# Actors who played many nationalities **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 29, 2014, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080 "2014-01-29T23:21:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/41 "2014-01-30T17:06:47Z")
This list would not be complete without the all-purpose, all-ethnic Rita Moreno. While most of the time her nationality is just “exotic” it looks like she can plausibly claim to have played: Malayan Tahitian Mexican Native Canadian Egyptian Brazilian Native American Siamese French Indian Israeli Puerto Rican Philipino Italian ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/42 "2014-01-30T17:12:32Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Tony Shalhoub played Lebanese-American Frank Haddad in **The Siege** after playing an Italian immigrant on **Wings** and a Russian immigrant in **Paulie** before getting his big break as Adrian Monk, who wiki sez is of Welsh ancestry; just make sure to factor in all the times he played someone named “Jorge” or “Sanz,” and then add a bonus point for playing Kwan playing Chen on **GalaxyQuest**. They talked about his tendency to be cast as “ambiguous ethnic guy” with him on _Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me_. The kicker was that at school, as the darkest kid there, he actually got cast as the lead in **Othello**. :smack: I’m pretty sure John Leguizamo has a lengthy list of ethnic roles, although looking at his Wiki page it’s not surprising: > [@](#): > > John Leguizamo was born in Bogotá, Colombia, to Alberto and Luz Leguizamo. According to Leguizamo, his paternal grandfather was of Puerto Rican and Italian descent and his maternal grandfather was Lebanese. Leguizamo has also described himself as being of Amerindian and Mestizo heritage. ---
**Author:** ![Mrs.Cake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2acd7d/32.png) [@Mrs.Cake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrs.Cake)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/43 "2014-01-30T17:14:54Z")
Omar Sharif is way up there as well. No time to do all the research right now, but a quick look at the characters on his IMDB page indicates: Egyptian Russian Greek Italian German French Argentinian Indian Chinese (?) Various flavors of Arab American Probably a bunch more - guessing there is some Syrian & Turkish in there. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/44 "2014-01-30T18:52:34Z")
Sean Connery of course played a Russian sub commander and an Irish-American cop with the same accent he used as Juan Sanchez Villa-Lobos Ramirez, because (a) he doesn’t give a crap, and, (b) honestly, he doesn’t need to: whether he’s playing an Arab diplomat or a Greek king, you’re always thinking _holy crap, this dude was 007 back when that meant dressing up as a Japanese fisherman!_ ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/45 "2014-01-30T18:52:40Z")
Rob Schneider: Generic white Asian/Chinese Indian Italian Russian Hawaiian(?) Martian Animal Woman Stapler Carrot Da Derp Dee Derp Da Teetley Derpee Derpee Dumb And within one movie there is American actor Robert Downey Jr. playing Australian actor Kirk Lazarus playing African American Sergeant Lincoln Osiris playing a SE Asian “Lead Farmer.” ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/46 "2014-01-30T18:56:58Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Michael Ansara, who I listed, was her husband, and guest starred twice on her series, once as a djinn, and once as a Hawaiian She was also in the movie version of “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea” with him. It was on TV at a local bar a few weeks ago. We got a big laugh at the final scene where the Seaview is on the surface and the main characters go out and stand on the deck, and here comes Barbara Eden in some pointy spiked high heels, and is walking, on the top of a submarine, in the middle of the ocean. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/47 "2014-01-30T19:19:10Z")
Cesar Romero was always up for playing Lucky Luciano, or Sheikh Hameel Habib, or Esteban de la Cruz, or Peter Stavros, or Rama Singh, or Willie Wetzchahofsky, or Marquis Andre de Lage, or Count Dracula, or – Steve McQuinn. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/48 "2014-01-30T20:05:18Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > I’m guessing Eli Wallach might make the list, but I don’t know his career well enough to provide details. Wow, Wallach is 98. I don’t know most of the movies in his [imdb listing,](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0908919/) but we can start with some of the easy ones: **The Good, the Bad and the Ugly** Mexican (Tuco) **Genghis Khan** Persian? (The Shah of Khwarezm) **The Adventures of Gerard** Corsican/French (Napoleon) **Crazy Joe** Sicilian He played a lot of Italians and rabbis. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/49 "2014-01-30T20:36:20Z")
From a quick look at IMDB, Fernando Lamas played D’Artagnan, and El Greco, and Salim Ibn Hydari, and Ramon de Vega, and Friedrich ‘Fritz’ Bhaer, and Antonio Franco, and Conrad Stillman, and Nico Patrai. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/50 "2014-01-30T20:42:00Z")
Even John Wayne played a number of ethnicities, always in his same voice. American - The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance Irish - The Quiet Man (he was supposed to have been born in Ireland, to have grown up in the USA, and to have returned) Mongolian - The Conqueror German - The Sea Chase Roman - The Greatest Story Ever Told ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/51 "2014-01-30T20:47:38Z")
Well, since someone mentioned Meryl Streep… English in_ **The Iron Lady** _ Danish in _ **Out of Africa** _ Polish in\*\*\* Sophie’s Choice\*\*\* Australian in _ **Cry in the Dark** _ (Dingos ate my baby!) Irish in _ **Dancing at Lughnasa** _ Italian in _ **Bridges of Madison County** _ American in _ **Silkwood** _ ---
**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/52 "2014-01-30T20:56:29Z")
Daniel Day-Lewis has played British, American, Irish, Italian, Czech, Scottish, and probably more I can’t think of at the moment. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/53 "2014-01-30T20:59:36Z")
Alec Guinness English - _ **Bridge on the River Kwai** _ Indian in _ **A Passage to India** _ Czech - _ **Kafka** _ Russian in _ **Dr. Zhivago** _ Frenchman - _ **The Scapegoat** _ Austrian Jew in\*\*\* Lovesick\*\*\* (Sigmund Freud) Austrian Gentile - _ **Hitler: The Last 10 Days** _ (Hitler) Italian - \*\*\*Brother Sun, Sister Moon \*\*\* (Pope Innocent III) German - \*\*\*Situation Hopeless, But Not Serious \*\*\* Roman - _ **Fall of the Roman Empire** _ (Marcus Aurelius) Scotsman - _ **Cromwel** _l (King Charles I) Arab - _ **Lawrence of Arabia** _ Japanese -\*\*\* A Majority of One\*\*\* ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/54 "2014-01-30T21:12:36Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > Looking at IMDB I can see for Kingsley: > > English > French > Italian > Polish > Greek > German > Austrian > Indian > Persian > Israeli > > I’m probably missing some there. He played a [half-Maori guy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ender%27s_Game_%28film%29) as well ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/55 "2014-01-30T22:04:46Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > [Naveen Andrews](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004710/?ref_=tt_cl_t2) of _Lost_ seems to be the go-to guy to play any character from West Asia. (His actual nationality? British, born and raised. Or English specifically, I guess.) While he’s British, his ancestry is Indian. He was born in England but both of his parents are from Kerala, India. From IMDB: > [@](#): > > Born Naveen William Sidney Andrews in London, England of Indian origin on January 17, 1969 and > [@](#): > > Naveen (which means “new” in Hindi) . StG ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/56 "2014-01-30T22:07:12Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > They talked about his tendency to be cast as “ambiguous ethnic guy” with him on _Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me_. The kicker was that at school, as the darkest kid there, he actually got cast as the lead in **Othello**. :smack: Brings to mind Olivier, who after playing Othello on the big screen was Neil Diamond’s father the rabbi (_“It’s not toff enoff, beink a Choo?”_), and the Mahdi in **Khartoum** , and Douglas MacArthur in **Inchon** , and Piotr Ilyich Kamenev in **The Shoes Of The Fisherman** , and a Nazi war criminal in **Marathon Man** , and an Italian haberdasher in **Saturday, Sunday, Monday** , and a Dutch physician in **A Bridge Too Far** , which is pretty terrific for the guy who played – well, (a) the Carpathian prince in **The Prince And The Showgirl** , and (b) a whole lot of Brits. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/57 "2014-01-30T22:23:36Z")
Olivier and Guinness would be good examples of classical stage training which valued an ability to Do Accents. They come from a time in which ethnically-sensitive casting was a completely unknown concept. Notice that Streep, from a later generation, plays only Europeans. You would never seen her essaying an Asian role, for instance. When Katharine Hepburn and Marlon Brando and Ingrid Bergman did it, it was considered to be Oscar-nomination-worthy. But, no more. Such an effort would be considered by moviegoers (and possibly by Streep herself) to be gaucherie of a high order. Possibly Mickey Rooney killed off that particular avenue for the demonstration of thespian versatility. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/58 "2014-01-30T22:40:50Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Olivier and Guinness would be good examples of classical stage training which valued an ability to Do Accents. They come from a time in which ethnically-sensitive casting was a completely unknown concept. > > Notice that Streep, from a later generation, plays only Europeans. You would never seen her essaying an Asian role, for instance. When Katharine Hepburn and Marlon Brando and Ingrid Bergman did it, it was considered to be Oscar-nomination-worthy. But, no more. Such an effort would be considered by moviegoers (and possibly by Streep herself) to be gaucherie of a high order. > > Possibly Mickey Rooney killed off that particular avenue for the demonstration of thespian versatility. Unless you count some comic roles like Peter Sellers in _ **Murder By Death.** _ Or Alec Guinness as an Indian in the Oscar-nominated \*\*_A Passage to India._ \*\*And there WAS a Seventies or Eighties Charlie Chan movie starring Peter Ustinov. It bombed at the box office and disappeared quickly, but not before getting Chinese Americans very angry. I think the LAST nail in the coffin came after Jonathan Pryce was cast as The Engineer in the Broadway production of\*\*\* Miss Saigon.\*\*\* By all accounts, Pryce gave a very good performance, but he caused such an uproar that I don’t think anyone would dare give a white guy an Asian role again. But it still seems to be standard practice to give American Indian roles to “white” actors. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/59 "2014-01-30T23:07:29Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Unless you count some comic roles like Peter Sellers in _ **Murder By Death.** _ > Or Alec Guinness as an Indian in the Oscar-nominated \*\*_A Passage to India._ True enough. I bet there was grumbling about Guinness, but he was sort of an institution by that time. Above (most) reproach. > [@astorian](#): > > But it still seems to be standard practice to give American Indian roles to “white” actors. Yeah. “Iron Eyes Cody” aka Espera DeCorti (of 100% Sicilian ancestry) became the archetypal “look” of an American Indian–possibly because there had been so many Italian-background actors playing them for so many years. Of course there’s a huge amount of genetic variation among the first-comers to the Americas. There’s no one “look.” eta: in my previous post I typed “essaying” when I should have typed “assaying”…☹ ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2014, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/60 "2014-01-30T23:08:31Z")
David Suchet is probably best known for playing a Belgian, but somehow managed to pull off Chinese when he got a rare break from playing everyone from Sigmund Freud to William Shakespeare to Dino Grandi to Mohamed Karaman to Louis B. Mayer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080.md?page=4)