8 Actors Who Have Played An Insane Amount Of Nationalities

5. Alec Guinness

Nationality: English Notable Roles: A Passage To India (Indian), Dr. Zhivago (Russian), Lawrence of Arabia (Arabian), Kafka (Czech), Fall of the Roman Empire (Roman), Situation Hopeless, But Not Serious (German), Cromwell (Scottish), Lovesick (Austrian), A Majority of One (Japanese), The Scapegoat (French) It's somewhat bizarre to think that Alec Guinness will probably remain best know for a role that he has gone on record to say that he actively disliked: that of Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original (and arguably best) Star Wars movie. Of course, that role was played in his natural style, in his native accent, but took place in a galaxy, far, far away. Guinness' second best known role, then, in The Bridge on the River Kwai, had him pegged as an Englishman - a remarkable performance, but still one that shows Guinness in something of a comfort zone. So perhaps - for those less aquatinted with Guinness' body of work - it's weird to think of Obi-Wan as an Indian (A Passage to India), or Czech (Kafka), or Japanese (A Majority of One). An important thing to consider, of course, is that once upon a time, an actor taking on a nationality other than their own was normal in Hollywood: though many of these performances seem dated and insensitive now, there was something daring and/or even admirable about it at one time. And yet some of Alec Guinness' best roles are those that had him cast as characters of other nationalities than English. Those that transcended the pitfalls of racial casting are, most notably, those he assumed under the direction of David Lean (which include Dr. Zhivago, in which he played Russian, and Lawrence of Arabia, in which he played an Arabian).