10 Times Women Played Men in the Movie

It’s not a secret that back in the day it wasn’t uncommon for men to play female parts in plays, because women simply were not allowed to be actors. Well today we’re going to talk about a couple of cases when that situation was reversed. There’s been times when women got to play male parts, and very successfully. Some of these women got male parts in theater plays, others actually portrayed men in films. In some cases it was meant to be obvious and even comedic, in others, you would never know it was a woman playing a man if you didn’t research it. Take a look and find out which ones you knew about and which ones are a surprise for you.

 

 

1. Cate Blanchett
Cate played the part of Bob Dylan in I’m Not There. A great casting choice both visually and in terms of character. Cate really managed to embody Bob Dylan in this movie, like no other man could.

2. Amanda Bynes
Amanda Bynes played Sebastian Hastings in the movie She’s The Man. Her character decides to dress as her twin brother and get into his boarding school, while he’s away in London. There’s a love triangle (or is it square) happening and a lot of hilarious situations ensue.

3. Gwyneth Paltrow
In Shakespeare in Love, Gwyneth Paltrow plays a woman, who’s pretending to be a man to get into a play to then play Romeo, and then also play Juliet as a woman. I know, it’s sort of mind boggling, but there you go.

4. Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie has been called the most beautiful, sexiest, most gorgeous woman in Hollywood so many times. However in one of the scenes in the movie Salt she plays a male naval officer. Sure, some prosthetics were involved, but her main features were kept, and yet she looked so much like a man that she even fooled her son, Maddox.

5. Julie Andrews
Julie Andrews played both the female and the male part in Victor/Victoria. Well, actually it’s even more genius than that. Julie plays a singer who’s struggling to find a job, so her friend comes up with a great plan to hire her as male female impersonator. Awesome adventures ensue.

6. Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore
These two hot ladies dressed as men in Charlie’s Angels. And while this wasn’t meant to be a serious attempt, their cross-dressing scenes was fun to watch.

7. Hilary Swank
In the movie “Boys don’t cry” Hilary Swank played a very believable male part. Her character was named Brandon Teena, a female to male transgender that faces a lot of trouble for being transgender and trying to live his life as a male.

8. Katharine Hepburn
In Sylvia Scarlett, Katharine Hepburn plays a young lady, who, after the death of her mother decides to help her dad by dressing as a man. At that time it was just easier to move around in society when you were a man.

9. Barbra Streisand
Barbra played male for the camera in the movie Yentl. In the movie, her character is a girl, who decides to dress as a boy to enter a religious school for boys. Some praised her acting in this movie, others didn’t enjoy it at all. I guess you’ll have to see the movie and be the judge.

10. Glenn Close
Glenn Close, in the movie Albert Nobbs, plays a woman who decides to live as a man in order to be able to work and provide for herself. Her acting is impeccable and when watching the movie you forget that Glenn is a woman and believe that it’s a man called Albert Nobbs.