# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/61 "2014-01-31T03:18:42Z")
> [@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.) > [@StGermain](#): > > While he’s British, his ancestry is Indian. He was born in England but both of his parents are from Kerala, India. From IMDB: and . > > StG Yes, I knew that, but we _are_ talking “nationalities” here. It was amazing the first time I heard him a speaking in his natural English accent. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/62 "2014-01-31T14:32:01Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > 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. Or the expiration of the Hays Code, including all of its absurd restrictions on showing interracial love. One common approach was to make non-Caucasian characters half-breeds, so they could plausibly be played by Caucasian actors with a little makeup (i.e. Jennifer Jones as a Eurasian in “Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing”, with the epicanthal folds drawn in by Makeup). My favorite example is Hedy Lamarr in “White Cargo”, as a character described in the novel simply as a Negress. It wouldn’t do to show white men nailing her in the film, so a line was added calling her “half Egyptian, half Arab”, whatever that is, even though it was still in the middle of the Congo. Those people were fair game for white men, apparently. But she still looked like a Jewish girl from Europe coated with black paint. ---
**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 31, 2014, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/63 "2014-01-31T15:14:01Z")
Hector Elizondo – currently playing Ed Alzate, of proud Basque heritage, over on LAST MAN STANDING – is all over this: he’s Giuseppe Benvenuto, he’s Hassan Salah, he’s Louis Renault; he’s Steinberg, he’s Ortega, he’s Kominsky, et cetera. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2014, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/64 "2014-01-31T22:25:19Z")
Tony Randall - Although it should be pointed out he did most of the five to qualify in a single film. In The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao, he hits four nationalities, Dr. Lao - Chinese, Merlin - English, Apollonius of Tyana - Roman, and an American, two mythological beings, Pan and Medusa and possibly two animals - a snake and a yeti. He also played a Belgian (Hercule Poirot) in The Alphabet Murders. and numerous Americans. ---
**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 31, 2014, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/65 "2014-01-31T22:58:29Z")
> [@TV\_time](#): > > Tony Randall - Although it should be pointed out he did most of the five to qualify in a single film. RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK gave early roles to Alfred Molina and John Rhys-Davies as Satipo and Sallah, and, man, have _they_ been busy ever since: the former as Ricardo Morales and Hercule Poirot and Arthur Conan Doyle and Sayed Mahmoody and Harvey Torriti and Panos Demeris when he wasn’t busy playing the all-American Doctor Octopus, and the latter as Stephanos Markoulis and Leonardo da Vinci and Jacques Duvalier and Gamal Nasser and Leonid Pushkin and Roger Singh in his free time from playing everyone from King Richard to Nakura. ---
**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:** [February 1, 2014, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/66 "2014-02-01T15:29:04Z")
> [@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. Don’t forget Christopher Lee, who played Fu Manchu about as many times as he played Sherlock Holmes or Count Dracula: he’s Karaga Pasha, he’s Grigori Rasputin, he’s Wolfgang von Kleinschmidt, he’s Mohammed Ali Jinnah, he’s Stefan Wyszynski, he’s Joaquin Morales; he’s Artemidorous, he’s Svenson, he’s Yusif, he’s Rochefort, he’s Samir, he’s Konstantin, he’s Ramses, and I’m not even counting Scaramanga. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2014, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/67 "2014-02-01T15:55:56Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK gave early roles to Alfred Molina and John Rhys-Davies as Satipo and Sallah, and, man, have _they_ been busy ever since: the former as Ricardo Morales and Hercule Poirot and Arthur Conan Doyle and Sayed Mahmoody and Harvey Torriti and Panos Demeris when he wasn’t busy playing the all-American Doctor Octopus, and the latter as Stephanos Markoulis and Leonardo da Vinci and Jacques Duvalier and Gamal Nasser and Leonid Pushkin and Roger Singh in his free time from playing everyone from King Richard to Nakura. Molina also played Tevye, a Russian Jew, on Broadway! ---
**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:** [February 1, 2014, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/68 "2014-02-01T16:38:22Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Molina also played Tevye, a Russian Jew, on Broadway! Come to think of it, José Ferrer won a Tony as Cyrano de Bergerac on Broadway before he won an Oscar reprising the role on film – and he was the Turkish Bey in **Lawrence Of Arabia** , and the Polish Siletski in **To Be Or Not To Be** , and he played everyone else from Gopal Das to Josef Stalin to Manuel Benitez to Erich Rhinemann to George Pappas – and from a quick look at IMDB, it’s not like they shied away from having him play characters with the WASPiest names imaginable (Jeff Briggs? Stanley Royce? Lionel McCoy?) when he wasn’t playing Dominici or Papashvily or whoever. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2014, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/69 "2014-02-01T19:27:57Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Don’t forget Christopher Lee, who played Fu Manchu about as many times as he played Sherlock Holmes or Count Dracula: he’s Karaga Pasha, he’s Grigori Rasputin, he’s Wolfgang von Kleinschmidt, he’s Mohammed Ali Jinnah, he’s Stefan Wyszynski, he’s Joaquin Morales; he’s Artemidorous, he’s Svenson, he’s Yusif, he’s Rochefort, he’s Samir, he’s Konstantin, he’s Ramses, and I’m not even counting Scaramanga. He’s been Frankish, too. The Charlemagne of Metal \m/ ---
**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:** [February 1, 2014, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/70 "2014-02-01T21:28:40Z")
Victor Mature of **Demetrius And The Gladiators** fame was especially valuable in big-screen westerns, since he could play Doc Holliday in one and turn around to play Chief Crazy Horse in another – and was just as useful if you were doing the same kind of movie but wanted the story of a local hit-and-run type in Afghanistan or India squaring off against the Brits in a gunfighters-on-horseback story. Or if you wanted him to play Carmine Ganucci, or the Pharoah Horemheb, or Oleg in **The Tartars** , or, y’know, Samson, in **Samson And Delilah**. (And, hey: you know who _else_ played Doc Holliday – before playing Crazy Knife, in **The Plainsman**? Henry Silva, who played Chunjin in **The Manchurian Candidate**. And he was Salvatore Giordano, and Ram Singh, and Garcia Mendez – and he was the Arab terrorist Rafeeq in **Wrong Is Right** , and he was the Venezuelan native Kua-Ko in **Green Mansions** , and as per IMDB he was always getting cast as guys named “Kruger” and “Gauss,” because, well, why the hell not?) ---
**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:** [February 1, 2014, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/71 "2014-02-01T22:14:57Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > Don’t forget Christopher Lee, who played Fu Manchu about as many times as he played Sherlock Holmes or Count Dracula: he’s Karaga Pasha, he’s Grigori Rasputin, he’s Wolfgang von Kleinschmidt, he’s Mohammed Ali Jinnah, he’s Stefan Wyszynski, he’s Joaquin Morales; he’s Artemidorous, he’s Svenson, he’s Yusif, he’s Rochefort, he’s Samir, he’s Konstantin, he’s Ramses, and I’m not even counting Scaramanga. Very true. So did we ever decide if it’s possible to come up with a “most nationalities” winner? ---
**Author:** ![Elemenopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Elemenopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elemenopy)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2014, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/72 "2014-02-01T22:50:07Z")
[Paul Muni](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Muni) (original Scarface, The Good Earth) should at least get an honorable mention…I’m not sure how many he’s played since I haven’t seen all the films, but I’d guess at least a dozen. He did a film in 1929 called Seven Faces, playing quite a few ethnicities right there: Papa Chibou, Diablero, Willie Smith, Franz Schubert, Don Juan, Joe Gans, Napoleon. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2014, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/73 "2014-02-02T00:12:52Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > But it still seems to be standard practice to give American Indian roles to “white” actors. I had assumed that this was no longer the case, but I just looked up the guy who played the Native American friend/potential love interest for the heroine of the _Twilight_ movies ([Taylor Lautner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Lautner)), and it sounds like he’s mostly white. According to Wikipedia he “has Austrian, English, German, Swiss-German, French, Irish, and Dutch heritage” with only “‘distant’ Native American ancestry”. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2014, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/74 "2014-02-02T03:46:22Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > I had assumed that this was no longer the case, but I just looked up the guy who played the Native American friend/potential love interest for the heroine of the _Twilight_ movies ([Taylor Lautner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Lautner)), and it sounds like he’s mostly white. According to Wikipedia he “has Austrian, English, German, Swiss-German, French, Irish, and Dutch heritage” with only “‘distant’ Native American ancestry”. Looks like they did a decent job getting guys with at least _some_ NA ancestry to play the werewolves. But really tribal identity is stronger than blood. The Red Sticks, who violently fought American encroachment and assimilation? Some of their leaders were \<1/2 Creek, \>1/2 Scottish, if not more. But it’s always fun to say you’re 1/17 Cherokee or some other impossible fraction if people ask. And your Native ancestor must always be someone famous. Pocahontas is a pretty good choice :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2014, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/75 "2014-02-02T04:37:45Z")
Maximilain Schell, the first native-German-speaking Oscar winner post-WWII, just died. I’d bet he played a few nationalities. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2014, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/76 "2014-02-02T05:38:15Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > So did we ever decide if it’s possible to come up with a “most nationalities” winner? Anthony Quinn, who was the first one mentioned in the OP, has at least 24: Previously mentioned: 1. Arab - Lawrence of Arabia 2. Mexican - Viva Zapata (and others) 3. Greek - Zorba the Greek 4. Italian - The Salamander (also La Strada and many others) 5. Native American - They Died with Their Boots on (and many others) 6. Spanish - Seven Cities of Gold 7. North African - Road to Morocco 8. Filipino - Back to Bataan 9. French - Lust for Life (and The Hunchback of Notre Dame) 10. American - The Happening 11. Jewish - Barabbas 12. Eskimo - The Savage Innocents 13. Cuban - The Old Man and the Sea (1990 TV movie) 14. Basque - The Passage 15. Hun - Attila 16. Portuguese - The World in His Arms 17. Chinese - China Sky 18. Ukrainian - The Shoes of the Fisherman 19. Mongol - Marco the Magnificent 20. Zakharstani (Afghan) - Caravans 21. Indonesian - East of Sumatra 22. Libyan - The Lion of the Desert Also: 1. South African - [Target of an Assassin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Target_of_an_Assassin) 2. Hawaiian - [Waikiki Wedding](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waikiki_Wedding) - Hawaiian There are no doubt more that are not clear from the character names listed in IMDB. He would also have more if we listed individual Native American tribes he’s played. Quinn is the one to beat. Yul Brynner is closest with 18. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2014, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/77 "2014-02-02T06:19:04Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > The TV version of Anthony Quinn/Yul Brynner as the go-to all-purpose Ethnic is Michael Ansara (and also in the movies) > By birth Syrian, he has played > > Chinese (Terry and the Pirates) > Arabs (too many times to count) > American Indians (ditto) > Sikh (Smuggler’s Island) > Russian (the Diplomat) > Roman (Julius Cassar) > Babylonian (Belshazzar) > Jewish (The Robe) > Vietnamese (Soldier of Fortune) > Egyptian (Ten Commandments, and maybe Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy) > Hispanic (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Rawhide) > Somebody Fututristic (Outer Limits) > Klingon (Star Trek, more than once) > Other Alien (Lost in Space) > German (Cowboy in Africa) He was human, or humanoid at least, of unknown ancestry, in an episode of _Babylon 5_, playing Elric the Technomage. ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2014, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/78 "2014-02-02T20:34:24Z")
J. Carrol Naish was American of Irish descent, and didn’t ever play an Irish character. He played Native Americans, Chinese, and Hispanics, and one of his most famous roles was as Luigi Basco, an Italian immigrant on the radio and early TV sitcom “Life With Luigi”. ---
**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:** [February 3, 2014, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/79 "2014-02-03T00:59:28Z")
In his own right, Martin Landau deserves mention: in the '50s, he likewise pulled off the whole _‘play Doc Holliday, and then play an Apache Indian’_ schtick, and in the '90s he played everyone from the Hungarian-born Bela Lugosi to the Sicilian-born Joe Bonanno to the Austrian-born Simon Wiesenthal – and in between he played Rufio in **Cleopatra** , and Caiaphas in **The Greatest Story Ever Told** , and otherwise showed up for work whenever they needed a French Marquis, or a certain Transylvanian Count, or anyone else from Mariano Montoya to Ivan Kuchenko. But if we count the roles he played on **Mission: Impossible** , things get pretty weird pretty fast. He’s Martin Bormann, still in hiding after WWII! He’s Indus Jalpan, visiting from the Far East! He’s an Argentinian businessman! He’s a Caribbean dictator! He’s an Arab with Interpol! He’s Johnny-on-the-spot, for any value of ‘spot’! ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2014, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080/80 "2014-02-03T03:21:40Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > 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. Or–don’t forget!– **The Joker.** 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/actors-who-played-many-nationalities/680080.md?page=5)