Cripping-up in Films and TV Dramas. Non-Disabled Actors Playing Visibly Disabled Roles.
Cripping-up is when a non-disabled actor takes the role of a disabled character, when a disabled actor could have been cast in that role. That character could be written for screen, taken from a comic book, a historical figure known to be disabled or a disabled literary figure.
With so few opportunities being offered to disabled actors beyond playing disabled characters, casting disabled roles should be offered to disabled actors first, however in practice this rarely happens and over 94% of all disabled roles have been cripped-up by non-disabled actors.
This is a list of TV Shows and Movies where non-disabled actors have been cast in disabled roles. Some of the examples also cast disabled actors, but often these are just supporting roles to try and justify cripping-up the lead role.
With so few opportunities being offered to disabled actors beyond playing disabled characters, casting disabled roles should be offered to disabled actors first, however in practice this rarely happens and over 94% of all disabled roles have been cripped-up by non-disabled actors.
This is a list of TV Shows and Movies where non-disabled actors have been cast in disabled roles. Some of the examples also cast disabled actors, but often these are just supporting roles to try and justify cripping-up the lead role.
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- DirectorNeil BurgerStarsKevin HartBryan CranstonNicole KidmanA comedic look at the relationship between a wealthy man with quadriplegia and an unemployed man with a criminal record who's hired to help him.
- DirectorSteven SawalichStarsRon LivingstonMelissa GeorgeMichael SheenRichard Pimentel began his life as a fighter, and his life's work became fighting for the rights of others. After losing his hearing in Nam, he overcame his handicap and used his public speaking skills to inspire injured war veterans.
- DirectorRob BurnettStarsCraig RobertsPaul RuddSelena GomezA man suffering a family loss enrolls in a class about care-giving that changes his perspective on life.
- CreatorLauren LeFrancStarsColin FarrellCristin MiliotiRhenzy FelizFollowing the events of The Batman (2022), Oz Cobb, a.k.a. the Penguin, makes a play to seize the reins of the crime world in Gotham.
- DirectorJulian FarinoStarsStephen Campbell MooreOliver MilburnMichael ElwynFollowing the success of his poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage", Byron becomes the toast of London.
- DirectorClint EastwoodStarsHilary SwankClint EastwoodMorgan FreemanFrankie, an ill-tempered old coach, reluctantly agrees to train aspiring boxer Maggie. Impressed with her determination and talent, he helps her become the best and the two soon form a close bond.
- DirectorDamien O'DonnellStarsJames McAvoySteven RobertsonRomola GaraiWhen the kinetic Rory moves into his room in the Carrigmore Residential Home for the Disabled, his effect on the home is immediate. Most telling is his friendship with Michael, a young man with cerebral palsy and nearly unintelligible speech. Somehow, Rory understands Michael, and encourages him to experience life outside the confines of home.
- DirectorRoger PlanchonStarsRégis RoyerElsa ZylbersteinAnémoneLife, passion, love...all these were part of Toulouse-Lautrec's art. His artistic development among the masters of the postimpressionism.
- DirectorSteven SoderberghStarsJeremy IronsTheresa RussellJoel GreyKafka works during the day at an insurance company, where events lead him to discover a mysterious underground society with strange suppressive goals.
- DirectorTaylor HackfordStarsJamie FoxxRegina KingKerry WashingtonThe story of the life and career of the legendary rhythm and blues musician Ray Charles, from his humble beginnings in the South, where he went blind at age seven, to his meteoric rise to stardom during the 1950s and 1960s.
- DirectorPhillip NoyceStarsDenzel WashingtonAngelina JolieQueen LatifahA quadriplegic ex-homicide detective and his partner try to track down a serial killer who is terrorizing New York City.
- CreatorBrenda HamptonStarsStephen CollinsCatherine HicksJessica BielEric Camden, a minister, and his wife Annie deal with the drama of having seven children, ranging from toddlers to adults with families of their own.
- DirectorHal AshbyStarsJane FondaJon VoightBruce DernIn 1968 California, a woman whose husband is a Marine officer fighting in Vietnam falls in love with a former high school classmate who suffered a paralyzing combat injury in the war.
- DirectorAlfred HitchcockStarsJames StewartGrace KellyWendell CoreyA bored photographer recovering from a broken leg passes the time by watching his neighbors and begins to suspect one of them of murder.
- DirectorLydia Dean PilcherStarsSarah Megan ThomasStana KaticRadhika ApteIn the beginning of WWII, with Britain becoming desperate, Churchill orders his new spy agency - SOE - to recruit and train women as spies.
- DirectorMarc MundenStarsDixie EgerickxRichard HansellDavid VerreyAn orphaned girl discovers a magical garden hidden at her strict uncle's estate.
- DirectorJulian SchnabelStarsMathieu AmalricEmmanuelle SeignerMarie-Josée CrozeThe true story of Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby who suffers a stroke and has to live with an almost totally paralyzed body; only his left eye isn't paralyzed.
- DirectorSteven SchachterStarsWilliam H. MacyKyra SedgwickKathy BakerA man with cerebral palsy is determined to become a salesman.
- DirectorRichard WongStarsGrant RosenmeyerHayden SzetoRavi PatelThree young men with disabilities hit the road with a jaded nurse driver to a brothel in Montreal catering to people with special needs. Remake of the acclaimed Belgian film 'Hasta La Vista'.
- DirectorJim SheridanStarsDaniel Day-LewisBrenda FrickerAlison WhelanChristy Brown, born with cerebral palsy, learns to paint and write with his only controllable limb - his left foot.
- DirectorRobert RedfordStarsRobert RedfordKristin Scott ThomasSam NeillThe mother of a severely traumatized daughter enlists the aid of a unique horse trainer to help the girl's equally injured horse.
- DirectorAndrew NiccolStarsEthan HawkeUma ThurmanJude LawVincent, an "In-Valid," assumes the identity of a member of the genetic elite to pursue his goal of traveling into space with the Gattaca Aerospace Corporation. However, a week before his mission, a murder marks Vincent as a suspect.
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsAnthony HopkinsJohn HurtAnne BancroftA Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man who is mistreated while scraping a living as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of kindness, intelligence and sophistication.
- DirectorArthur PennStarsAnne BancroftPatty DukeVictor JoryThe story of Anne Sullivan's struggle to teach the blind, deaf and mute child Helen Keller how to understand and communicate.
- DirectorsMåns MårlindBjörn SteinStarsJulianne MooreJonathan Rhys MeyersJeffrey DeMunnA forensic psychiatrist discovers that all but one of her patient's multiple personalities are murder victims. She will have to find out what's happening before her time is finished.
