Sort by Popularity - Most Popular Movies and TV Shows tagged with keyword "passing-for-white"

1. The Human Stain (2003)

R | 106 min | Drama, Romance, Thriller

When a disgraced former college dean has a romance with a mysterious younger woman haunted by her dark, twisted past, he is forced to confront a shocking fact about his own life that he has kept secret for fifty years.

Director: Robert Benton | Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Nicole Kidman, Ed Harris, Gary Sinise

Votes: 32,281 | Gross: $5.38M

2. Imitation of Life (1959)

Not Rated | 125 min | Drama

An aspiring white actress takes in an African American widow whose mixed-race daughter is desperate to be seen as white.

Director: Douglas Sirk | Stars: Lana Turner, John Gavin, Sandra Dee, Susan Kohner

Votes: 18,237 | Gross: $13.99M

3. Passing (I) (2021)

PG-13 | 98 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller

"Passing" follows the unexpected reunion of two high school friends, whose renewed acquaintance ignites a mutual obsession that threatens both of their carefully constructed realities.

Director: Rebecca Hall | Stars: Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga, André Holland, Bill Camp

Votes: 16,542

4. Queen (1993)

TV-14 | 282 min | Biography, Drama, Romance

A plantation owner's son falls in love with a slave named Easter and together they have a Biracial daughter named Queen. As Queen grows up, she faces the struggle of trying to fit into the ... See full summary »

Stars: Ann-Margret, Patricia Clarkson, Tim Daly, Ossie Davis

Votes: 1,717

5. The Sapphires (2012)

PG-13 | 103 min | Biography, Comedy, Drama

In 1968, four talented young Australian Aboriginal girls learn about love, friendship, and war when their all-girl group The Sapphires entertains the US troops in Vietnam.

Director: Wayne Blair | Stars: Chris O'Dowd, Deborah Mailman, Jessica Mauboy, Shari Sebbens

Votes: 15,183 | Gross: $2.45M

6. A Jazzman's Blues (2022)

R | 127 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance

Follows an investigation into an unsolved murder unveiling a story full of forbidden love, deceit and a secret.

Director: Tyler Perry | Stars: Joshua Boone, Amirah Vann, Solea Pfeiffer, Austin Scott

Votes: 4,322

7. Imitation of Life (1934)

Approved | 111 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance

A struggling widow and her daughter take in a Black housekeeper and her fair-skinned daughter; the two women start a successful business but face familial, identity, and racial issues along the way.

Director: John M. Stahl | Stars: Claudette Colbert, Warren William, Rochelle Hudson, Ned Sparks

Votes: 5,652

8. Shadows (1958)

PG | 87 min | Drama, Music, Romance

Cassavetes' jazz-scored improvisational film explores interracial friendships and relationships in Beat-Era (1950s) New York City.

Director: John Cassavetes | Stars: Ben Carruthers, Lelia Goldoni, Hugh Hurd, Anthony Ray

Votes: 12,569

9. Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)

Approved | 102 min | Biography, Drama, Romance

A widowed Chinese-English doctor falls in love with a married American correspondent in Hong Kong during China's Communist Revolution.

Directors: Henry King, Otto Lang | Stars: William Holden, Jennifer Jones, Torin Thatcher, Isobel Elsom

Votes: 5,380

10. Show Boat (1936)

Approved | 113 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical

Despite her mother's objections, the naive young daughter of a show boat captain is thrust into the limelight as the company's new leading lady.

Director: James Whale | Stars: Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Charles Winninger, Paul Robeson

Votes: 3,697

11. I Spit on Your Grave (1959)

110 min | Crime, Drama, Romance

After the lynching death of his black brother in Memphis, a light-skinned African-American, heads to a small Southern town, where he draws the attention of a heiress, and learns that the place is as racist as his hometown.

Director: Michel Gast | Stars: Christian Marquand, Antonella Lualdi, Fernand Ledoux, Renate Ewert

Votes: 300

12. Sapphire (1959)

Not Rated | 92 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

The murder of a young woman in London exposes deep racial tensions and prejudices inherent in the area.

Director: Basil Dearden | Stars: Nigel Patrick, Yvonne Mitchell, Michael Craig, Paul Massie

Votes: 2,315

13. Pinky (1949)

Approved | 102 min | Drama

A light-skinned black woman falls in love with a white doctor, though he is unaware of her true race.

Directors: Elia Kazan, John Ford | Stars: Jeanne Crain, Ethel Barrymore, Ethel Waters, William Lundigan

Votes: 3,417 | Gross: $4.20M

14. I Passed for White (1960)

Not Rated | 93 min | Drama

A young girl meets and marries the man of her dreams--only she hasn't told him that she is half-black, and he and his rich family and friends are white.

Director: Fred M. Wilcox | Stars: Sonya Wilde, James Franciscus, Patricia Michon, Elizabeth Council

Votes: 320

15. Queenie (1987)

233 min | Drama, Romance

An Anglo-Indian woman emigrates from India to Great Britain, pursues fame and fortune at the cost of personal happiness, and becomes a Hollywood movie star while suppressing the truth of her heritage.

Stars: Joss Ackland, Martin Balsam, Claire Bloom, Gary Cady

Votes: 471

16. The Black Klansman (1966)

Not Rated | 88 min | Drama

After a black man's daughter is killed by the KKK, he seeks revenge by becoming a Klansman.

Director: Ted V. Mikels | Stars: Richard Gilden, Rima Kutner, Harry Lovejoy, Max Julien

Votes: 539

17. Unbowed (1999)

125 min | Drama, History, Romance

Three Lakota Sioux men enroll in a historically black college, and their reluctance to assimilate causes friction between their black peers. Some come to embrace their similar history, while others remain bitter.

Director: Nanci Rossov | Stars: Tembi Locke, Jay Tavare, Chuma Gault, Catero Alain Colbert

Votes: 227

18. Passing Strange (2009)

TV-MA | 135 min | Documentary, Musical

Director Spike Lee's passionate adaptation of the thrilling Broadway musical about a young bohemian who experiences sex, drugs and rock and roll on his journey to selfhood.

Directors: Spike Lee, Annie Dorsen | Stars: Stew, De'Adre Aziza, Eisa Davis, Colman Domingo

Votes: 419

19. High Yellow (1965)

83 min | Drama

Cynthia Wood, a light-skinned 17-year-old girl, tries to pass as white after getting hired by wealthy movie magnate Mr. Langley, who has problems with his spoiled wife and promiscuous teenage daughter and son.

Director: Larry Buchanan | Stars: Cynthia Hull, Warren Hammack, Annabelle Weenick, Bob Brown

Votes: 71

20. Lost Boundaries (1949)

Not Rated | 99 min | Drama

This story is a true account of the lives of Scott and Marsha Carter. Having graduated from medical school, Scott Carter, a fair-skinned African American, marries Marsha Mitchell and moves ... See full summary »

Director: Alfred L. Werker | Stars: Beatrice Pearson, Mel Ferrer, Susan Douglas Rubes, Robert A. Dunn

Votes: 496

21. Trick Baby (1972)

R | 93 min | Action, Crime, Drama

Two Phildelphia con men try to evade gangsters they have conned and cops who are trying to put them in jail.

Director: Larry Yust | Stars: Kiel Martin, Mel Stewart, Dallas Edward Hayes, Beverly Ballard

Votes: 652 | Gross: $0.62M

22. Old San Francisco (1927)

Passed | 88 min | Drama, History, Romance

In San Francisco, a villainous land owner with underworld connections seeks to steal the property of an old Spanish family.

Director: Alan Crosland | Stars: Dolores Costello, Josef Swickard, Anders Randolf, Charles Emmett Mack

Votes: 413

23. Illusions (1982)

34 min | Drama, Short

An African American woman rises to prominence in a fictional movie studio in the 1940s by passing as a white woman, affording others some dignity in the business that frequently portrayed movies as an illusion of a purely "white world."

Director: Julie Dash | Stars: Lonette McKee, Rosanne Katon, Ned Bellamy, Jack Rader

Votes: 520

24. Reprisal! (1956)

Passed | 74 min | Western

Half-breed Frank Madden claims he's White, in order to own land, but violent racial clashes in town force him to abandon his neutrality and chose a side.

Director: George Sherman | Stars: Guy Madison, Felicia Farr, Kathryn Grant, Michael Pate

Votes: 508

25. Family Name (1997)

89 min | Documentary

A gay man seeks to discover what kinship, if any, exists between his white family and the nearby blacks who share the name of Alston.

Director: Macky Alston | Stars: Macky Alston, William Badgett

Votes: 49

26. Negro es mi color (1951)

Drama, Music

Add a Plot

Director: Tito Davison | Stars: Marga López, Rita Montaner, Roberto Cañedo, José María Linares-Rivas

Votes: 26

27. The White Slave; or, the Octoroon (1913)

Drama, Short

Part One: The estate of Terrebonne, in Louisiana, had been heavily mortgaged by the owner, Judge Payton, who, when he died, left the estate to his brother's widow and her son George, making... See full summary »

Director: James Young | Stars: Clara Kimball Young, Earle Williams, Herbert Barry, Lillian Walker

28. Stick It (2014)

5 min | Short, Romance, Sport

The single channel video STICK IT combines television footage of women's gymnastics with recordings of the artist attempting the same routines. Merging himself and the young gymnasts of the... See full summary »

Director: Stefan Ramirez Perez

29. Skin Deep (2001)

13 min | Short

Add a Plot

Director: Yousaf Ali Khan | Stars: Darren Sheppard, George Russo, Charlie Parker-Swift, Freddie White

Votes: 105

30. The Jeffersons (1975–1985)
Episode: Jenny's Low (1975)

TV-PG | 25 min | Comedy

Jenny gives her brother an ice-cold reception when he suddenly appears after a two-year absence. George is the only one who understands Jenny's strange behavior and, unfortunately, he makes no bones about saying so.

Director: Jack Shea | Stars: Isabel Sanford, Sherman Hemsley, Mike Evans, Roxie Roker

Votes: 147

31. Law & Order (1990– )
Episode: Blood (1997)

TV-14 | 60 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery

Detectives discover that a recently-murdered white woman had recently given birth to a baby whose race reveals a well-kept secret about the baby's biological father.

Director: Jace Alexander | Stars: Jerry Orbach, Benjamin Bratt, S. Epatha Merkerson, Sam Waterston

Votes: 392

32. Mission: Impossible (1966–1973)
Episode: Kitara (1971)

TV-PG | 50 min | Action, Adventure, Crime

Government forces in a racist African country have captured Kitara, the leader of the revolutionary forces, and will torture him to death in their effort to find the gold bullion he has ... See full summary »

Director: Murray Golden | Stars: Peter Graves, Leonard Nimoy, Lesley Ann Warren, Greg Morris

Votes: 150

33. Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (2012– )
Episode: Country Roots (2021)

TV-PG | Documentary, Biography, History

Country stars Clint Black and Johnny Cash's daughter Rosanne Cash learn about their Italian roots as well as their ancestors' surprising experiences during the slavery era.

Stars: Clint Black, Johnny Cash, Rosanne Cash, Henry Louis Gates Jr.

Votes: 32

34. Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (2012– )
Episode: Hidden in the Genes (2022)

TV-PG | Documentary, Biography, History

Henry Louis Gates Jr. helps Rebecca Hall and Lee Daniels solve family mysteries through DNA detective work, illuminating both history and their own identities.

Director: Krista Whetstone | Stars: Erin Burnett, Amy Carlson, David Chang, Brittany Packnett Cunningham

Votes: 40

35. Once an Eagle (1976–1977)
Episode: Part 4 (1976)

50 min | Drama, War

Pressured by "Tommy," who fears the military's influence on their son -- she caught the boy playing with and firing his father's gun -- Damon reluctantly leaves the Army and takes a job in ... See full synopsis »

Director: E.W. Swackhamer | Stars: Sam Elliott, Cliff Potts, Darleen Carr, Amy Irving

36. Sons of Anarchy (2008–2014)
Episode: Una Venta (2011)

TV-MA | 43 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller

SAMCRO makes a run to set up a new business venture while Gemma makes a new ally in Charming.

Director: Billy Gierhart | Stars: Charlie Hunnam, Katey Sagal, Mark Boone Junior, Dayton Callie

Votes: 2,547

37. Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (2012– )
Episode: Family: Lost and Found (2023)

TV-PG | Documentary, Biography, History

Joe Manganiello and Tony Gonzalez discover close relatives whose names they've never heard and whose stories they could not have imagined.

Director: Krista Whetstone | Stars: Henry Louis Gates Jr., Tony Gonzalez, Joe Manganiello, CeCe Moore

Votes: 44

38. The Last Tycoon (2016–2017)
Episode: Eine Kleine Reichmusik (2017)

TV-MA | 58 min | Drama

Stahr orchestrates an extravagant Hollywood party that masks a secret agenda. Brady courts Margo Taft to become Brady-American's permanent leading lady. Rose is tortured by Stahr's public ... See full summary »

Director: Gwyneth Horder-Payton | Stars: Matt Bomer, Kelsey Grammer, Lily Collins, Dominique McElligott

Votes: 189