Wow, Marina Sirtis was almost a Latina in TNG

[Hector]

Again, Latinos come in all colors of the rainbow...as I said before, Hispanic is NOT a race.

Also I find it sort of odd some of you referring to white actors playing Latino characters as being in blackface...I thought that was a reference for a white playing a black person.

What if a light-skinned Mexican like Gael Garcia Bernal plays Sugar Ray Leonard in a biographical movie...and had to don dark makeup...

Would that be considered being in blackface too?

[Mikey]

also all the white actors who were darkened with make-up in about 10,000,000 Westerns (TV and movie) to portray Indians--and in many cases Mexicans.

Michael Ansara (who is Lebanese) played an Indian so many times---- to this day, a lot of people think he actually is American Indian.

[ABMAC]

Again, Latinos come in all colors of the rainbow...as I said before, Hispanic is NOT a race.

Also I find it sort of odd some of you referring to white actors playing Latino characters as being in blackface...I thought that was a reference for a white playing a black person.

What if a light-skinned Mexican like Gael Garcia Bernal plays Sugar Ray Leonard in a biographical movie...and had to don dark makeup...

Would that be considered being in blackface too?

I'm using the term "blackface" to mean any time an actor's skintones are darkened for a role as a different ethnic type, no matter what the actor's original colour, because it almost always includes an element of racial stereotyping. Consider this; even though Heston couldn't play anything but a "white American hero," his darkened skin and hair was all it took for predominantly white audiences of the time to accept him as Vargas, the Mexican cop. Audiences wouldn't have accepted him as a light-skinned blonde Mexican because of the stereotype. If it had been important for Vargas to be a light-skinned blonde, audiences wouldn't have accepted anything less than a true light-skinned blonde Mexican in the role.

To see an even worse racial miscasting, check out Donna Reed's portrayal of Sacajawea in another Heston movie, The Far Horizons.

[palitoy]

To see an even worse racial miscasting, check out Donna Reed's portrayal of Sacajawea in another Heston movie, The Far Horizons.

I trump that with Marlon Brando's Okinawan in "The Teahouse of the August Moon" and bury it with John Wayne in "The Conquerer".

[ABMAC]

I trump that with Marlon Brando's Okinawan in "The Teahouse of the August Moon" and bury it with John Wayne in "The Conquerer".

Ouch. Yes, I was blanking on suitable fake Asian roles to mention. The worst I could think of were Karloff as Fu Manchu and Tony Randall as Dr. Lao, but they're watchable at least. Brando and Wayne are embarrassingly bad.

[Hector]

I'm using the term "blackface" to mean any time an actor's skintones are darkened for a role as a different ethnic type, no matter what the actor's original colour, because it almost always includes an element of racial stereotyping. Consider this; even though Heston couldn't play anything but a "white American hero," his darkened skin and hair was all it took for predominantly white audiences of the time to accept him as Vargas, the Mexican cop. Audiences wouldn't have accepted him as a light-skinned blonde Mexican because of the stereotype. If it had been important for Vargas to be a light-skinned blonde, audiences wouldn't have accepted anything less than a true light-skinned blonde Mexican in the role.

To see an even worse racial miscasting, check out Donna Reed's portrayal of Sacajawea in another Heston movie, The Far Horizons.

You make a good point, Ant...I stand down.