10 male actors who played female roles

For the sake of their star roles, actors make many sacrifices in terms of appearance: either they lose weight to anorexia, then they gain weight to obesity, then they shave off their hair, then … they change into women! Yes, and so masterfully, the characters in the films do not even realize that the woman standing in front of them with wonderful curls is actually a man.

And the audience themselves sometimes forget about the gender mismatch, because the actors brilliantly cope with the task assigned to them.

We’re going to talk about the 10 best portrayals of actors as female characters. And we will talk not only about light comedy films, but also about heavy drama with deep content and intention. Such films denounce the cruelty of society and the unwillingness to accept people who are different from themselves.

10 Quentin Crisp, Orlando

In the film, the female lead is played by actor Quentin Crisp and he plays Queen Elizabeth I. According to the plot, the aging queen is fascinated by a young aristocrat named Orlando and orders him to never grow old.

Inexplicably, Orlando complies with the request and lives for many centuries, retaining his appearance as a young man. Orlando travels and lives without regard to age, one day he even falls in love with a Russian princess. But he is disappointed in the girl and leaves for Arabia as an ambassador.

One morning, Orlando wakes up in his apartment, but feels a significant change in his own body. It turns out that now he has to live in a female form and change his usual way of adventure and entertainment.

9. Robin Williams, “Mrs. Doubtfire”

Family-friendly drama/comedy movie. The film was directed by Chris Columbus, and Robin Williams did an excellent job with the female role.

The plot tells about a man named Daniel, who has many unpleasant events at the same time. First, he is fired from his job, then the wife announces her decision to divorce, and even allows her father to see the children once a week!

Then the man comes up with an adventure that solves all three of his problems at once: unemployment, divorce and the inability to see his own children. Daniel dresses up as an elderly woman, names himself “Mrs. Doubtfire” and gets a job as a housekeeper for his ex-wife. Of course, from the moment Daniel crosses the threshold of his own house in a woman’s dress, the plot will begin to develop in the most unpredictable way.

8. Lee Pace, “Soldier’s Girl”

A dramatic film about a young soldier of the American army, Barry Winchel, who, on his leave, meets a singer in a nightclub and is completely fascinated by the girl.

He sets up a date with her, where he learns that the girl he loves is a transsexual who is preparing for a sex change. But this does not stop the main character.

Men continue to meet, fall in love with each other more and more, until his colleagues find out about the soldier’s romance, who decide to take revenge on Winchel for having a relationship with a man.

The denouement of the story comes abruptly and unexpectedly, leaving the viewer with the desire to rewind the film and try to correct the situation.

7. John Travolta, “Hairspray”

A musical film, it will definitely appeal to all lovers of musical and dance films. Bright images, costumes, brilliance, smiles of the main characters and incendiary songs – it is impossible not to sing along or dance from the spectacle taking place on the screen.

John Travolta plays the main character’s mother, Tracy, in this film. Every day, John was put on make-up for 4 hours, and the actor’s costume weighed 13 kilograms! John did not want to accept this role for a long time, so Robin Williams and Tom Hanks were offered to play the mother of the main character. But Travolta nevertheless agreed and in the end successfully coped with the task.

6. Cillian Murphy, “Breakfast on Pluto”

Patrick Braden is a young transvestite and the illegitimate son of a priest. Patrick knows that he is different from the rest, and everyone else is well aware that the guy is a white crow and he does not belong among “normal” people. From the mockery and cruelty of strangers, Patrick is saved only by his incredible charisma and charm.

Soon the young man realizes that in his hometown there is absolutely nothing and no one is holding him, then he decides to move to London, setting out to find his mother.

The big city immediately captivates Patrick, striking with the breadth of views and tolerance of the locals. However, soon Patrick will experience all the unpleasant and sharp character traits of the inhabitants of London.

5. Alexander Kalyagin, “Hello, I’m your aunt!”

Film directed by Soviet director Viktor Titov, released in 1975. The main role is played by Alexander Kalyagin, who, according to the script, needs to dress up as a woman and help young men marry their lovers.

This is one of those Soviet comedies that Russian-speaking viewers like to watch at least once a year, along with The Irony of Fate or The Diamond Arm.

A light and funny plot, pleasant characters and comical situations do not let the viewer go and an hour and a half of timing fly by like one minute.

4. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, Only Girls in Jazz

Classic black and white comedy. The film tells about two musicians Joe and Jerry, who become casual witnesses of a gang shooting and now they have to urgently leave the city on the next train that will take the heroes to Florida.

Men change their appearance with cosmetics and women’s dresses, introduce themselves as Josephine and Daphne, now playing in an all-female jazz band.

The disguise works for a long time, until the lead singer of the group falls in love with Josephine, an aging playboy with Daphne, and the mafia boss guesses what kind of people are hiding under women’s dresses.

3. Dustin Hoffman, Tootsie

Dustin Hoffman, who plays actor Michael Dorsey with a bad career, is dressed in a woman’s dress in this film. Michael is not approved for roles, they are not invited to audition, and in general the difficult nature of the man does not allow him to develop in the acting field.

Then Michael decides to start everything from scratch: he dresses up as a girl, comes up with a new name for himself and soon realizes that people around him like his female alter ego, and Michael very soon finds work in his new guise.

It seems that everything is finally starting to improve, but how now to build a relationship with a girl with whom Michael has long been in love?

2. Charlie Chaplin, “Woman”

Charlie Chaplin for this short film acts as an actor, and as a director, and as a screenwriter. In the story, Charlie is trying to charm a girl whom he accidentally met in the park, but he is prevented by another man who has been dating this girl for a long time.

Out of anger, Charlie pushes his opponent into the water, and he meets another girl who was relaxing in the park with her mother. They immediately invite Charlie to dinner, to which the man agrees, very pleased with such an acquaintance.

But when he comes to visit, Charlie discovers that the father of the family is the same man whom Chaplin pushed into the river! The protagonist shaves off his mustache and changes into the clothes of his new girlfriend, introducing himself to the man as his daughter’s girlfriend.

1. Eddie Redmayne, The Danish Girl

The film stars Eddie Redmayne as the husband of artist Gerda Wegener.

Gerda asks Einar to pose for him in women’s clothes to paint new pictures. The husband agrees and the picture is a resounding success, allowing Einar to dress in women’s clothes more and more often to pose for new pictures.

Einar soon realizes that he likes to transform into his alteg ego. He gives his female appearance the name of Lily Elbe, and then decides to undergo a sex change operation.