History Main / TransCharacterCisActor

6. In the case of dubbing to another language, their culture and country has a very different views and tolerance of gender and the queer community compare to the country the work originated from; resulting in most queer performers in that region and cultures are in the closet or even actively being persecuted (Russian and Chinese are the two most prominent examples who consume Western media).

8 In ''Manga/MoriartyThePatriot'', Irene Adler comes out as "James Bonde", but they're still played by cisgender women, Creator/YokoHikasa in Japanese and Creator/NatalieVanSistine in English.

[[caption-width-right:350:"Left:Brandon Teena, trans male protagonist of Film/BoysDontCry. Right: Hilary Swank, the actress playing him, in a glamour shot."]]

* ''Film/BreakfastOnPluto'': Cis actor Creator/CillianMurphy plays transgender woman Kitten (whose dead name is Patrick).

* ''Film/ThreeGenerations'': Cis actress Creator/ElleFanning plays the transgender teenage boy Ray..

* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'': Birdo, one of the earliest examples of a trans female in video games, has been voiced by cisgendered actors, both male and female, since the 2000s. In the UpdatedReRelease of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'', ''Super Mario Advance'', she was voiced by Creator/JenTaylor, whereas starting with ''[[VideoGame/MarioGolf Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour]]'', she has consistently been voiced by Creator/{{Nintendo}} composer Kazumi Totaka.

* ''Film/ThreeGenerations'': Cis actress Creator/ElleFanning plays the transgender teenage boy Ray.
* Cis actress Creator/SeanYoung plays transgender police detective Lois Einhorn in ''Film/AceVentura''. Her transgender status is played for UnsettlingGenderReveal and she got humiliated at the end of the film, in a parody of ''Film/TheCryingGame'' listed below.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': In "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina", Mr. Garrison gets surgery and becomes Mrs. Garrison (though turns back into a man in "Eek, a Penis!"), but is still voiced by a cisgender man and the show co-creator Trey Parker.

* ''Series/{{Glee}}'': Coach Bieste, who came out as a transgender man and medically transitioned in Season 6 after being written as a straight, if butch, cisgender woman for the previous four seasons, is played by cisgender lesbian actress Dot-Marie Jones.

** In "Transitions", trans girl Hayley is played by cisgender actor Creator/BridgerZadina. Her counselor, Jackie Blaine, is played by actress Creator/AishaHinds, who has been mistaken for a trans woman in the past due to her size but is commonly believed to be cisgender. The episode does feature an actual trans non-binary actor, Daniel Sea, in the minor role of Blake.

** Kikunojo is a trans woman, and in both Japanese and English versions, she's voiced by cisgender actresses, those being Creator/MariyaIse and Creator/BrynApprill.

* ''Series/AmericanHorrorStoryHotel'': Trans bartender Liz Taylor is played by cis actor Creator/DenisOHare. Granted, there were pre-transtion flashbacks. O'Hare defends that he initially assumed that Liz was a crossdresser when he was offered the role.

* ''Series/AmericanHorrorStoryHotel'': Trans bartender Liz Taylor is played by cis actor Creator/DenisOHare. Granted, there were pre-transtion flashbacks.

In recent times, Hollywood has tried to get more transgender or nonbinary roles in their stories. For whatever reasons, many of these roles are offered to cis actors instead of trans actors. This can be for several reasons:

* ''[[Film/ThreeGenerations 3 Generations]]'': Cis actress Creator/ElleFanning plays the transgender teenage boy Ray.

This practice was tolerated and widespread in the early days of Hollywood (a transgender actor had not appeared on a small screen until ''2005'', with Creator/AlexandraBillings in ''Film/RomyAndMicheleInTheBeginning'') since the transgender community wasn't as prominent and they figured that bad representation was still better than none. But due to transgender activism and progressing societal attitudes, [[https://www.thepinknews.com/2018/08/07/hollywood-giants-transgender-representation/ there have been movements]] to reduce or stop this practice altogether due to the reasoning that transgender actors are struggling enough [[https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/oct/28/cast-more-transgender-actors-in-non-trans-roles-union-urges to get roles normally]] but now they have to compete against cis actors ([[https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/trans-actors-challenges-8338/ who are usually more well known]]) playing roles that were written for and about their community. And that's not even mentioning the profit, accolades and awards cis actors receive for playing trans roles, further perpetuating the imbalance in power between cis and trans performers. However, it should be acknowledged that this practice was [[https://www.gendergp.com/trans-characters-on-screen-from-mockery-to-protagonists/ what opened the doors for the trans community]], offered visibility, and garnered sympathy and momentum for their cause by [[FairForItsDay getting any transgender representation]] on screen ''[[ValuesDissonance at all]]''.

* Cis actress Sean Young plays a transgender police detective Lois Einhorn in ''Film/AceVentura''. Her transgender status is played for UnsettlingGenderReveal and she got humiliated at the end of the film.

* ''Film/AllAboutMyMother'': Two transgender women played by cis actors: Lola played by Toni Canto and Agrado played by Antonia San Juan.

* ''Film/BoysDontCry'' is based on the life of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Teena Brandon Teena]] who is played by cis actress Creator/HilarySwank.

* ''Film/TheDanishGirl'': Cis actor Creator/EddieRedmayne plays one of the first transgender woman to undergo sex reassignment surgery in history [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lili_Elbe Lili Elbe]]. [[https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/regressive-reductive-and-harmful-a-trans-womans-take-on-tom-hoopers-embarrassing-danish-girl-213499/ A review by a trans woman]] explains why the movie and Redmayne's portrayal is insulting to trans women.
* ''Film/DogDayAfternoon'': Cis actor Creator/ChrisSarandon plays the pre-op transgender girlfriend of the main character who cannot afford gender reassignment surgery, leading him to rob a bank to pay for her. The character is based on the real life trans woman [[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Eden Elizabeth Eden]] - girlfriend of the man who orchestrated the robbery.

* Cis actress Lauren Mollica plays trans woman Aggie in ''Film/IttyBittyTittyCommittee''. Most critics found her to be the most sympathetic character in the DysfunctionJunction.
* ''Film/AMightyWind'' end with [[spoiler:Mark Shubb (played by Creator/HarryShearer) transitioning into living as a woman]].
* In ''Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian'', trans woman Loretta is played by Creator/EricIdle.

* Cis actress Creator/ScarlettJohansson [[https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/scarlett-johansson-says-she-mishandled-transgender-casting-controversy-n1092131 is set to star]] in a movie called Rub and Tuck based on the life of a transgender man massage parlor owner Dante "Text" Gill. However, the backlash against Johansson's casting and her subsequence DearNegativeReader [[https://www.bustle.com/p/scarlett-johanssons-response-to-her-new-movies-backlash-just-reiterates-the-root-of-the-issue-9669582 public response]] has made her quit the project and the film was shelved.

* ''Film/TheWorldAccordingToGarp'': Cis actor Creator/JohnLithgow portrays transgender woman Roberta Muldoon who was one of the woman at the main character's mother's woman shelter.

* ''Series/AliceInBorderland'': trans girl Hikari Kuina is played by actress Aya Asahina and by actor Rihito Itagaki in a flashback. Neither are trans in real life.
* ''Series/AmericanHorrorStoryHotel'': trans bartender Liz Taylor is played by Creator/DenisOHare. Granted there were pre-transtion flashbacks.
* In the 2009 episode "Make Over" of the police detective drama ''Series/TheCloser'', actor Beau Bridges played a transwoman, who had previously been known to one of the regulars as a male detective friend. This character found it very difficult to accept his good buddy in the persona of a woman.

* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': Chandler's estranged, drag queen father, who was confirmed as a transgender woman years later, is played by the cisgender Creator/KathleenTurner.
* ''Series/HitAndMiss'': Creator/ChloeSevigny as Mia, the trans woman protagonist. While the actress is classically feminine, the story averts an EasySexChange by showing her taking hormones and mentioning she's had plastic surgery, even using a prosthetic penis for a nude scene.

* ''Series/{{Glee}}'': Coach Bieste, who came out as a transgender man and medically transitioned in Season 6 after being written as a straight, if butch, cisgender woman for the previous four seasons, is played by cisgender lesbian Dot-Marie Jones.
* In the ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'' episode "Transitions", trans girl Hayley is played by cisgender actor Creator/BridgerZadina. Her counselor, Jackie Blaine, is played by actress Creator/AishaHinds, who has been mistaken for a trans woman in the past due to her size but is commonly believed to be cisgender. The episode does feature an actual trans non-binary actor, Daniel Sea, in the minor role of Blake.

* ''Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack'': Zigzagged in the case of trans woman Sophia, who is played by trans actress Creator/LaverneCox and became her StarMakingRole. In flashbacks to periods before she transitioned, she is played by Cox's cis gender twin brother Marcus Lamar.

* ''Series/{{Transparent}}'': Trans woman Maura Pfefferman - the titular transparent, is played by cis actor Creator/JeffreyTambor. After the show became a hit, other trans characters were played by trans actresses.

* ''Series/UglyBetty'': Daniel's transgender sister Alexis, is played by cisgendered actress Creator/RebeccaRomijn.

* ''Series/{{Friends}}'': Chandler's estranged, drag queen, father is played by Creator/KathleenTurner, who was confirmed as a transgender woman years later.

This practice was tolerated and widespread in the early days of Hollywood (a transgender actor had not appeared on a small screen until ''2005'', with Creator/AlexandraBillings in ''Film/RomyAndMicheleInTheBeginning'') since the transgender community wasn't as prominent and they figured that bad representation was still better than none. But due to transgender activism and progressing societal attitudes, [[https://www.thepinknews.com/2018/08/07/hollywood-giants-transgender-representation/ there have been movements]] to reduce or stop this practice all together due to the reasoning that transgender actors are struggling enough [[https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/oct/28/cast-more-transgender-actors-in-non-trans-roles-union-urges to get roles normally]] but now they have to compete against cis actors ([[https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/trans-actors-challenges-8338/ who are usually more well known]]) playing roles that were written for and about their community. And that's not even mentioning the profit, accolades and awards cis actors receive for playing trans roles, further perpetuating the imbalance in power between cis and trans performers. However, it should be acknowledged that this practice was [[https://www.gendergp.com/trans-characters-on-screen-from-mockery-to-protagonists/ what opened the doors for the trans community]], offered visibility, and garnered sympathy and momentum for their cause by [[FairForItsDay getting any transgender representation]] on screen ''[[ValuesDissonance at all]]''.

!!Examples:

* ''WebAnimation/InanimateInsanity'': Before being [[TheOtherDarrin Darrin'd]] by non-binary voice actors Jazzy Oliver and Shooshies respectively in 2022, Paintbrush and [[spoiler:Bot]], who were revealed to be non-binary, were voiced by the cisgender voice actor Taylor Grodin.

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* ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'': One member of The Demon Triad, Miyuki, while initially presented as cis, is quickly revealed to be a trans woman (demoness?), and is voiced by cis actress Peggy Paterson.

* ''Anime/ZombieLandSaga'': In episode 8, Lily is revealed to be a trans woman, but in both Japanese and English dubs, she's voiced by cisgender actresses; Minami Tanaka and Sarah Wiedenheft, respectively.

* ''Anime/YoureUnderArrest'': Aoi Futaba is a transgender woman, and in the English, Japanese, and Latin American Spanish dubs, she's voiced by cisgender women; Creator/RicaMatsumoto, Creator/AmyTipton, and Sara Pantoja, respectively.

* ''Series//AmericanHorrorStoryHotel'': trans bartender Liz Taylor is played by Creator/DenisOHare. Granted there were pre-transtion flashbacks.