Cross-gender acting

Cross-dressing
History of cross-dressing
Key elements
Modern drag culture
Sexual practices
Other aspects
Passing as male
Passing as female
Organizations
Books
Theories
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, also called cross-gender casting or cross-casting, is when actors or actresses portray a character of the opposite sex. It is distinct from both transgender and cross-dressing character roles.

Cross-gender acting often interacts with complex cultural ideas about gender. It has a diverse history across many cultures, including English Renaissance theatre, French theatre, Japanese theatre, Indian theatres, and Ethiopian theatre.

In many contexts, such as English and Indian theatres, cross-gender acting is linked to the oppression of women. Many societies prohibited women from performing on stage, so boys and men took the female roles. Female impersonation often decreased in popularity as women gained this right.

Female cross-cast roles are commonly young boy characters, or, in the case of theatre companies like the Takarazuka Revue Company, male heroes.

Some cultures, like Tang and Yuan dynasty China, had traditions of cross-gender acting for both men and women concurrently.

Modern American cross-gender acting, especially in musical theatre roles where men play women, is often employed for comedic effect.