Cross-gender acting

Mary Pickford as Cedric Errol in a lobby card for the 1921 film Little Lord Fauntleroy

In this sketch by Marguerite Martyn, the College Club of St. Louis was in rehearsal for “The Amazons,” a play by Arthur Wing Pinero, in which all the parts were played by women, April 1910.

Cross-gender acting refers to actors or actresses portraying a character of the opposite gender. It is distinct from roles where transgender characters or characters who cross-dress are played.

Traditions of male-only performance cultures

Many societies prohibited women from performing on stage, so boys and men took the female roles. In the ancient Greek theatre men played females, as they did in English Renaissance theatre and continue to do in Japanese kabuki theatre (see onnagata). In Chinese opera specialized male actors who play female roles (dàn) are referred to as nándàn (男旦); the practice arose during the Qing dynasty due to imperial prohibitions against women performing on stage, considered detrimental to public morality.

Kabuki actor in Japan

Japanese Kabuki theatre began in the 17th century with all-female troupes performing both male and female roles. In 1629 the disrepute of kabuki performances (or of their audiences) led to the banning of women from the stage, but kabuki's great popularity inspired the formation of all-male troupes to carry on the theatrical form. In Kabuki, the portrayal of female characters by men is known as onnagata. The practice is detailed in a story of the same name by the Japanese writer, Yukio Mishima. All roles in Japanese Noh dramas are traditionally played by male actors; actors playing female roles wear feminine costumes and female-featured masks. The Takarazuka Revue is a contemporary all-female Japanese acting company, known for their elaborate productions of stage musicals. Takarazuka actresses specialize in either male or female roles, with male-role actresses receiving top billing.

In ancient China, nearly all the characters in Chinese Opera were performed by men, so that all the male actors, who played the role of a female were crossdressing. A famous cross-dressing opera singer is Mei Lanfang. From early 20th century, Shanghai yue opera (or Shaoxin opera) is developed from all male to all female genre. Although male performers were introduced into this opera in 1950s and 1960s, today, Shanghai yueju (yue opera) is still associated as the only all female opera and the second most popular opera in China.

In Renaissance England it was illegal for women to perform in theatres, so female roles in the plays of Shakespeare and his contemporary playwrights were originally played by cross-dressing men or boys. (See also Stage Beauty.) Therefore, the original productions of the above-mentioned Shakespeare plays actually involved double-cross-dressing: male actors playing female characters disguising themselves as males. Academic research into the contemporary attitudes towards the practise have yielded a variety of interpretations. Laura Levine argues that "an all-male acting troupe was the natural and unremarkable product of a culture whose conception of gender was "teleologically male""; she also suggests that contemporary protests against the practise (believing it made young actors "effeminate") reflected "deepseated fears that the self was not stable and fixed but unstable and monstrous and infinitely malleable unless strictly controlled.

Women as men as well

Cross-dressing in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spain was frequent among actors, and the theater was at the time the most popular form of entertainment. There was a fascination with female cross-dressers particularly (women dressed as men), who were "extremely popular" in the "Golden Age Comedia". Male actors might play the "women dressed as men" parts. Spain eventually found this cross-dressing to be threatening to social order, and passed laws targeting female transvestites throughout the 1600s. Despite the negative reactions and disapproval, it continued to remain very popular in the comedia.

Theatre, operas, plays, ballets and pantomime

Katarina Karnéus as Serse in a 2009 production of Serse at the Royal Swedish Opera.

Sarah Bernhardt as Prince Hamlet in June 1899.

A travesti is a theatrical term referring to the portrayal of a character in an opera, play, or ballet by a performer of the opposite sex. More specifically, a theatrical or operatic role in which an actress appears in male clothing is called a "breeches role" ("pants role" or "trouser role"), and roles once performed by a male soprano castrato may instead be performed by a female mezzo-soprano or contralto.

In the late 19th century, one of the most famous actresses was Vesta Tilley, who worked in a music hall from age five well into her fifties. In the late 1890s, she was the highest paid woman in Britain. What made her so famous was her tendency to dress as a man and act out "masculine" scenes and roles. Centuries before, Julie d'Aubigny, aka "La Maupin" (1670–1707), had also been famous for her breeches roles.

In 1904, Nina Boucicault originated the theatrical tradition of cross-gender casting for Peter Pan, continued thereafter by Maude Adams, Marilyn Miller, Eva Le Gallienne, Sandy Duncan, and Cathy Rigby, among others. In 1954 Mary Martin portrayed the title character in the musical Peter Pan. "The boy who would never grow up" is a classic trouser role, as is Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro (by Beaumarchais).

In pantomime plays that are traditionally adaptations of fairy tales and performed around Christmastide, the role of lead male was once commonly played by a principal boy—a young, attractive, female. This practise has fallen out of favour recently, with popular male television and pop stars taking these roles. Conversely, the role of a pantomime dame, a middle aged woman played by a man in drag for comic relief, is still one of the mainstays of panto.

Modern practice

In animations it is not unusual for female actors to voice young male characters. One example is Nancy Cartwright voicing Bart Simpson in The Simpsons. An example of a man voicing a female character is Bob Peterson as Roz in Monsters, Inc..

• Nancy Cartwright helped pave the way for cross dress voice acting for female voice actors such as Tara Strong

When the casting director of a production decides to employ cross-gender acting, selecting the actors in this way is sometimes also called "cross-gender casting" or simply "cross-casting".

In film and television

Release year	Title	Actor	Role	Direction	Role	Language	Note(s)
1914	A Busy Day	Charlie Chaplin	"Wife"	male to female	comedic	English	Short comedy.
1914	Sweedie the Swatter	Wallace Beery	Sweedie	male to female	comedic	English	The first of a series of Sweedie films, made between 1914 and 1916
1921	Little Lord Fauntleroy	Mary Pickford	Cedric Errol	female to male	dramatic	English	Mary Pickford starred as both Cedric Errol and Widow Errol
1924	Peter Pan	Betty Bronson	Peter Pan	female to male	dramatic	English
1936	Stars on Parade	Arthur Lucan	Old Mother Riley	male to female		English	The first of 17 films with Old Mother Riley
1936	Sathi Leelavathi	M. K. Mani	Lakshmi	male to female	dramatic	Tamil
1939	Wilton's Zoo	Annie van Ees	Jan Grovers (Boefje)	female to male	dramatic	Dutch	45-year-old Annie van Ees plays the 16-year-old Boefje. She had played this role since 1922 in theatre.
1949	Kind Hearts and Coronets	Alec Guinness	Lady Agatha D'Ascoyne	male to female	comedic	English	Alec Guinness plays eight members of the aristocratic D'Ascoyne family.
1954	The Belles of St Trinian's	Alastair Sim	Headmistress Millicent Fritton	male to female	comedic	English	Alastair Sim plays both Millicent Fritton and her brother, Clarence Fritton.
1957	Blue Murder at St Trinian's	Alastair Sim	Headmistress Miss Fritton	male to female	comedic	English
1959	The Mouse that Roared	Peter Sellers	Grand Duchess Gloriana XII	male to female	comedic	English
1977	Sjors en Sjimmie en het zwaard van Krijn	Mariska Fikkie	Sjimmie	female to male	dramatic	Dutch	In the titles Mariska's name is abbreviated to more male sounding Mar Fikkie.
1977	Die Vorstadtkrokodile	Birgit Komanns	Kurt	female to male	dramatic	German	A disabled boy, Kurt, was played by Birgit Komanns, who was wheelchairbound in real life; Kurt's voice was dubbed by Oliver Rohrbeck
1978	Monkey (Saiyūki)	Masako Natsume	Tripitaka (Tang Sanzang)	female to male	dramatic	Japanese	Maria Warburg provided Tripitaka's voice in the dubbed, English version.
1979	Monty Python's Life of Brian	Terry Jones	Mandy Cohen (Brian's mother)	male to female	comedic	English
1981	Göta kanal	Christer Lindarw	Queen Silvia	male to female		Swedish	Cameo
1982	The Year of Living Dangerously	Linda Hunt	Billy Kwan	female to male	dramatic	English	Hunt won Academy Award for best actress in a supporting role
1985	Didi und die Rache der Enterbten	Dieter Hallervorden	Florentine	male to female	comedic	German
1986	The Golden Child	J.L. Reate	The Golden Child	female to male	dramatic	English	Reate was nominated to a Young Artist Awards for Best Young Actress
1988	Hairspray	Divine	Edna Turnblad	male to female	comedic	English
1988	Coming to America	Arsenio Hall	"Extremely Ugly Girl"	male to female	comedic	English	Hall has a minor role, as girl trying to pick up Akeem and Semmi at a bar.
1989	Back to the Future Part II	Michael J. Fox	Marlene McFly	male to female		English	Michael J. Fox plays three characters - Marty McFly, Marty McFly Jr. and Marlene McFly.
1991	Hook	Glenn Close	Gutless	female to male		English	Cameo
1991	Nothing but Trouble	John Candy	Eldona	male to female	comedic	English
1992-1997	Martin	Martin Lawrence	Sheneneh & Mama Payne	male to female	comedic	English
1992	Swordsman II	Brigitte Lin	Invincible Asia	female to male		English	Asia is a man who has castrated himself.
1992	Orlando	Tilda Swinton	Orlando	female to male	dramatic	English	Orlando is a man the first 2/3 of the film
1992	Orlando	Quentin Crisp	Elizabeth I	male to female	dramatic	English
1993	The Beverly Hillbillies	Diedrich Bader	Jethrine Bodine	male to female	comedic	English	Bader also plays Jethrine's twin brother Jethro.
1995	Filmpje!	Paul de Leeuw	Annie de Rooij	male to female	comedic	Dutch	Paul de Leeuw introduced the character of Annie de Rooij in 1992 in the third seasons of his television show De schreeuw van De Leeuw. Annie was married to Bob de Rooij, also played by Paul de Leeuw.
1996	A Very Brady Sequel	RuPaul	Mrs. Cummings	male to female		English	Minor role as the High school teacher
1996	The Nutty Professor	Eddie Murphy	Mama Klump, Grandma Klump	male to female	comedic	English
1999	Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo	Big Boy	Fluisa	male to female	comedic	English
1999	Tyrone	Coolio	Cherone	male to female	comedic	English	Coolio also plays Cherone's brothers Tyrone en Jerome
2000	Nutty Professor II: The Klumps	Eddie Murphy	Mama Klump, Granny Klump	male to female	comedic	English
2000	Big Momma's House	Martin Lawrence	Big Momma	Male to Female	comedic	English
2002	EvenHand	iO Tillett Wright	Toby	female to male	dramatic	English
2003	Girls Will Be Girls	Jack Plotnick, Clinton Leupp, Jeffery Roberson	Evie Harris, Coco Peru, Varla Jean Merman	male to female	comedic	English	All the female characters in this film were played by males.
2004	De duistere diamant	Peter Van Den Begin	Tante Sidonia	male to female	comedic	Dutch
2004	My Nikifor	Krystyna Feldman	Nikifor	female to male	dramatic	Polish	Feldman won 2005 Polish Film Awards for best actress
2005	Diary of a Mad Black Woman	Tyler Perry	Mable "Madea" Simmons	male to female	comedic	English
2005	Transamerica	Felicity Huffman	Bree Osborne	female to male	dramatic comedy	English	Huffman won many nominations and awards including the Golden Globe for Best Actress
2005	Alatriste	Blanca Portillo	Emilio Bocanegra	female to male		Spanish
2006	Madea's Family Reunion	Tyler Perry	Mable "Madea" Simmons	male to female	comedic	English
2007	I'm Not There	Cate Blanchett	Jude Quinn	female to male	dramatic	English	Jude Quinn is stylized after Bob Dylan
2007	Hairspray	John Travolta	Edna Turnblad	male to female	comedic	English
2007	Norbit	Eddie Murphy	Rasputia	male to female		English
2007	St. Trinian's	Rupert Everett	Miss Camilla Dagey Fritton	male to female	comedic	English	As in the earlier St. Trinian's films, a man plays the character of the Headmistress, Miss Fritton.
2007	Negima!!	Yukina Kashiwa	Negi Springfield	female to male		Japanese	Live action adaptation of the manga Negima! Magister Negi Magi. The main character, Negi Springfield, is a 10-year-old mage.
2008	Meet the Browns	Tyler Perry	Mable "Madea" Simmons	male to female	comedic	English
2009	Madea Goes to Jail	Tyler Perry	Mable "Madea" Simmons	male to female	comedic	English
2009	St. Trinian's 2: The Legend of Fritton's Gold	Rupert Everett	Miss Camilla Dagey Fritton	male to female	comedic	English
2011	Jack and Jill	Adam Sandler, David Spade	Jill Sadelstein, Monica	male to female	comedic	English	Sandler plays both Jack and Jill Sadelstein
2012	Cloud Atlas	Hugo Weaving	Nurse Noakes	male to female		English
2012	Cloud Atlas	Ben Whishaw	Georgette	male to female		English
2012	Cloud Atlas	Zhou Xun	Talbot / Hotel Manager	female to male		English
2012	Cloud Atlas	Susan Sarandon	Yosouf Suleiman	female to male		English
2014	Black Butler Live Action	Ayame Goriki	Earl Kiyohara Genpu (Ciel Phantomhive)	female to male	dramatic	Japanese
2014	Mrs. Brown's Boys D'Movie	Brendan O'Carroll	Agnes Brown	male to female	comedic	English
2015	Bon Bini Holland	Jandino Asporaat	Judeska, Gerrie	male to female	comedic	Dutch

Meta examples

• Tootsie (1982) - The character Michael Dorsey (portrayed by Dustin Hoffman) star as Dorothy Michaels in the show-within-show soap opera Southwest General
• Victor Victoria (1982) - Victoria Grant (portrayed by Julie Andrews) pretends to be Count Victor Grezinski and finds work as a female impersonator.
• Flickan vid stenbänken (1989) - Carolin (Anna Edlund) briefly portrays a man in a (show-within-show) play.
• Shakespeare in Love (1998) - The character Viola de Lesseps (portrayed by Gwyneth Paltrow) disguises herself as Thomas Kent and then plays the part of Romeo in the show-within-show Romeo and Juliet.
• Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) - Daniel Hillard (Robin Williams) dressed up as a nanny, to try to spend more time with his kids. (His wife and him just split up) Although this movie is not completely about cross-gender acting, it takes it down to a minimum.

See also

• Cross-dressing in film and television
• Cross-dressing in literature
• Köçek
• List of transgender-related topics
• Transgender in film and television