History ViewerGenderConfusion / LiveActionTV

* Though it's quickly apparent if you watch the show, many people who hear of ''Series/{{Angel}}'' assume it stars a woman, thanks to his GenderBlenderName. (The show ''Series/DarkAngel'' probably didn't help.) Lampshaded by Cordelia in Season 2 when she says "She could have been Angel because its kind of a Girly name."

** Shortly after broadcast, Wiki/ThisVeryWiki was calling Creet, the pre-teen kid in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E11Utopia "Utopia"]] with shoulder-length hair, "the little girl". The character was played by John Bell, now better known as Bain in ''Film/TheHobbit''. According to the ''Doctor Who'' Wiki, [[http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Creet Freema Agyeman made the same mistake]]. This is the LongHairIsFeminine bias at work.

** Shortly after broadcast, Wiki/ThisVeryWiki was calling Creet, the pre-teen kid in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E11Utopia "Utopia"]] with shoulder-length hair, "the little girl". The character was played by John Bell, now better known as Bain in ''Film/TheHobbit''. According to the ''Doctor Who'' Wiki, [[http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Creet Freema Agyeman made the same mistake]]. This is the LongHairIsFeminine bias at work, so much so that not even an actual lady such as Freema thought to check for a little boy’s wee-wee.

* ''Series/{{Devs}}'': Lyndon has a masculine name, a male haircut and male fashion. If you don't recognize the actress or notice the one line referencing the character's age as 19, it's pretty easy to assume that Lyndon is an adolescent boy.

* ''Series/{{Devs}}'': Lyndon has a masculine name, a male haircut and wears male clothing. If you don't recognize the actress or notice the one line referencing the character's age as 19, it's pretty easy to assume that Lyndon is an adolescent boy.

** Shortly after broadcast, Wiki/ThisVeryWiki was calling Creet, the pre-teen kid in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E11Utopia "Utopia"]] with shoulder-length hair, "the little girl". The character was played by John Bell, now better known as Bain in ''Film/TheHobbit''. According to the ''Doctor Who'' Wiki, [[http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Creet Freema Agyeman made the same mistake]].

** ''Series/KamenRiderZiO'': Time Jacker [[EnfantTerrible Uhr]] may be confused for a girl as [[CreepyChild he]] is [[BrattyHalfPint short]] with feminine features.
* Perry in ''Kevin and Perry'' is played by a woman.

** Vanessa looks rather gender-ambiguous, having medium-length hair and typically dressing rather masculine, though she does wear earrings.
** Doug during the seasons when he had long hair (in the "Illness" episode, he outright states that he got his hair cut because he was sick of people saying he looked too girlish). In the 1985 season, his hair was actually longer than Vanessa's.
** 1986 cast member Jody Morris may have been mistaken for a girl by some viewers at first, due to his unisex first name as well as his own shoulder-length hair.

** And Doug during the seasons when he had long hair (in the "Illness" episode, he outright states that he got his hair cut because he was sick of people saying he looked too girlish). In the 1985 season, his hair was actually longer than Vanessa's.

* Multiple kids on ''Series/YouCantDoThatOnTelevision'':

* Data's cat Spot from ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''. Spot was always referred to using male pronouns. Then Spot [[YourTomcatIsPregnant got pregnant]]. She later gave birth to a healthy litter -- despite being de-evolved into a lizardlike creature at the moment (ItMakesSenseInContext) ([[HollywoodEvolution well]], [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext not really]], [[MST3KMantra but whatever]]).
* In Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E15PenPals, O'Brien refers to Sarjenka (Nikki Cox) as "it". As one book on ''Star Trek: TNG'' noted: "If it was Nikki Cox after she grew up, he would have had no trouble telling her gender".
* Series/XPlay had a segment called "Guy or Girl", where the viewers were asked if some androgynous video game characters were either male or female. It was later re-used as "Robot or Human."

* Snoop from ''Series/TheWire'' confused a lot of viewers. She dresses exactly like the men, hides her braided hair under baseball caps, [[ButchLesbian makes suggestive comments about other women]], has a very gravely voice, and generally makes her way as a stone killer in a man's world. The only time she wears feminine clothes in the entire series, she's also wearing a face-convering motorcycle helmet on a drive-by shooting. Marlo's first words to her are, "Your turn, girl", however, so the series is never trying to deliberately confuse the audience.
* ''Series/DoctorWho''
** Alpha Centauri, in the classic series serial "The Curse of Peladon" (and "The Monster of Peladon", its sequel). A bit different, given it's not even vaguely human. The voice and body mannerisms are all very definitely feminine but nearly every character refers to it as either "he" or "him", despite the visual and aural indicators being for the opposite, and in actual fact, Alpha Centauri's race is genderless. (WordOfGod from the actress is that she was told to play the part as a CampGay civil servant.)
** Shortly after broadcast Wiki/ThisVeryWiki was calling Creet, the pre-teen kid in "Utopia" with shoulder-length hair "the little girl". The character was played by John Bell, now better known as Bain in ''Film/TheHobbit''. According to the ''Doctor Who'' Wiki, [[http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Creet Freema Agyeman made the same mistake]].
* Tripitaka from ''Series/{{Monkey}}''. Despite being male, he's [[CrosscastRole physically played by a woman, and his English dub voice also a woman]]. Not many know that Tripitaka was meant to be male because of it.
* Though it's quickly apparent if you watch the show, many people who hear of ''Series/{{Angel}}'' assume it stars a woman, thanks to his GenderBlenderName. (The show ''Series/DarkAngel'' probably didn't help.) Lampshaded by Cordelia in Season 2 when She says "She could have been Angel because its kind of a Girly name"

* Coach Beiste from ''Series/{{Glee}}''. Many viewers believed, or still believe, she is played by a male actor. (She is, in fact, played by Dot Jones.)
** And then there's Kurt. The combination of his [[VocalDissonance very high-pitched voice]], CampGay mannerisms, elaborate outfits, and PrettyBoy, sometimes outright [[DudeLooksLikeALady feminine]] appearance make it easy to mistake him for a girl at first, or at least a {{Bifauxnen}}. The actor's going through puberty helped to alleviate this... somewhat.
* Multiple kids on ''Series/YouCantDoThatOnTelevision'':
** Vanessa looks rather gender-ambiguous, having medium-length hair and typically dressing rather masculine, though she does wear earrings.
** And Doug during the seasons when he had long hair (in the "Illness" episode, he outright states that he got his hair cut because he was sick of people saying he looked too girlish). In the 1985 season, his hair was actually longer than Vanessa's.
** 1986 cast member Jody Morris may have been mistaken for a girl by some viewers at first, due to his unisex first name as well as his own shoulder-length hair.
* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'': The "Pat" sketches star a person of indeterminate gender who causes confusion to everyone around them by not telling anyone what gender they are, causing much awkwardness (and hilarity).
* Perry in ''Kevin and Perry'' is played by a woman.

* This happens with many monsters in ''Franchise/PowerRangers'', given the fact that there are rarely even TertiarySexualCharacteristics to go by, all you have is the voice actor. For example, although Invenusable Flytrap is female, Soccadillo and Fighting Flea (played by the same voice actress) are male. Also, Creator/WendeeLee has played villains of both genders, such as the male Stag Beetle and the female Witchblade.
* ''Series/KamenRiderDouble'': Phillip actually passed for [[spoiler: his sister]] Wakana for some time, mostly thanks to youth and crossdressing.
* ''Series/KamenRiderZiO'': Time Jacker [[EnfantTerrible Uhr]] may be confused for a girl as [[CreepyChild he]] is [[BrattyHalfPint short]] with feminine features.

** Shortly after broadcast Wiki/ThisVeryWiki was calling Creet, the pre-teen kid in "Utopia" with shoulder-length hair "the little girl". The character was played by John Bell, now better known as Bain in ''Film/TheHobbit''. According to the ''Doctor Who'' Wiki, [[http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Creet Freema Agyemen made the same mistake]].