Written by Adrian Twist -
Ridley Scott's terrorist thriller Body of Lies with Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe opens this weekend. The two stars are magnificent as usual, but one of the acting heavyweights comes in the character of a suave Jordanian intelligence chief Hani who is both fearsome and debonair. Is the actor portraying him a real Jordanian star just breaking out in Hollywood?
Ridley Scott's terrorist thriller Body of Lies with Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe opens this weekend. The two stars are magnificent as usual, but one of the acting heavyweights comes in the character of a suave Jordanian intelligence chief Hani who is both fearsome and debonair. Is the actor portraying him a real Jordanian star just breaking out in Hollywood?No. He is British actor Mark Strong whose heritage is actually half-Italian and half-Austrian. His birth name is Marco Giuseppe Salussolia.
Although not as vocal as blacks in their outrage against their portrayals as acquiescent servants or the even more deplorable minstrels, Asians have always silently tolerated images of them by white actors donning buck teeth and speaking broken English being goofy and idiotic - Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's and Rob Schneider's ludicrous minister in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry quickly come to mind. That got me thinking about what Arabs will think of Strong's portrayal.
Many Arabs are hard to distinguish from Italians, or any Mediterranean natives for that matter, and Strong played him well enough to earn a Best Supporting Actor nomination at this year's Oscars (those Middle Eastern accents are tough to perfect). So, the only offense I can see is that a true Arab actor lost another of the few Arab roles in Hollywood to a white man.
But the lies and deception don't stop there - Check out the pic [after the jump] to see how much creativity, make-up and, umm, hair raising effects it took for Strong to become Hani...
Although not as vocal as blacks in their outrage against their portrayals as acquiescent servants or the even more deplorable minstrels, Asians have always silently tolerated images of them by white actors donning buck teeth and speaking broken English being goofy and idiotic - Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's and Rob Schneider's ludicrous minister in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry quickly come to mind. That got me thinking about what Arabs will think of Strong's portrayal.
Many Arabs are hard to distinguish from Italians, or any Mediterranean natives for that matter, and Strong played him well enough to earn a Best Supporting Actor nomination at this year's Oscars (those Middle Eastern accents are tough to perfect). So, the only offense I can see is that a true Arab actor lost another of the few Arab roles in Hollywood to a white man.
But the lies and deception don't stop there - Check out the pic [after the jump] to see how much creativity, make-up and, umm, hair raising effects it took for Strong to become Hani...
Mark Strong au naturale in a portrait by Jean Goldsmith.
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