History Main / ColorblindCasting

* The 2001 film adaptation of ''Theatre/Hamlet'' by director Campbell Scott features non-traditional but non-colorblind casting: Polonius, Laertes, and Ophelia are portrayed as a Black family.

* The 2001 film adaptation of ''Theatre/Hamlet'' by directed Campbell Scott features non-traditional but non-colorblind casting: Polonius, Laertes, and Ophelia are portrayed as a Black family.

* The Hulu series ''Series/The Great'' is set in the court of Peter III of Russia in the 1700s and includes several courtiers played by Black and Asian actors, including primary castmember Sacha Dhawan portraying Count Orlo.

* In ''Series/{{Elementary}}'', Dr. Watson, usually a white Englishman, is played by Asian-American actress Creator/LucyLiu. (Making this Watson a woman was something the showrunners had decided in advance, but she only became Asian when they cast Liu.)

* Gerry McIntyre plays Judah in the ''Theatre/JosephAndTheAmazingTechnicolorDreamcoat'' movie. Joseph's only black sibling. Maybe he was adopted.

* When the MadeForTVMovie version of Creator/{{Rodgers and Hammerstein}}'s ''Film/{{Cinderella}}'' was cast in 1997, the casting was colorblind, leading to a ''very'' diverse group of actors. There was a black queen (Creator/WhoopiGoldberg) and a white king (Creator/VictorGarber), and their son was played by a Filipino man (Paolo Montalban). In addition, the role of Cinderella herself was given to a black woman (Music/{{Brandy}}). Cinderella's stepmother is white (Creator/BernadettePeters) and her daughters are both black (Natalie Desselle-Reid) and white (Veanne Cox).

!Examples:

Historically, this was far more common in theatre than you would believe. In the Elizabethan Theatre of Creator/ChristopherMarlowe, Creator/WilliamShakespeare, Ben Jonson and others, it was common for actors to play both male ''and'' female parts,[[note]]This might explain the abundance of cross-dressing jokes in Shakespeare plays - cross dressing was a matter of course for theater and having a man (the actor) pretending to be a woman (the role) pretending to be a man (some shenanigan the character gets up to) was guaranteed to draw laughs then as now[[/note]] since women weren't allowed to act on stage in this period. It was only during the Restoration that you had actresses playing female roles. In the 19th Century, with the greater professionalization of the stage, it was common for women to play male roles, such as when Sarah Bernhardt played Theatre/{{Hamlet}}.

The rise of cinema and its greater emphasis on casting realism has also led to this trope being more common and invoked more often on stage. Theatre directors argue that the stage is fundamentally unrealistic as a medium. If an audience is being asked to admit that the proscenium contains scenes from Rome, Greece, Thrace and other exotic settings, why not ask them to accept non-traditional casting, which would not be any less realistic? Likewise with the development of international performance art, it is common in opera for singers, musicians and actors to be multi-national and multi-cultural as a result of greater inter-disciplinary and cultural exchanges.

* When the MadeForTVMovie version of Creator/{{Rodgers and Hammerstein}}'s ''Film/{{Cinderella}}'' was cast in 1997, the casting was colourblind, leading to a ''very'' diverse group of actors. There was a black queen (Creator/WhoopiGoldberg) and a white king (Creator/VictorGarber), and their son was played by a Filipino man (Paolo Montalban). In addition, the role of Cinderella herself was given to a black woman (Music/{{Brandy}}). Cinderella's stepmother is white (Creator/BernadettePeters) and her daughters are both black (Natalie Desselle-Reid) and white (Veanne Cox).

* The script of ''Film/LethalWeapon'' never indicated Murtaugh's race. When the casting director suggested Creator/DannyGlover, her response to objections over race was "So what?".

** ''Film/MuchAdoAboutNothing1993'': Don Pedro, prince of Spain, is played by black actor Creator/DenzelWashington, and his half-brother is played by half-Asian, half-white Creator/KeanuReeves.

* In ''Series/{{Elementary}}'', Dr Watson, usually a white Englishman, is played by Asian actress Creator/LucyLiu. (Making this Watson a woman was something the showrunners had decided in advance, but she only became Asian when they cast Liu.)

** In season 3, one of the two new FBIAgent series regulars, Ray Nadeem, is Indian-American, and is played by the British Jay Ali. He's the only non-white amongst the main players, and his ethnicity bears minimal impact on the story.

* In {{opera}}, voice and acting ability have always had top priority. Thus, Korean soprano Sumi Jo has sung roles like Lucia (a Scottish lady) in ''Lucia di Lammermoor'', and [[Theatre/LaTraviata Violetta]] (a French courtesan). Likewise, world famous African-American soprano, Leontyne Price, has sung the roles of Leonora (a Spanish woman), Liu (a Tartar woman) in ''Theatre/{{Turandot}}, and Tatiana (a Russian) in Tchaikovsky's ''Eugene Onegin''.

** In season 3, one of the two new FBIAgent series regulars, Ray Nadeem, is Indian-American, and is played by the British Jay Ali.

* ''Series/Deception2013'' was written with no races given to the characters. This lead to a cast led by a woman with African, Puerto Rican and Cherokee heritage with an ex who is Black and Cuban. The only change to the script was that Will's last name, originally Sakovitch, was changed to Moreno.

* Possibly one of the most notable examples was when Creator/AudraMcDonald was cast as Carrie Pipperidge in ''Theatre/{{Carousel}}'', and ended up winning her first of a record-breaking six Tony Awards.

* In season 1 of ''Series/Daredevil2015'', Ben Urich, typically a white man in the comics, is played by African-American Vondie Curtis-Hall, which doesn't have any impact on the plot in the least. In season 2, the casting of African-American Stephen Rider as Blake Tower is also a casting choice that has no impact on the plot either.

** Averted notably by ''Theatre/PorgyAndBess''; [[MonochromeCasting all the main characters are African American]] and will always be portrayed by black singers. Music/GeorgeGershwin got an opportunity to premiere the opera at the Met (an opportunity every composer fantasizes about), but he absolutely forbade it because it would have starred white actors in {{blackface}}.

* In opera, voice and acting ability have always had top priority. Thus, Korean soprano Sumi Jo has sung roles like Lucia (a Scottish lady) in ''Lucia di Lammermoor'', and [[Theatre/LaTraviata Violetta]] (a French courtesan). Likewise, world famous African-American soprano, Leontyne Price, has sung the roles of Leonora (a Spanish woman), Liu (a Tartar woman) in ''Theatre/{{Turandot}}, and Tatiana (a Russian) in Tchaikovsky's ''Eugene Onegin''.
** Averted notably by ''Theatre/PorgyAndBess''; [[MonochromeCasting all the main characters are African American]] and will always be portrayed by black singers. Creator/GeorgeGershwin got an offer to premiere the opera at the Met (an opportunity every composer fantasizes about) with white actors in {{blackface}}, and he absolutely forbade it.

Colorblind casting (also known as Non-Traditional casting) is where characters for a performed work (theater, TV, film) are cast without regard to race, gender, age, etc.

* ''Series/{{Deception}}'' was written with no races given to the characters. This lead to a cast led by a woman with African, Puerto Rican and Cherokee heritage with an ex who is Black and Cuban. The only change to the script was that Will's last name, originally Sakovitch, was changed to Moreno.

* Kenneth Branagh makes a habit out of this:

* ''Series/GreysAnatomy'' is a great example. None of the roles were cast with an eye to race, leading to a very racially diverse cast. Miranda Bailey was originally envisioned by the creator as a tall blonde woman. Look who she's played by now! Also, Isaiah Washington originally auditioned for the part Patrick Dempsey has made famous. Sandra Oh's character's last name was changed to her more ethnically appropriate name only after she was cast in the part.