10 Non-White Actors Who Played Previously White Characters

Not too long ago on Toptenz, we hosted a list of similarly sensitive subject matter. The author didn’t mention how the representation of white people, especially in modern films, tends to be stereotypical and negative in many ways too.

In fact, white actors seem to have a monopoly on roles as racists, sadistic freaks, pedophiles, serial killers, manic-depressive suicidal outcasts, rapists, and greedy corrupt politicians. Yet, no one ever complains about this cinematic anti-white racism. This is also the case when entertainers of color portray white characters, or even worse, white historical figures. However, instead of getting any criticisms for the historical, racial, and cultural harassment in the aforementioned cases, we have to celebrate “diversity” at any cost. Here are ten such cases:

10. Clarke Duncan in Daredevil

Daredevil is one of the darkest and most violent superhero movies ever created and the way Mark Steven Johnson approached the original plot story very uniquely.

One of the most idiosyncratic aspects of the hero and narrative happens to be that Kingpin, one of the most feared and powerful crime lords in the Marvel Universe (See Marvel’s worst moments) and Daredevil’s main enemy, is portrayed by Clarke Duncan, a black actor. Duncan’s physique, identical with the comic anti-hero’s physical appearance, acts convincingly. The only visible difference is that his skin color and race does not fit the mold. Despite the obvious racial inaccuracy, most comic fans and film critics didn’t dare to pinpoint this drastic stretch from the strip, for fear of being accused of racism in the crazy era of political correctness we live in.

The Kingpin also made our list of  Top 10 Comic Book Villains.

9. Denzel Washington in The Manchurian Candidate

We all know that Denzel Washington is a great actor, but unfortunately The Manchurian Candidate is not one of his best movies. While he gives this film all his effort, he still can’t overcome an overall inconsistent, heavy-handed, and patently chaotic storyline. Even though the director of the film, Jonathan Demme, insisted that he did not intend to create a copycat remake of the original, nonetheless he did. The movie proved identical to the original classic masterpiece of 1962, given that Washington, an African-American actor, starred in the role originally portrayed by the legendary Frank Sinatra, a minority actor of his time as an Italian-American, but still a white male.

8. Lucy Liu in Charlie’s Angels

When Charlie’s Angels first came out in the mid-70s, the world already had underwent massive changes. As part of that change, on television, seeing three dynamic female detectives dominating, beating and capturing males stood out as extremely shocking for its time. The original trio included Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett (How high was Farrah’s hairstyle on our top 10 hairstyles list), and Jaclyn Smith in the leading roles, but even if you add Cheryl Ladd, Shelley Hack and Tanya Roberts who joined the series in later seasons, you will still have a hard time finding someone who looks like Lucy Liu. That happens of course because the original Charlie’s Angels were white females and Lucy Liu is an Asian woman. Nothing is wrong with that of course but facts are facts. If, one however, takes into account that Chinese, Japanese and Korean showbiz combined is nearly 100% Asian (since political madness doesn’t exist in any of those countries) and how Asians consist of over 60% of the global population while, in comparison, whites have declined to about 12%, then you have to wonder if it’s white people who need affirmative action nowadays.

7. Will Smith in I Am Legend

I happen to be a huge Will Smith fan. I also consider this specific movie one of the very best sci-fi films (Top 10 Time Travel Movies) of the previous decade. Yet, the fact remains that Will Smith is an African-American actor filling in the shoes of an iconic white actor, Charlton Heston in The Omega Man. In contrast to most of the modern “progressive” media, we will avoid any silly comparisons that involve extreme socio-political analogies since this film is simply a fictional scenario. In a fantasy world, a plague kills most of humanity and transforms the rest into monsters. The sole survivor and possible savior of mankind tries to find a cure, but in this instance, is black rather than white. In all fairness though, race would never have mattered in such case, as long as the hero gets the job done.

6. Morgan Freeman as Red in Shawshank Redemption

Morgan Freeman portrayed Ellis Boyd ‘Red’ Redding in Frank Darabont’s critically acclaimed The Shawshank Redemption, based on Stephen King’s book Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. If you have read the book, then you’ve definitely noticed that Frank Darabont made a few changes. In fact, the most ridiculous change may be the fact that he gave the role of a pale-skinned Irishman with red hair, hence the nickname “Red,” to a black actor. In good faith, we can only guess there were no Irish or Irish-American actors available at the time.

5. Jason Momoa as Conan The Barbarian

This film was so bad, from the very beginning to the end that everything else about it pales in comparison. One of its most incongruous aspects is that it begins with Morgan Freeman’s narration, sounding extremely out of place as his comforting southern drawl epitomizes the total opposite of everything bloody, icy, wild and Cimmerian in the film. As a result, the intended wise and graven voice over comes like a post facto Mel Brooks-created self-parody. In addition, Jason Momoa, a man of Native Hawaiian, European and Native American descent, portrays a primitive white European man originally portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger. But, almost unbelievably, to be perfectly honest that’s not even the worst part of this film; watching the film you clearly notice that Jason Momoa is an even worse actor than Arnie.

4. Samuel Jackson as Nick Fury in Ironman

If you are not a comic fan and ignore the comic version of Nick Fury, then you can enjoy Samuel Jackson’s performance because of Samuel’s undeniable acting skills and uniquely cool style. However, if you are a comic geek (Top 10 Movies That Will Make 2015 The Ultimate Year For Geekdom) like myself, and familiar with the original Nick Fury, then even someone as cool as Samuel Jackson can flop as a bad copy and poor imitation of the real tough guy. To begin with, Nick Fury is not bald like Samuel Jackson and his gray hair on the sides is one of his most famous traits and characteristics. The original Nick Fury is a World War II veteran and hero who took missions into Europe. Yet, listening to Samuel Jackson’s ghetto slang with the real Nick Fury in mind makes the entire production sound like an extremely theatrical farce. Another bad choice based on racial and cultural “progress.”

3. Idris Elba as Heimdall in Thor and Thor: The Dark World

Here, we don’t deal with a fictional character simply based on an American film or comic, but a mythological figure based on the god Heimdall of Norse mythology. Kenneth Branagh and Alan Taylor, the two directors of the respective films, attempted – despite the given mythological facts – to promote diversity and multiculturalism. Despite the films’ inaccuracies, liable to offend any thinking Scandinavian person, even worse, the directors gave the role of Heimdall (who’s white in the Marvel Comics universe as well) to Idris Elba. Conversely, let’s just imagine the African-American community and “progressive” media’s rage, if for example, a blonde and blue-eyed Brad Pitt portrayed a Nubian God like Shango.

2. Peter Mensah as Oenomaus in Spartacus (TV series)

This entry is yet another bright example of why people of color should cease portraying white historical figures; it’s historical distortion. Oenomaus was a Gallic gladiator, and one of the rebellious slaves who fought next to the great Spartacus in the Third Servile War against the Romans. The Gauls were a historic European tribe and thus white; an undeniable historical fact that makes the chances of Oenomaus looking like Peter Mensah simply impossible. Even worse, Romans owned African slaves as well, so if the director wanted to add some racial diversity in the series could have done so without modifying history to this extent. Furthermore, why a TV series based on European history and set in Europe, needs racial diversity is mind-boggling. However, thank God in Bollywood and Nollywood, Indians and Nigerians are wise enough not to mix art with race and keep it 100% local.

1. Dwayne Johnson as Hercules (2014)

In a fair and sane world, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Culture of Greece should ban this movie and boycott it. Of course, this will not happen. The Rock, an extremely charismatic, sympathetic, and cool individual who would probably also make a great friend, looks nothing like Hercules. He’s not white, he’s not Greek, and he’s a bad actor too. It’s really no big deal when American directors, authors, and producers distort their own contemporary history, comic books, and original movies, but insulting another nation’s history and culture just because a homophobic misogynist director felt like it, is simply wrong. Greece gave the world democracy, never participated in colonization and slavery, suffered 400 years of occupation and slavery from non-white Muslims, experienced genocide, and had their national treasures stolen. Having its history and mythology distorted almost unrecognizably from the American movie industry is unacceptable.

The writer of this list takes FULL responsibility for every FACT that is included in his list. He pitched the idea requesting a “response-list” to the original list and since Toptenz.net is a democratic and free forum for writers, it offered the opportunity to him. Toptenz.net is not condoning any racists viewpoints and we hope the list wasn’t taken in that regard.

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