History Main / FakeMixedRace

* The ''Series/SavedByTheBell'' episode Running Zack has Zack Morris saying he has Native American Ancestry and then proceeding to do a very stereotypical and offensive class presentation. When called out on this is sent to study with Chief Henry to learn some actual facts. This leads to Zack going on to give a presentation in full costume complete with headdress, which is only marginally better but enough to allow him to compete in the Track Meet.
** Mark Paul Gosselar who plays Zack Morris is however of mixed race (describing himself as half asian) as he has a Dutch-German Father and Dutch-Indonesian Mother and had to dye his hair to Zack's trademark blonde.

[[folder:Film - Animated]]

[[folder:Film - Live Action]]
* ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossThe8thDimension'': The eponymous Buckaroo Banzai is Japanese-American. He is played by Creator/PeterWeller, who is American but not Japanese.
** This is {{Lampshaded}} in the DVDCommentary by (the "real") Reno, who [[{{Mockumentary}} claims the movie]] is a {{Docudrama}} inspired by real events. He praises Weller's acting, but admits he doesn't look much like (the "real") Buckaroo Banzai.
* In the live-action film adaptation of ''Manga/DiamondIsUnbreakable'', the half-white and half-Japanese protagonists Jotaro Kujo and Josuke Higashikata are portrayed by fully Japanese actors.

--> '''Spoony:''' Yeah you’re about as Japanese as Goku from ''Film/DragonballEvolution''
--> '''Iori:'''Kyo is a half breed.
--> '''Spoony:''' Yeah half white and the other half white.
* Kenneth Branagh's film version of ''Film/MuchAdoAboutNothing1993'' has Denzel Washington and Keanu Reeves as half-brothers. Somebody's got to be half-something. (Keanu Reeves is actually half-English... though the other half is a mix of Chinese, Hawaiian, English and Portuguese.)

* In the ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' manga, Jotaro Kujo is ¼ British-American (from his Grandfather Joseph), ¼ Italian (from his Grandmother Suzi Q) and ½ Japanese on his Fathers side. In the live-action movie, he's played by Yusuke Iseya, who is 100% Japanese and not biracial.

* In ''Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark'', Vanessa Lee Chester (the daughter of Guyanese immigrants) portrays Kelly, the daughter of Creator/JeffGoldblum’s character Ian Malcolm. While it isn’t explicitly stated she’s his biological child, their turbulent family situation and Ian’s comments about his kids and ex-wives in [[Film/JurassicPark the previous film]] (“anything that can and all does happen”) strongly imply that he has never been in a stable marriage (or even relationship) long enough to have adopted.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* In ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'':

* In ''Series/Watchmen2019'' full-blooded Vietnamese actor Hong Chau plays the daughter of a Vietnamese woman and [[spoiler:Adrian Veidt]], who's white.

* The half-Hawaiian, half-white titular character in Series/DoogieKamealohaMD, is played by the half-Chinese, half-White Peyton Elizabeth Lee.

[[folder:Theatre]]

* When ''Theatre/MissSaigon'' opened in New York, the casting of Jonathan Pryce as the Engineer caused a huge controversy with Actors' Equity, as the character is mixed race (Vietnamese/French) and Pryce is white. While he did eventually go on to play the role on Broadway (and win a Tony for it), productions since then have consistently cast actors of Asian descent. For the record, the first Asian to portray the role is ''Chinese'' actor Wang Luoyong, who previously appeared as Ip Man in Film/DragonTheBruceLeeStory.

[[folder:Web Video]]
* One character in ''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic'', [[DaddysLittleVillain Evilina]], is supposed to be the daughter of [[{{Satan}} the Devil]] and Creator/KimKardashian. She is played by Rachel Tietz, who's white, while the Devil is played by Malcolm Ray, who's black.

* InUniverse on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''--Apu pretends to be married to Marge when his mother comes to visit, hoping this will get him out of the ArrangedMarriage she wants to foist on him. By extension, Bart, Lisa and Maggie pretend to be Apu's children, despite clearly being too light-skinned to pass for Anglo-Indians; the option of pretending to be Apu and Marge's ''adopted'' children also didn't occur to them. At one point they ask her why she has a dot on her forehead and she questions whether they know anything about their "Brahmin heritage".
--> '''Bart:''' "As long as you have absolutely no follow-up questions: yes, yes we do."

* In WesternAnimation/PuppyDogPals, half-Chinese/half-Jewish Chloe is voiced by Emma Shannon, who is Caucasian.

* In''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', Peter discovered one of his ancestors on his father's side was black. While Peter did play his new-found "blackness" for all it was worth, it understandably wasn't visible, due to said ancestor living before the American Civil War. In any case, Peter's biological father later turned out to be a full-blooded Irishman.

* In WesternAnimation/PuppyDogPals, half-Chinese/half-Jewish Chloe ie voiced by Emma Shannon, who is Caucasian.

* The page quote is from ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', when Peter discovered one of his ancestors on his father's side was black. While Peter did play his new-found "blackness" for all it was worth, it understandably wasn't visible, due to said ancestor living before the American Civil War. In any case, Peter's biological father later turned out to be a full-blooded Irishman.

* A classic example is ''Series/KungFu'', where the son of a Chinese mother and white American father is played by full-white Creator/DavidCarradine. He was originally planned to be full Chinese and played by Creator/BruceLee (who is of mixed race), but [[ExecutiveMeddling the suits]] didn't think the audience could relate to an Asian actor.
* More plausibly used in ''Kung Fu: The Legend Continues'', in which Carradine plays the original ''Series/KungFu'' character's IdenticalGrandson, who's presumably had a couple of generations of partial white ancestry. ''His'' son is played by a white actor, who Lampshades it by remarking that his own mom looked like Betty Crocker.

* In ''Series/Watchmen2019'' full-blooded Vietnamese actor Hong Chau plays the daughter of a Vietnamese woman and [[spoiler:Adrian Veidt]] who's white.

* In ''The Man from Mukinupin'' by Dorothy Hewett, the script specifies that the half-Aboriginal Lily is played by the same actress as her full-white sister, which in practice generally means they're both played by a full-white actress. Done deliberately by Hewett as part of making a point about the erasure of Aboriginal people from Australia's history.

* The half-Hawaiian, half-white titular character in Series/DoogieKamelohaMD, is played by the half-Chinese, half-White Peyton Elizabeth Lee.

* The siblings Simon Tam and River Tam in ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' are supposed to have partial Chinese ancestry, hence their surname. Creator/SeanMaher and Creator/SummerGlau do not.

** The white actor Jamie Bamber plays Captain Lee Adama, the son of Commander Bill Adama, who is played by the Latino actor Edward James Olmos. Lee's mother Carolanne is played by a white actress. To make Lee and Bill look more alike, Jamie Bamber's naturally sandy hair is dyed brown and EJO wears blue contact lenses over his naturally brown eyes.

** Commander Adama is played by Latino actor Edward James Olmos. In the prequel series ''Series/{{Caprica}}'', his father Joseph is played by the Latino actor Esai Morales and his mother Evelyn is played by the white actress Creator/TerylRothery. Which explains the blue eyes.

** Of the child actresses who played Hera, only the infant actress was half-Asian (Hera being born to the White human Helo and Asian Cylon Athena).

** The white actor Jamie Bamber plays Captain Lee Adama, the son of Commander Bill Adama, who is played by the Latino actor Edward James Olmos. Lee's mother Carolanne is played by a white actress. To make Lee and Bill look more alike, Jamie Bamber's hair is dyed brown and EJO wears blue contact lenses.

* Camille Montes Rivero from ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' is supposedly half-Russian and half-Bolivian, but is played by Russian-Ukrainian actress Olga Kurylenko. Kurylenko [[{{Brownface}} significantly darkened her skin]] in order to appear Hispanic.

* Parodied and lampshaded in ''Series/ThirtyRock''. With TGS soon to be cancelled, Tracy (played by the the very dark-skinned Creator/TracyMorgan) and Jenna (played by the white, blonde Creator/JaneKrakowski) decide their next project should be a movie where they play ConjoinedTwins, the joke being that they are both too stupid to realize that non-identical or opposite-sex conjoined twins are impossible, and that neither of them could conceivably pass as mixed race.

* In the Australian series ''The Secret Daughter'', Creator/JessicaMauboy plays Billie. Mauboy is Aboriginal and Indonesian; her character Billie is half white and half Aboriginal.

[[caption-width-right:350:Caucasian Creator/JenniferJones (left) as Eurasian Han Suyin (right)]]

A variant is often used in a comedic contexts, such as animation or sitcoms (see ''Family Guy'' quote above). A character will discover obscure roots in another ethnic group, usually by way of a distant ancestor. The character will often proceed to redefine their whole identity in a ludicrously exaggerated manner based on this information, regardless of the fact that the person lacks any substantive cultural or physical resemblance to the group in question. This plotline's persistence can perhaps be explained by its versatility as a vehicle for dissecting and/or subverting ethnic stereotypes and assumptions.

** Likewise with Josuke Higashikata, who was born out of the result of an affair between British-American Joseph ([[MayDecemberRomance yes, the aforementioned Grandpa]]) and the Japanese Tomoko Higashikata. In the film, he's played by Kento Yamazaki, who is full-blooded Japanese.

--> '''Spoony:''' Yeah white and the other half white.

* In ''Film/TheKingofFighters'', white actor Sean Feris plays the “half breed” Kyo Kusanagi.

--> '''Spoony:''' Yeah you’re about as Japanese as Goku from ''Film/DragonballEvolution''

* In ''Film/KingofFighters'', white actor Sean Feris plays the “half breed” Kyo Kusanagi.