15 Jun 20+ Black Actors Who Played Characters Who Were Originally White…

All too often, good roles for black actors are hard to come by, which is why black film executives will often set out to make movies with predominantly black actors. They argue that traditional Hollywood movies don’t represent or cater to black audiences.

Sometimes filmmakers will come up with totally new storylines and characters that are more likely to speak to a black audience. However, often they will turn to popular stories from novels, comic books or already-existing Hollywood movies (as is tradition these days) and make at least one, some or all of the characters black. Here are some of the best-known and best-loved actors who played characters who were originally supposed to be white.

1. Morgan Freeman As Red

Anyone who claims to be a movie fan will have watched the hit 1994 prison drama, The Shawshank Redemption at some point – it’s a classic! The film is actually based on Stephen King’s novella, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. However, not all the characters are presented in the movie as they’re described in the book. Morgan Freeman plays “Red”, and you might wonder why he was even called Red in the first place. What relevance did it have to the character? Well, in the book Red is described as being an aging Irishman with red hair, hence the name. Now, Morgan isn’t Irish, nor does he have red hair, but he was still chosen for the role. I mean, who wouldn’t want to have this legend on board?

NEXT: He’s the most famous black man that ever lived, but did you know he played this white character?

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