Examples of yellowface

Examples of yellowface mainly include the American film and theater">Americans">American film and theater, though this can also encompass other Western media. It used to be the norm in Hollywood that East Asian characters were played by white actors, often using makeup to approximate East Asian facial characteristics, a practice known as yellowface.
American media portrayals of East Asians have reflected a dominant Americentric perception rather than realistic and authentic depictions of true cultures, customs and behaviors. Yellowface relies on stereotypes of East Asians in the United States.

Fu Manchu, Charlie Chan, and ''Madame Butterfly''

Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan were the most common East Asian characters in film and television of the mid-20th century, and they were almost always played by white actors in yellowface, although Asian actors did portray the Chan character in three silent film productions. An updated film version of Charlie Chan was planned in the 1990s by Miramax; this new Charlie Chan was to be "hip, slim, cerebral, sexy and... a martial-arts master", but the film did not come to fruition.
Madame Butterfly, an opera about a Japanese woman who falls in love with an American sailor who leaves her, and when he returns with an American wife, the devastated Cio-Cio San commits suicide. This immensely popular opera is often performed with a non-East Asian singer playing the role of Cio-Cio San.
Before the Civil Rights Movement

After the Civil Rights Movement

Note: This is also after the anti-miscegenation laws were repealed in the United States of America that prevented East Asian actors from playing opposite white actors as love interests.

Year	Title	Actor and Role	Director	Notes
1970	The Yin and the Yang of Mr. Go	James Mason as Y.Y. Go	Burgess Meredith
1972	The Paul Lynde Show	Ray Walston as Mr. Temura	George Tyne	Season 1, Episode 11: "Meet Aunt Charlotte"
1972–1975	Kung Fu	David Carradine as Kwai Chang Caine		David Carradine wore yellowface makeup to look Eurasian
1973	Lost Horizon	John Gielgud as ChangCharles Boyer as The High Lama	Charles Jarrott
1974	Arabian Nights	Salvatore Sapienza as Prince Yunan	Pier Paolo Pasolini	Film commentator Tony Rayns said this casting decision was likely done because the native Nepalese actors would probably have taken issue with being nude on film
1975	One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing	Peter Ustinov and others	Robert Stevenson
1975	The White, the Yellow, and the Black	Tomas Milian as Sakura	Sergio Corbucci
1975	Vivát, Benyovszky!	Ferenc Zenthe and others	Igor Ciel	Czechoslovak-Hungarian TV series about the life of traveler and writer Maurice Benyovszky. The Asian characters are played by Hungarian, Czech and Slovak actors in makeup.
1976	Murder by Death	Peter Sellers	Robert Moore	Peter Sellers plays Inspector Sidney Wang, based on Charlie Chan and appropriately accompanied by his adopted, Japanese son Willie. Wang wears elaborate Chinese costumes, and his grammar is frequently criticized by the annoyed host much the same way that Inspector Clouseau. It could be argued that Sellers' role is in itself a parody of yellowface casting in earlier films.
1977	Doctor Who	John Bennett as Li H'sen Chang	David Maloney	Serial: The Talons of Weng-Chiang
1980	The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu	Peter Sellers	Piers HaggardPeter Sellers Richard Quine	This is the last Fu Manchu created.
1980	Flash Gordon	Max von Sydow as Emperor Ming	Mike Hodges	Ming the Merciless is the sci fi version of Fu Manchu.
1981	Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen	Peter Ustinov as Charlie Chan	Clive Donner	In 1980, Jerry Shylock proposed a multimillion-dollar comedy film, to be called Charlie Chan and the Dragon Lady. A group calling itself C.A.N. was formed, protesting the fact that two white actors, Peter Ustinov and Angie Dickinson, had been cast in the primary roles. Others protested that the film itself contained a number of stereotypes; Shylock responded that the film was not a documentary. The film was released the following year as Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen and was an "abysmal failure". More successful was Wayne Wang's Chan Is Missing, which was a spoof of the older Chan films.
1981	Raiders of the Lost Ark	Malcolm Weaver as "The Ratty Nepalese"	Steven Spielberg	Malcolm Weaver plays a Nepalese man at 36:56 in.
1982	The [Year of Living Dangerously \|The Year of Living Dangerously]	Linda Hunt as Billy Kwan	Peter Weir	Actress Linda Hunt won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of an Asian man.
1983	Reilly, Ace of Spies	David Suchet as Inspector Tsientsin	Martin Campbell	British ITV television mini-series Episode 2: "Prelude to War"; Suchet dons eyelid makeup/prosthetics to play the Chinese character, who remarks on the disadvantages of "not being white".
1983	Go for It	Jeff Moldovan as "Charlie Chan"	Enzo Barboni	Italian spy comedy film. Venezuelan-American stuntman Jeff Moldovan plays an East Asian martial artist henchman nicknamed "Charlie Chan".
1983	Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre	Mick Jagger as the Chinese Emperor, Barbara Hershey as the Maid, Edward James Olmos as the Prime Minister, and others	Ivan Passer	Season 2 episode 2 "The Nightingale" features a cast of mostly white actors in yellowface makeup playing Chinese characters.
1984	The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai	Peter Weller as Buckaroo Banzai	W.D. Richter	Buckaroo Banzai is supposed to be half-Japanese, with a Japanese father played by James Saito and American mother played by Jamie Lee Curtis.
1985	Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins	Joel Grey as Chiun	Guy Hamilton	Film based on the Destroyer book series. Joel Grey garnered a Saturn Award and a second Golden Globe nomination for "Best Supporting Actor" for his yellowface portrayal.
1987	Kung Fu: The Next Generation	David Darlow as Kwai Chang Caine	Tony Wharmby	The role of Asian character Kwai Chang Caine was originally played by David Carradine. Carradine was replaced by Israeli-American actor David Darlow.
1988	Remo Williams: The Prophecy	Roddy McDowell as Chiun	Christian I. Nyby II	TV pilot for a spin-off of Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins where Roddy McDowell plays Chiun, an asian martial arts instructor
1991	Twin Peaks	Piper Laurie as Mr Tojamura	Mark Frost, David Lynch	Episodes 11 through 14. Catherine Martell who is presumed dead in a fire inexplicably returns as Mr. Tojamura, a Japanese banker who offers to buy the Great Northern Hotel. Laurie wears both prosthetics and makeup to portray Mr Tojamura.
1994	Sabotage	Adam Yauch	Spike Jonze	Beastie Boys music video.
1996–1998	Tracey Takes On...	Tracey Ullman as Mrs. Noh Nang Ning		Ullman wore prosthetics to make her look East Asian.
1997	The Pest	John Leguizamo	Paul Miller	Leguizamo sings and dances dressed in East Asian disguise for film's opening.
1997–2002	MADtv	Alex Borstein and guest star role Susan Sarandon as Ms. Swan
1998	Something Stupid	Magda Szubanski as Chu Yang Phat		Magda Szubanski plays Chu Yang Phat, the host of a Chinese variety show called Rei-Jing. Szubanski wore a black wig, and donned a stereotypical Chinese accent.
1999-2002	Ushi & Van Dijk	Wendy van Dijk as Ushi Hirosaki		Dutch TV show in which Dutch actress Wendy van Dijk plays Ushi Hirosaki, a Japanese journalist. The show had local versions in Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Hungary.

21st century

Yellowface worn by a character in a film

In some films, white characters, played by white actors, have played East Asians, often as a disguise.

Year	Title	Actor	Director	Notes
1945	First Yank into Tokyo	Gordon Douglas	Tom Neal	A US soldier undergoes plastic surgery to look Japanese in order to rescue an American scientist held in Japan.
1961	The Twilight Zone	Dean Stockwell	Buzz Kulik	Stockwell plays an American officer in World War II who mysteriously finds himself in the body of a Japanese officer three years earlier.
1962	My Geisha	Shirley MacLaine	Jack Cardiff
1965	Gendarme in New York	Louis de Funès and Geneviève Grad	Jean Girault	Officer Cruchot and his daughter Nicole disguise themselves as Chinese in one scene.
1967	You Only Live Twice	Sean Connery	Lewis Gilbert	James Bond disguises himself as a Japanese bridegroom in order to elude SPECTRE assassins.
1978	Revenge of the Pink Panther	Peter Sellers	Blake Edwards	Inspector Clouseau had many disguises and this included the quintessential Chinaman stereotype.
1981	Hardly Working	Jerry Lewis	Jerry Lewis
1987	Snow White	Diana Rigg	Michael Berz	The Evil Queen disguises herself as an evil geisha merchant, even going as far as to do a mock Japanese accent, to kill Snow White with poisoned combs.
1999	Galaxy Quest	Tony Shalhoub	Dean Parisot	Tony Shalhoub's character, Fred Kwan played Tech Sergeant Chen wearing yellowface makeup in the fictional 1970s TV series Galaxy Quest. Shalhoub's role is a parody of yellowface casting in the past.
2001	Vidocq	Inés Sastre	Pitof	Sastre's character, Préah, who is a dancer in a brothel, disguises as an East Asian in order to attract audience.
2008	Be Kind Rewind	Jack Black	Michel Gondry	Black's character Jerry tapes his eyes back to pretend to be Jackie Chan when recreating a scene from the film Rush Hour 2.
2008	Tropic Thunder	Robert Downey Jr.	Ben Stiller	The character of Kirk Lazarus donned yellowface to disguise himself as a Southeast Asian farmer in order to infiltrate a drug facility.
2011	Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows	Robert Downey Jr.	Guy Ritchie	The character of Sherlock Holmes donned yellowface to disguise himself as a Chinese man for a short while in the film.
2014	Magic in the Moonlight	Colin Firth as Wei Ling Soo	Woody Allen	Colin Firth portrays an Englishman who dons yellowface in order to pass as a Chinese illusionist.

Books about yellowface

Made-Up Asians: Yellowface During the Exclusion Era by Esther Kim Lee – provides history and examples of yellowface