Why does Hollywood cast Jewish people as Italians or Italians as Jews?

Question

Can't people or producers tell the difference or do people see it so much in movies, TV that they can't tell anymore? Just wondering. Not meaning to offend anyone or not saying that it is wrong, I am just curious. Thank you.

Answer 1

Whats the point, seriously if theres a good enough actor that can play a jewish person or an italian person then why not. There just acting so there relgious belifes and where there from shouldnt really matter if they can pull the part off.

Answer 2

Some actors have a generic "Mediterranean" look that allows them to play a Greek or an Italian a Jew etc. It gives the casting directors a larger pool of talent to chose from and it gives the actor more options when looking for work. If he (or she) is a good actor then they can play a variety of nationalities convincingly. By the way this is also true of Hispanic and Asian actors as well. If you look at the old TV show MASH you see a lot of Asian actors show up in different episodes. However in one episode they can be Japanese, another Korean and another Chinese. An actor by definition portrays something they are not.

Answer 3

Who knows? It's probably for the same reason that Italians were cast as Native Americans in "spaghetti " westerns for years and years when there were plenty of Native Americans alive and well to play the part of their own people. In any event it's still a mystery only Hollyweird can answer.

Answer 4

You re right. They can't tell the difference. Plus sometimes it comes down to economics and so they go with a person who looks like the character they're trying to portray. At least we don't have John Wayne playing Genghis Khan like in the 50's and 60's when Hollywood was color blind and racist.

Answer 5

There are JEWS in show business??? I'm SHOCKED!!! LOL!!! There is a lot of weirdness in show business - I remember seeing Orson Welles lamenting the fact that he had to have Charleton Heston portray... a Mexican!!! Ever notice how Hollywood portrays the good looking people as the good guys and the not so good looking people as the villains? Blonde girls as the good girls and brunettes as the bad girls? Not always, but "that's showbiz!"

Answer 6

There was a time in Hollywood when they would cast Caucasians to play Asians, such as Warner Oland (a Swede) to play Chinese detective Charlie Chan, or Peter Lorre (a German) to play Japanese secret agent, Mr. Moto.

Answer 7

I don't know...why does Hollywood cast English actors to play Americans or Americans to play Englishmen?

Answer 8

The previous joke is going, "How do you tell the version in an Italian mom and a Jewish mom? One says "devour each and every thing on your plate or i will kill you," the different says "devour each and every thing on your plate or i will kill myself." fairly the rationalization is that such rather a number of the phenotypes do have crossover factors that it rather is possible to "replace" one for the different through fact the final public does not have sufficient expertise to p.c. out the version.

Answer 9

I think that they are cast because they look the part, not because of their heritage.

Answer 10

i dont know but thats a good question tho