1. When Scarlett Johansson (a white woman) played Motoko Kusanagi, a Japanese character, in Ghost in the Shell.
©Paramount / Courtesy Everett Collection
2. When Ben Kingsley — although of Indian descent — played Gandhi in Gandhi, during which he wore dark brownface and body makeup.
Ronald Grant Archive / Mary Evans
3. When Jared Leto (a cisgender man) played Rayon, a trans woman, in Dallas Buyers Club.
©Focus Features / Courtesy Everett Collection
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4. When Mickey Rooney (a white man) played Mr. Yunioshi, a racist stereotype of an Asian man, in Breakfast at Tiffany's.
Courtesy Everett Collection
5. When Eddie Redmayne (a straight, cisgender man) played Lili Elbe, one of the first recorded trans women to undergo sex reassignment surgery, in The Danish Girl.
©Focus Features / Courtesy Everett Collect
6. When Elizabeth Taylor (a white woman) played Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt, in Cleopatra.
Mary Evans / Everett Collection
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7. When Emma Stone (a white woman) played Captain Allison Ng, a character of Hawaiian and Chinese decent, in Aloha.
©Columbia Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection
8. When Ziyi Zhang (who's Chinese) and Michelle Yeoh (who's Malaysian) played two Japanese characters in Memoirs of a Geisha — a film that depicts a traditional aspect of Japanese culture.
Columbia Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection
9. When Jake Gyllenhaal (a white man) played Dastan, a character who's descended from Persia (modern-day Iran) in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.
©Walt Disney / Courtesy Everett Collection
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10. When Jim Sturgess and Kate Bosworth (both white) were cast in 21 — a film based on a true story about the MIT Blackjack Team, which consisted of all Asian students.
Columbia Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection
11. When Natalie Wood (a white woman of Russian descent) played Maria, a Puerto Rican woman, in West Side Story.
Courtesy Everett Collection
12. When Laurence Olivier (a white man) played Othello, a famous black character in Shakespeare's catalogue, in Othello, which he wore blackface for and adopted a camp accent.
Courtesy Everett Collection
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13. When Nat Wolff (a white man) played Light, a Japanese character, in Death Note.
©Netflix / Courtesy Everett Collection
14. When Rooney Mara (a white woman) played Tiger Lily, a Native American character, in Pan.
©Warner Bros. / Courtesy Everett Collection
15. When Zoe Saldana — a woman of Hispanic, Lebanese, and Haitian descent — played Nina Simone in a biopic where she wore darker makeup and a nose prosthetic.
RLJ Entertainment
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16. When Christian Bale (a white man) played the biblical Moses, who is Egyptian, in Exodus: Gods and Kings.
©20th Century Fox / Courtesy Everett Collection
17. Finally, when Angelina Jolie (a white woman) played Marianne Pearl, a woman of Afro-Cuban descent, in A Mighty Heart, during which she wore darker makeup and a kinky wig.
Paramount Pictures / Courtesy Everett Collection
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