Hollywood Whitewashing: 16 Times White Actors Played Minority Characters

10. Natalie Wood as Maria

Actress Natalie Wood was cast to play Maria in the 1961 musical West Side Story, a modern reworking of the Romeo and Juliet story. The character of Maria is Puerto Rican, while Natalie was born to parents of Russian and Ukrainian descent. The point of the story is the tension between two rival gangs of different ethnicities, so it might have been a good idea to hire a real Hispanic for the role. Puerto Rican actress Rita Moreno, who played Anita, won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance. She thought that would open doors for her to play less sterotypical roles in the future, but she was disappointed in how Hollywood pigeon-holed her. She said, “I didn’t make another movie for seven years after winning the Oscar” because all she was offered were “Conchitas and Lolitas in westerns” and “gang stories.”