History Main / TransCharacterCisActor

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Spongebob Squarepants}}'': In the episode "My Leg", which emphasizes Fred, the fish that always scream "My leg!", is revealed to be in love with a nurse named Daisy Bazooka, a tall, muscular and bearded female fish that works as a nurse. Due to her appearence and deep manly voice, she's considered a transgender woman, and she is voiced by Creator/KevinMichaelRichardson.

* In ''Film/TheNakedGun 33 1/3 The Final Insult'', cis actress Anna Nicole Smith plays the trans character Tanya Peters (her revelation scene is a parody of ''The Crying Game''.

*
''WesternAnimation/{{Spongebob Squarepants}}'': In the episode my leg, which emphasizes Fred, the fish that always scream "¡My leg!", is revealed to be in love with a nurse named Daisy Bazooka, a tall, muscular and bearded female fish that works as a nurse. Due to her appearence and deep manly voice, she's considered a transgender woman, and she is voiced by Creator/KevinMichaelRichardson.

''WesternAnimation/{{Spongebob Squarepants}}'': In the episode my leg, which emphasizes Fred, the fish that always scream "¡My leg!", is revealed to be in love with a nurse named Daisy Bazooka, a tall, muscular and bearded female fish that works as a nurse.
Due to her appearence and deep manly voice, she's considered a transgender woman, and she is voiced by the cisgender Creator/KevinMichaelRichardson.

* ''Manga/Heaven'sDesignTeam'': Kanamori or Venus, one of the main designers at Designer Department, a flamboyant and beauty-obsessed designer woman whose masterpiece is the bird.
She is voiced by Creator/DaisukeKishio.

* ''Manga/EdensZero'' has an inversion in the Japanese VO track, where the cisgender female Homura Kōgetsu is played by Creator/ShikiAoki, a transgender female-to-male voice actor.

** Kikunojo is a trans woman voiced by cisgender actress Creator/MariyaIse in Japanese. Averted in the English dub, where she's voiced by trans actress Creator/KayleighMcKee.

* Another inversion in the Japanese language is in ''Literature/RebornAsAVendingMachineINowWanderTheDungeon'', where the cisgender Hulemy is voiced by the transgender Creator/ShikiAoki, who also voiced Homura in ''Manga/EdensZero''.

This practice was tolerated and widespread in the early days of Hollywood. Though the Aussie soap ''Series/Number96' cast trans actress Carlotta as a trans woman in 1973, in America, a transgender actor had not appeared on a small screen until ''2001'', with Jessica Crockett in "Out", an episode of ''Series/DarkAngel'', playing bit character Louise, who is also trans. This was because 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]]''.

* ''Film/TheCryingGame'': The love interest of the main character Dil is revealed to be a transgender woman, played by cisgender queer actor Jaye Davidson.

This practice was tolerated and widespread in the early days of Hollywood (a transgender actor had not appeared on a small screen until ''2001'', with Jessica Crockett in "Out", an episode of ''Series/DarkAngel'', playing bit character Louise, who is also trans) 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]]''.

* ''Film/TheCryingGame'': The love interest of the main character Dil is revealed to be a transgender woman, played by cisgender actor Jaye Davidson.

* Despite being non-binary and using they/them pronouns, Bloodhound from ''VideoGame/ApexLegends'' is voiced by cis woman Creator/AllegraClark (albeit pitched down to sound more androgynous).

* Creator/VanessaRedgrave plays real-life transgender woman athlete [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9e_Richards Renee Richards]] in ''Film/SecondServe'' who is heavily discriminated when she tries to qualify as a female pro player.

* ''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 [[RealLifeRelative Cox's cisgender twin brother Marcus Lamar]].

* ''Film/ThreeGenerations'': Cis actress Creator/ElleFanning plays the transgender teenage boy Ray.
* ''Film/TheAdventuresOfPriscillaQueenOfTheDesert'': Cis actor Terence Stamp plays transgender woman Bernadette who is one of the main characters.
* ''Film/AllAboutMyMother'': Two transgender women are played by cis actors: Lola played by Toni Canto and Agrado played by Antonia San Juan.
* ''Film/{{Anything}}'': Cis actor Creator/MattBomer plays transgender woman Freda Von Rhenburg - the love interest of the main character.

* ''Film/BreakfastOnPluto'': Cis actor Creator/CillianMurphy plays transgender woman Kitten.
* ''Film/TheCryingGame'': The love interest of the main character Dil is revealed to be a transgender woman, played by cis actor Jaye Davidson.
* ''Film/DallasBuyersClub'': Cis actor Creator/JaredLeto plays the transgender woman Rayon.
* ''Film/TheDanishGirl'': Cis actor Creator/EddieRedmayne plays one of the first transgender women 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.
* In ''Film/DasepoSonyo'', trans girl Double Eyes is played by cisgender actress Eun-Seong Lee.
* ''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 this. 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 Creator/ScarlettJohansson [[https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/scarlett-johansson-says-she-mishandled-transgender-casting-controversy-n1092131 was set to star]] in a movie called ''Rub and Tug'' 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/{{Transamerica}}'': Cis actress Creator/FelicityHuffman plays pre-op transgender woman Bree who fathered a child named Toby before her transition. Their relationship is the main conflict of the film.
* ''Film/TheWorldAccordingToGarp'': Cis actor Creator/JohnLithgow portrays transgender woman Roberta Muldoon who was one of the women at the women's shelter run by the main character's mother.

* Cis actress Creator/ScarlettJohansson [[https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/scarlett-johansson-says-she-mishandled-transgender-casting-controversy-n1092131 was 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.

1. Good old-fashioned transphobia. While the directors and casting directors are open-minded enough to be involved in transgender stories and portraying trans and non-binary people on screen, they are still ignorant/transphobic enough to not cast transgender and non-binary actors.

2. Star Power: Sadly, for a combination of reasons, there aren't a lot of openly trans or non-binary working actors who are also household names. The pressure to turn a profit might lead to the higher ups of the project deciding to cast a cisgender, larger name actor to help the project get greenlit.

3. The role is so offensive and stereotypical that no self-respecting trans or non-binary actor would take it.

4. The character was not written to be transgender or non-binary when they were first cast, or the character transitioning or coming out during the story would result in recasting, which would break continuity and immersion, or would make the show to [[MoneyDearBoy go over budget]].

5. It just so happens that the best people auditioning for the role happened to be cis actors, or there was a lack of availability of trans and non-binary actors that suited the role, especially more so if the character belongs to [[TwoferTokenMinority more minority groups other than being trans or non-binary]].

6. In the case of dubbing to another language, their culture and country has a [[ValuesDissonance 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).

7. For older works, casting cis actors as trans characters was the only option, since there weren't as many openly trans actors, back in, say, the 90s and 2000s.

This practice was tolerated and widespread in the early days of Hollywood (a transgender actor had not appeared on a small screen until ''2001'', with Jessica Crockett in "Out", an episode of ''Series/DarkAngel'', playing bit character Louise, who is also trans) 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]]''.

One variation of this trope is when a cisgender actor is cast to play a transgender character for scenes set before the character's transition, while casting a transgender actor to play them post-transition.

Note: This is NOT a place for Administrivia/ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontLike, complaining about the character or complaining about the performance of the cis actors in questions. The show, the character and the performance can be of any quality (some even won prestigious awards and became StarMakingRole for the cis actor) and still fit this description.

* ''Manga/BlackButler'': Grell Sutcliff, who is transfem, is voiced by Creator/JunFukuyama in Japanese and Daniel Fredrick in English, both of whom are cis male actors.

** Magne, a transfeminine member of the League of Villains, has cisgender male voice actor: Creator/SatoruInoue in Japanese, and Creator/JeremyInman in English.

* ''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 this. 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.
* ''Film/EscapeFromLA'': Trans gang leader Hershe is played by cis female actor Creator/PamGrier. The filmmakers made a nod towards realism by deepening her voice in post production, and Grier grew her body hair out to portray a trans woman with little access to beauty supplies.

* Creator/VanessaRedgrave plays real life transgender woman athlete [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ren%C3%A9e_Richards Renee Richards]] in ''Film/SecondServe'' who is heavily discriminated when she tries to qualify as a female pro player.

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

* ''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 cisgender twin brother Marcus Lamar.
* ''Series/PrettyLittleLiars'': [[spoiler:[=CeCe=] Drake, played by cis actress Vanessa Ray, was revealed to be a trans woman and the main antagonist A. Her reveal as the main villain of the show couples with the fact that she is played by a cis woman has attracted ''a lot'' of criticisms for playing to harmful stereotypes of trans women.]]

* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'': Birdo, one of the earliest examples of a trans female in video games, has been voiced by cisgender 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.

* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'': Birdo, one of the earliest examples of a trans female in video games, has been voiced by cisgender 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.

* ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'': In the episode "[[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChroniclesS2E13EarthlingsWelcomeHere Earthlings Welcome Here]]", Eileen, a trans woman on the run from an evil arms company that she worked for before she transitioned, is played by Dinah Lenney, a cis actress.

* ''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. Tambor stated he'd be glad to end up being the last cisgender man to play a trans woman charater.