Caucasian to Asian makeup tips? — Page 2

You know, I think this brings up a good discussion about acting; forgive me if I get soapboxy, offensive or completely inappropriate for thread-jacking, but where does one draw the line when portraying a character?

The makers of "Memoirs of a Geisha" got a lot of flack because they had Chinese actors portraying Japanese people. Some people found it offensive, some people did not. In Broadway terms, Rent sticks out in my mind when so many African-American actresses portrayed Mimi, a Latina character. Of course no one batted an eye at this, probably because it was after Rent's fifteen minutes.

I think one of the best examples is Anna Deavere Smith, who portrayed about every race and sex imaginable in her one-woman piece of docudrama "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992". As a Black woman, she portrayed men, women, Koreans, Whites, Blacks and Latinas. I think she's a bit of an exception, considering her immense talent and the fact that she was taking on the characters by herself. But, it makes one wonder, what are the limits of acting? Can a man portray a woman accurately without campy humor? Can a Black man portray a White man without prejudice?

I say apply subtle eyeliner and try to portray the Asian characters as authentically as possible. Acting is about representing a character, not about being politically correct. If no racism is intended, I don't see why it should be anything more than a challenging role.

In Broadway terms, Rent sticks out in my mind when so many African-American actresses portrayed Mimi, a Latina character. Of course no one batted an eye at this, probably because it was after Rent's fifteen minutes.

No; it's because Latina/o has such a legitimately broad interpretation of appearance. It's just as plausible that a dark-skinned, curly haired woman from Cuba or the DR would have the surname Marquez as would a light-skinned, straight-haired woman from Madrid, or an olive-skinned woman from Bolivia.

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One of the local high schools did Millie here last year. Bun Foo and Ching Ho were both caucasian boys with eyeliner... And Jimmy was Asian.

Not to mention that there were plenty of Asians in the ensemble.. I mean, I dunno, when it's specified that a character is supposed to be a certain race, it helps if you cast them as such. You wouldn't cast a white woman as Celie in The Color Purple, would you? I'm all for colorblind casting, but not when a character is supposed to be of a certain race.

Perhaps one particularly adventurous one will take a cue from the Blue Man Group and make them all purple. Now THAT would be colorblind casting.

Colorblind casting can be fun, though. When I was in high school, we did Damn Yankees, and cast a white guy as Joe Boyd and a black guy as Joe Hardy. Needless to say, the transformation scene was unintentionally hilarious. ("I want to transform into a really good athlete!" (he changes into a black man) "WOW!!")

Updated On: 7/29/09 at 03:57 AM

I do remember that 2002 revival of Flower Drum Song didn't have all Chinese cast, but I don't think any actors try to imitate Chinese accent or try to look Chinese.

Didn't Lea Salonga do a Chinese accent? (I never saw the revival, but I did see the production at San Jose Rep.)

You'd be hard-pressed to find an all-Chinese cast of any musical outside an elementary school in Chinatown. There aren't that many Chinese parents who would let their kids pursue a stage career.

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Lizzie: She kind of did, if the cast recording is any indication.

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Cameras around their necks?

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Hey there Pete,

Got your message (a few days late, sorry, don't check my BWW mail that often) and it said I couldn't PM you back. I experimented with the actress in preparation for the show, but didn't actually end up doing makeup for that show, as the production staff wound up preferring their own design. I too was surprised they wanted to make a Caucasian Asian for a show when people don't really do that sort of thing anymore (which is why it was hard to find the proper advice for the makeup), but since the producers wanted that, that's ultimately what they did.

I was first advised to try a tape prosthetic, but that really obscures the actor's vision and comfort, and she didn't want to do that (which was fine by me, and it didn't look right for that character, either). So we experimented with shadowing the lid a brown/black color up to the crease (but not ON the crease), because the look is to obscure the Caucasian crease, ultimately. Highlight between brow and the lid color with a lighter, non-shimmer shadow or just some skin-colored stage makeup and blend to your liking. We drew the lid color out in a sort of narrow triangular shape at the outer eye corner, but yeah, don't be so drastic as to draw a single line, a la the "Cleopatra" look that you didn't like. It also helped to create the "almond" eye shape by lining under the eye not on the traditional lower lashes, but on the inside water line, making the eyes look a bit narrower like Asian eyes. You may want to subtly lengthen or thicken eyebrows, depending on the director's vision and other Asian people or photos that you might find for examples.

Highlighting and contouring to round the jaw and cheek bones may be appropriate as well. Try looking in the book called "Stage Makeup" for tips and photos of how to do this. You should be able to check it out for free at the library.

Hope that helps and that it works out! I'd love to see pics of how it turned out for you.

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Updated On: 8/2/09 at 04:14 AM