitz, the roles were reversed.

* The creators of ''Series/RedDwarf'' originally imagined Lister as 41 years old and white: in their words, like an "English version of Creator/ChristopherLloyd as Reverend Jim on ''Film/{{Taxi}}''." When they sent the script to Creator/CraigCharles (23 years old at the time and mixed-race), asking if he thought the part of the Cat was racist, he said it wasn't and also asked to audition for Lister. He got the part.

* In Twilight, Alice Cullen is described as very short, but in the films she is played by 5'5" Ashley Greene. Likewise, Rosalie is described as looking like a model but is played by 5'4" Nikki Reed, who was close friends with director Catherine Hardwicke.

* Used as the main story in an episode of ''Series/{{Ed}}, when one of Ed's clients, a high school drama teacher, ''doesn't'' cast on this basis. The problem is that he was holding auditions for the role of Abraham Lincoln, and a black student came in and knocked it out of the park. The teacher cast a white student, explicitly on the basis of race, arguing that it simply wouldn't make sense to cast a black student, no matter how talented, as President Lincoln. The student's family sued him, and Ed represented him in court.

* When Pauline [=McLynn=] first auditioned for Mrs. Doyle on ''Series/FatherTed'', she was rejected for being too young and pretty ([=McLynn=] was in her early thirties; Mrs. Doyle was a middle-aged widow). She supposedly showed up for another audition with a bad cold - and got the part.

* ''Series/{{Percy Jackson and the Olympians|2023}}'': Creator/RickRiordan, the author of [[Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians the original books]], [[https://rickriordan.com/2022/04/what-a-week-2/ has stated]] he casts actors based on who can best embody the essence of his characters, even if they look nothing like how he originally wrote them. This is why some of the characters don't physically resemble how Riordan describes them in the books. Most notably Creator/LeahSavaJeffries was cast as Annabeth, leading to both a RaceLift and AdaptationalDyeJob.

* ''Series/{{Percy Jackson and the Olympians|2023}}'': Creator/RickRiordan, the author of [[Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians the original books]], [[https://rickriordan.com/2022/04/what-a-week-2/ has stated]] he casts actors based on who can best embody the essence of his characters, even if they look nothing like how he originally wrote them. Most notably Creator/LeahSavaJeffries was cast as Annabeth, leading to both a RaceLift and AdaptationalDyeJob.

* ''Series/{{Percy Jackson and the Olympians|2023}}'': Creator/RickRiordan, the author of [[Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians the original books]], [[https://rickriordan.com/2022/04/what-a-week-2/ has stated]] he casts actors based on who can best embody the essence of his characters, even if they look nothing like how he originally wrote them.

* ''Series/{{Percy Jackson and the Olympians|2023}}'': Creator/RickRiordan, the author of [[Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians the original books]], [[https://rickriordan.com/2022/04/what-a-week-2/ has stated]] he casts actors based on who can best embody the essence of his characters, even if they look nothing like how he originally wrote them. This is why the majority of the cast looks almost nothing like how Riordan depicts them in the books.

* Tess from ''[[Series/BeautyAndTheBeast2012 Beauty and the Beast]]'' was initially written as a firey Irish-American cop, but Nina Lisandrello's performance impressed the producers enough that she was changed to a Latina instead.

* ''Series/{{The Count of Monte Cristo|1998}}'': As often noted, Creator/GerardDepardieu was too heavily built to resemble the much scrawnier Edmond Dantès from [[Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo the novel]] who escaped from [[TheAlcatraz prison]] (where he was fed just enough to survive). But absolutely no-one can deny that he had the dramatic chops for such a role.

** ''Film/IronMan'':

*** And of course, the comics [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]] is 6' 1" (185 cm)). Creator/RobertDowneyJr. is 5' 7" (1m70), forcing [[ScullyBox high heels]] in certain scenes -- specially in ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', as Creator/ChrisHemsworth, Creator/ChrisEvans, and even Gwyneth Paltrow are really tall.

Sometimes, however, an actor who looks completely different from the specified description shows up and absolutely nails the audition. In such cases, casting directors may throw the description out the window and hire this actor purely based on their performance. If the discrepancy between the character's appearance in the source material (or a historical figure that he or she is based on) is truly jarring, it leads to WTHCastingAgency regardless of the actor's talent.

* ''Series/{{Percy Jackson and the Olympians|2023}}'': Creator/RickRiordan, the author of [[Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians the original books]], is a strong believer of this trope, and as a result, most of the cast barely resemble their book counterparts.

* ''Film/AWrinkleInTime2018'': Director Ava DuVernay wanted to make the film more diverse, so the Murrys became a mixed race family. Meg the protagonist was {{Race Lift}}ed to become black. Even people who didn't like the film praised Storm Reid for her performance.

* ''Film/AWrinkleInTime2018'': Ava Du'verny wanted to make the film more diverse, so the Murrys became a mixed race family. Meg the protagonist was {{Race Lift}}ed to become black. Even people who didn't like the film praised Storm Reid for her performance.

** Murphy's casting was ''nothing'' compared to the outrage when Creator/HeathLedger was cast as The Joker. A talented actor who had never played a villain and whose famous good looks would be hidden behind the famous white face, red lips and green hair? Christopher Nolan insisted that Ledger was the best actor for the part and he would surprise fans with his performance. [[{{Understatement}} He certainly proved his gamble was worth it.]]

* ''Series/{{Percy Jackson and the Olympians|2023}}'': Creator/RickRiordan, the author of [[Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians the original books]], is a fervent believer of this trope, and so most of the cast barely resemble their book counterparts.

* ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption'': When casting Red, the description was for a middle-aged Irish man with greying red hair and actors such as Creator/ClintEastwood, Creator/HarrisonFord, Creator/PaulNewman, and Creator/RobertRedford were considered. Creator/MorganFreeman wound up getting the part because the director "couldn't see anyone else as Red" after his audition. Which had the added effect of making the line - "Why do they call you 'Red'?" [{{beat}}] "Maybe it's cause I'm Irish." - hilarious. In the novella, the character is only named Red. It's changed in the film to "Ellis Redding," to explain the name.

*** Valkyrie is a white blonde in the comics, but in this movie, she is portrayed by Creator/TessaThompson, who is black. Director Creator/TaikaWaititi said he was aware that some of the more hardcore fans might take umbrage with her casting, but insisted that she gave the strongest audition of all the actresses who read for the part. The costume designer even nearly gave Valkyrie blonde hair out of respect that the fans would react negatively to the casting - but chose to leave it dark [[ButNotTooBlack to avert another trope]]. Semi-justified in that the character is portrayed as being a member of an army of Valkyries rather than as a strict adaptation of the comic character (who appears in flashbacks).

** On the subject of Patrick Stewart, if his appearance had been very different from Xavier's, it's hard to believe he wouldn't have been cast anyway, given his ability to elevate any production he's in. That he has such an [[JustForPun uncanny]] resemblance to the comics version of his character is a happy accident.

* ''Film/StarTrekIntoDarkness'': The very white, very British Creator/BenedictCumberbatch was cast as (the AlternateTimeline version of) the specifically-ethnic [[Characters/StarTrekTheOriginalSeriesKhanNoonienSingh Khan Noonien Singh]]. Fans ''instantly'' cried RaceLift. After the film came out, however, his performance was acclaimed; in fact, it's one of the few areas of the film that the vast majority of watchers, including the complainers, applaud. Additionally, a couple [[AuthorsSavingThrow Authors' Saving Throws]] have come out: one a tie-in prequel which made the RaceLift in-universe canon to hide his identity, the other WordOfGod about how, given the character's acts of terrorist violence within the film, casting someone of the proper ethnicity might have generated [[MiddleEasternTerrorists unneeded controversy]]. Finally, it's worth noting that the character has a history of merely being AmbiguouslyBrown; the original actor approached for the role was Creator/BenicioDelToro, and the actor who originated the PrimeTimeline role in the 60s was Creator/RicardoMontalban, neither of whom is actually a Sikh from India.