History Main / BrownFace

* ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'': In a case for JustForFun/TheZerothLawOfTropeExamples, the title character has traditionally (though certainly not always) been played by a white actor made up to look like a person with brown skin, or even in full-on {{blackface}}. This is complicated partly because Othello is identified as a Moor, which in Shakespeare's day was something of a vague catchall term for people with any shade of brown or black skin, which could include olive-skinned Caucasians as well as Sub-Saharan Africans. (More specifically it meant Arabs and/or North Africans, but that still doesn't it narrow it down very much.) For obvious reasons, modern productions are likely to avoid brownface in favor of an alternate solution, such as [[StatingTheSimpleSolution simply casting a person of color]], or giving the play a RaceLift, as in the production starring Creator/PatrickStewart as the only ''white'' character in an otherwise black cast.

* ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'': In a case for JustForFun/TheZerothLawOfTropeExamples, the title character has traditionally (though certainly not always) been played by a white actor made up to look like a person with brown skin, or even in full-on {{blackface}}. This is complicated partly because Othello is identified as a Moor, which in Shakespeare's day was something of a vague catchall term for people with any shade of brown or black skin. (More specifically it meant Arabs and/or North Africans, but that still doesn't it narrow it down very much.) For obvious reasons, modern productions are likely to avoid brownface in favor of an alternate solution, such as [[StatingTheSimpleSolution simply casting a person of color]], or giving the play a RaceLift, as in the production starring Creator/PatrickStewart as the only ''white'' character in an otherwise black cast.

* ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'': In a case for TheZerothLawOfTropeExamples, the title character has traditionally (though certainly not always) been played by a white actor made up to look like a person with brown skin, or even in full-on {{blackface}}. This is complicated partly because Othello is identified as a Moor, which in Shakespeare's day was something of a vague catchall term for people with any shade of brown or black skin. (More specifically it meant Arabs and/or North Africans, but that still doesn't it narrow it down very much.) For obvious reasons, modern productions are likely to avoid brownface in favor of an alternate solution, such as [[StatingTheSimpleSolution simply casting a person of color]], or giving the play a RaceLift, as in the production starring Creator/PatrickStewart as the only ''white'' character in an otherwise black cast.

* ''Film/TheLastAirbender'' infamously cast the very white Noah Ringer, Creator/NicolaPeltz, and Jackson Rathbone as Aang, Katara, and Sokka respectively. Other than the ethnic costumes, there was no attempt to portray them as anything but whites. In [[WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender the show]], Aang has light skin, so Ringer's casting can be forgiven (though since the Air Nomads are based on the Tibetans, it should not), but Katara and Sokka are AmbiguouslyBrown, as the Water Tribe are based on the Inuit people. Bizarrely, the Water Tribe extras actually ''were'' played by actors who resemble real-life Inuit, so the casting choice could have been better.

* ''Series/TwoSentenceHorrorStories'': "Manifest Destiny" has an in-universe example. The episode focuses on a reenactment of a European settler village, and features both European and Blackfoot characters. However, ''all'' of them are played by white people, including the Blackfoot lead, who is played by a very blond, blue-eyed white man. This is only a part of the problem, because [[TheThemeParkVersion everyone has been mislead into thinking that it's a feel-good reconciliation story between Europeans and Native Americans]], while the real story ends with the settlers massacring the Blackfoots.

** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Francis_Burton Sir Richard Francis Burton]] (not to be confused [[Creator/RichardBurton with the 20th century actor]]) was notable among this group for journeying in disguise to Mecca. He took the "pretending to be something you're not" aspect of this trope UpToEleven by being ''[[GroinAttack voluntarily circumcised]]'' to help avoid detection as a non-believer.

* In ''Film/TheOutrage'', Creator/PaulNewman plays Juan Carrasco, the {{Expy}} of Tajomaru from ''Film/{{Rashomon}}'', a {{Bandito}}. There is TruthInTelevision that a number of Mexicans are fair-skinned and fair-haired, but it's still strange why an actual Mexican actor didn't play him.

[[folder:Film]]

* White Englishman Music/PeterGabriel wrote the story of ''Music/TheLambLiesDownOnBroadway'' with a New York Puerto Rican named Rael as the protagonist. When {{Music/Genesis}} took it on the road in 1974–75, Gabriel performed the role of Rael heavily made up in brownface.

* ''Film/{{Octopussy}}'' had the villan, Kamal Khan, an exiled Afghan Prince, played by the white Frenchman Creator/LouisJourdan; we are told by M at the start that he is an Afghan, and thats it, no Brownface, no Ethnic Dress, no accent even.

* ''Film/BrotherhoodOfTheWolf'' has Mark Dacascos as a Native American. Dacascos has Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Spanish and Irish ancestry, but no Native American. He does not use makeup, in an illistration of No 2 and No 3.

* ''Film/{{West Side Story|1961}}'' cast Creator/NatalieWood (American of Russian descent) as Maria, who's from Puerto Rico. Her brother Bernardo was played by Greek-American George Chakiris. Creator/RitaMoreno, who played Anita, was the only actual Puerto Rican in the main cast... and even she was made to wear dark makeup. According to Wood's biography by her sister Creator/{{Lana|Wood}}, she didn't use makeup and instead sunbathed a lot to get a tan so she would look "outdoorsy" as Maria.

** Averted in the [[Film/WestSideStory2021 2021 film version]], as Creator/StevenSpielberg insisted on casting Latino actors from a wide range of backgrounds. Creator/RachelZegler (Maria) is of Colombian ancestry, David Alvarez (Bernardo) is Cuban-Canadian, Creator/ArianaDeBose (Anita) is Afro-Latina, Sebastian Serra (Braulio) is Puerto Rican, Julius Anthony Rubio (Quique) is Dominican, and Andrei Chagas (Jochi) is Brazilian, while Rita Moreno (Valentina) appears with her natural skin tone.

[[caption-width-right:285:Gemma Arterton as an Englishwoman in ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' and as a Persian in ''Film/PrinceOfPersiaTheSandsOfTime''.]]

* The 1961 film adaptation of ''Film/WestSideStory1961'' cast the Russian-American Creator/NatalieWood as Maria, who's from Puerto Rico. Her brother Bernardo was played by Greek-American George Chakiris. Creator/RitaMoreno, who played Anita, was the only actual Puerto Rican in the main cast... and even she was made to wear dark makeup.

* Vasquez from ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' is played by a fair-skinned Jewish actress, Jenette Goldstein. This is because the film was an American-British co-production and shot on a filming lot in England. All the US actors were expats living in the UK at the time, with no Hispanic actresses readily available. Goldstein is considerably darker-skinned in that role than she is in real life. However, she's stated she's actually half Moroccan and Brazilian (and not AllJewsAreAshkenazi), making this a subversion.

* Vasquez from ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' is played by a white Jewish actress. She is considerably darker-skinned in that role than she is in real life. However, she's stated she's actually half Moroccan and Brazilian (and not AllJewsAreAshkenazi), making this a subversion.

* The 1961 film adaptation of ''Film/WestSideStory'' cast the Russian-American Creator/NatalieWood as Maria, who's from Puerto Rico. Her brother Bernardo was played by Greek-American George Chakiris. Creator/RitaMoreno, who played Anita, was the only actual Puerto Rican in the main cast... and even she was made to wear dark makeup.

* In ''Film/ABeautifulMind'', Creator/JenniferConnelly (whose MixedAncestry includes family from Russia, Poland, Ireland, and Norway) plays Alicia Nash, a woman from El Salvador.

* Fair-skinned English comedian Creator/PeterSellers wears brown makeup to play Indians in ''Film/TheMillionairess'' and ''Film/TheParty''. Again, his phenotype would actually not make him stand out in real life India(well, [[InterchangeableAsianCultures Northern India that is]]), but rather his ''very'' European facial features and mannerisms.

* Parodied in ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'', in which Dee has a character she performs called Martina Martinez, which is an extremely stereotypical Latina with an artificially brown face and black wig. People who see her in costume are mortified.

* In ''Film/The33'', Chilean Maria Segovia was played by a French actress.

# The Ethnic getup. A white actor has his or her normal features onscreen, but wears Ethnic garb. [[note]]This used to be also a common way for Westerners to blend in in Real Life in many places during the Age of Colonialism.[[/note]] This often sees works portraying people wearing stereotypical clothes and dresses, which may be from the wrong region, worn rarely, worn out of season, or worn in inappropriate locations, or times.