There’s another Avatar movie coming out, and it doesn’t have anything to do with blue people. The Last Airbender will be the live-action movie adaptation of Nickelodeon’s animated hit Avatar: The Last Airbender, which aired on the children’s network from 2005 to 2008.
Fans of the cartoon are all-too-excited about the movie’s release, but the bigger story has been the controversy of the casting director’s choice in actors. Many people are upset that the lead role of Aang, is being played by 12-year-old Noah Ringer, who happens to be white. The only problem is, citizens of the Earth Kingdom, where Aang lives, typically look East Asian, leaving director, M. Night Shymalan and others to answer sticky questions about why they chose to cast Ringer for the role.
The point is, Noah Ringer actually looks like Aang. In some of the stills used to promote the movie, it almost seems like the cartoonists who dreamed up Aang used a picture of Ringer for inspiration.
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Ringer is what many people would call “racially ambiguous” – the type of person whose racial background can’t be assumed at just a glance. And although blurring racial lines when casting roles can be controversial, being able to “pass” for a few different races can be beneficial to an actor’s career, opening up a wealth of acting possibilities.
Which got us to thinking, are there any other racially, or ethnically, ambiguous celebrities floating around Hollywood? Of course, there are.
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Jessica Alba’s role as Honey Daniels, a black, music video choreographer in the 94-minute, music-video-of-a-movie, Honey, played into the fact that no one can tell offhand what race the beautiful actress is. The race of Alba’s character in the 2003 movie was obvious, though. Her parents were played by Anthony Sherwood and Lonette McKee. This works well for Jessica, who is actually Mexican, French and Danish. Based on race, this girl can play a variety of roles.
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Although most people know that the Keeping Up With The Kardashians star is Armenian, with her dark hair and skin, she could easily pass for a couple of different races, should she ever go the movie-making route.
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Amber Rose definitely falls into the ethnically ambiguous category. In fact, “Amber Rose ethnicity” is the fourth thing that pops u
