Cross-dressing in film and television

Film poster for Glen or Glenda

Cross-dressing in motion pictures began in the early days of the silent films. Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel brought the tradition of female impersonation in the English music halls when they came to America with Fred Karno's comedy troupe in 1910. Both Chaplin and Laurel occasionally dressed as women in their films. Even the beefy American actor Wallace Beery appeared in a series of silent films as a Swedish woman. The Three Stooges, especially Curly (Jerry Howard), sometimes appeared in drag in their short films. The tradition has continued for many years, usually played for laughs. Only in recent decades have there been dramatic films in which cross-dressing was included, possibly because of strict censorship of American films until the mid-1960s. One early exception was the murderer, a transvestite who wears particularly frilly dresses and petticoats, in Alfred Hitchcock's British thriller Murder!.

Film and video

As a central plot element

Movies that feature cross-dressing as a central plot element:

As a non-comedic element

Most of the above films are comedies. Films in which cross-dressing is treated in a more serious manner are relatively rare, although the list does include several dramas and biopics.

  • Hotel Splendide (1932) - Features a criminal gang whose leader disguises himself as "Mrs. LeGrange"
  • Glen or Glenda (1953) – Inspired by his own experiences, Ed Wood wrote, directed, and starred in the movie as a troubled cross-dresser, in a sort of plea for acceptance. Originally an exploitation film about Christine Jorgensen.
  • Psycho (1960) – Anthony Perkins is a killer who wears his dead mother's clothes.
  • Monsieur Hawarden (1968) - Title character Mr. Hawarden is actually a woman who disguises herself as a man to avoid prosecution for a murder she committed fifteen years ago.
  • The Tenant (1976) - The main character suffers from a split personality.
  • Yentl (1983) - Barbra Streisand plays a Polish Jewish woman who disguises herself as a man so she can study the Talmud in early 20th-century Europe.
  • Last Exit to Brooklyn (1989) Alexis Arquette plays Georgette, a transvestite, thrown out of the family home who falls in love with a local criminal.
  • The Silence of the Lambs (1991) - Ted Levine plays serial killer Jame Gumb, better known as Buffalo Bill who makes the skins of his female victims into a woman suit for him to wear.
  • The Crying Game (1992) – An IRA member develops an unexpected relationship with a pre-op transgender woman.
  • The Ballad of Little Jo (1993) – A lone woman in the Old West takes on a male role in order to survive.
  • M. Butterfly (1993) – a French diplomat (Jeremy Irons) becomes infatuated with a performer in a Chinese opera, where all roles are performed by men.
  • The King of Masks (1996) – A Chinese girl poses as a boy in order to get adopted by an elderly man.
  • Liang Po Po: The Movie (1999) - Jack Neo cross-dressed as an elderly woman.
  • Boys Don't Cry (1999) – The true story of Brandon Teena (Hilary Swank), a transgender man who pursued a relationship with a young woman (Chloë Sevigny), and was beaten, raped and murdered by his male acquaintances.
  • Baran (2001) – An Iranian boy falls in love with a young Afghan refugee, who must dress as a boy to keep her job at a construction site.
  • Osama (2003) – A 12-year-old Afghan girl dresses like a boy in order to get a job during the regime of the Taliban.
  • The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things (2004) – While on the run, Sarah disguises her son, Jeremiah, as a girl and passes him off as her "sister" until he is raped by her current boyfriend and is found out. (Note: In the movie adaption, Jeremiah is played by both Cole and Dylan Sprouse in different scenes, both of whom have had several other roles that involved cross-dressing.)
  • Peacock (2010) – Cillian Murphy plays John Skillpa, a man who as a result of severe child abuse has formed the alternate personality of Emma Skillpa and dresses as a woman to become Emma.
  • Les Miserables (2012) – Éponine changes her clothes from feminine to masculine in order to join the June Rebellion.
  • Dallas Buyers Club (2013) – Jared Leto plays Rayon, an HIV-positive transgender woman involved in a business smuggling unapproved pharmaceutical drugs into the United States.
  • The Boxtrolls (2014) – Archibald Snatcher is disguised as Madame Frou-Frou.
  • The Danish Girl (2015) - Fictionalized story of artist Einar Wegener who first dresses as a woman to become Lili Elbe, and subsequently has sex reassignment surgery.

As a minor plot element

Many other comedy films include instances of humorous cross-dressing, but do not feature it as a central plot element. Movies in which cross-dressing plays a minor but important role include:

Comedic element in documentary

  • In the documentary, Giuliani Time, there are excerpts from Rudy Giuliani's appearance in a video, which was shown for the occasion of an Inner Circle press dinner.

Television

Milton Berle was one of the most famous early cross-dressing comedians in skits and such on his NBC shows from 1948 to 1956. Harvey Korman played a hefty Jewish mother character on The Carol Burnett Show. Flip Wilson created the memorable recurring character Geraldine Jones on The Flip Wilson Show. The first episode of the Blackadder II series ends with Blackadder's servant, Baldrick, acting as bridesmaid, and Lord Flashheart swapping clothes and running off with Blackadder's bride. Some other comedy sketch shows, such as Monty Python's Flying Circus, Little Britain, The League of Gentlemen, Saturday Night Live and The Kids in the Hall routinely feature visual cross-dressing, with men dressing as women and sometimes speaking in falsetto. Not to be outdone in this regard, the (female) British team of French and Saunders have produced many sketches in which one or both of the actresses portray men. Rudy Giuliani appeared on Saturday Night Live dressed as a woman. Doing some of his best routines, Jonathan Winters played the character, Maude Fricket.

Kenan Thompson currently plays a range of women on Saturday Night Live.

"Rudia" Giuliani and Donald Trump in 2000.

Australian male comedian Barry Humphries has appeared as Dame Edna in several shows. British stand-up comedian and actor Eddie Izzard, who describes himself as an 'executive' or 'action' transvestite and regularly cross-dresses both on and off stage, has acted in several films (including most recently Valkyrie), as well as releasing his stand-up work on video and DVD (Live at the Ambassadors (1993), Unrepeatable (1994), Definite Article (1996), Glorious (1997), Dress to Kill (1999), Circle (2002), and Sexie (2003)).

Programs that feature cross-dressing

  • All in the Family featured female impersonator character "Beverley Lasalle" in later episodes
  • 'Allo 'Allo! featuring cross-dressing in most episodes.
  • The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince (2007) – The main character pretends to be a boy in order to obtain a job at a coffee shop that only hires men.
  • Angry Boys (2011) - Chris Lilley cross-dresses as two characters, Ruth (Gran) Sims and Jen Okazaki in this Australian comedy show.
  • Are You Being Served? often features John Inman taking on female roles. Some of the other cast members such as Frank Thornton occasionally appear in drag as well.
  • Arrested Development – Tobias Fünke (played by David Cross) disguises himself as a British nanny named Mrs. Featherbottom in order to maintain a relationship with his estranged family. (This is a direct reference to the film Mrs. Doubtfire). This development is an outcropping of the fact that, throughout the series, Tobias exhibits signs of being a latent homosexual.
  • In Axis Powers: Hetalia, Poland cross-dresses as a hobby and has a "valley girl" accent.
  • The Big Bang Theory – In the first two episodes of the series a cross-dresser is described as having occupied Apartment 4B prior to Penny. The character was not named or seen until a flashback scene in Season 3, Episode 22 when Leonard Hofstadter knocks on her apartment door and Louie/Louise, portrayed by Ajgie Kirkland en femme, directs Leonard to the "crazy guy across the hall" (Sheldon Cooper). Sheldon also dresses up as a french maid after losing a bet with Howard Wolowitz.
  • Blackadder has several cross-dressing incidences.
  • Black Butler (2010) - In one episode Ciel dresses as a woman.
  • Bosom Buddies – Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari star as two single men who must regularly disguise themselves as women, in order to live in a ladies-only hotel, the only apartment they can afford.
  • Boston Legal character Clarence Bell is a transvestite client who came for legal help after being fired from his job. He later joined the firm as a legal assistant and eventually as a lawyer.
  • Boy Meets World – Different characters cross-dress in later episodes.
  • Briefgeheim - French teacher Ms. Tijnman is actually a man dressed as a woman.
  • Bucket & Skinner's Epic Adventures (2011) in the episode "Epic Girls" Bucket and Skinner disguise themselves as girls in order to sneak into a party. They are also shown trying on different dresses.
  • In season 4 of Criminal Minds Jackson Rathbone plays a janitor at a hotel with split-personality disorder. The character, Adam, is a shy, abused, withdrawn young man. His alter-personality, is a strong, confident, southern women named Amanda. Adam/Amanda tries to kill his/her father because of all of the abuse suffered. Afterwards 'Amanda' becomes the dominant personality. At the end of the episode 'Amanda' is shown to have undergone a transformation, complete with make-up, a long curled wig, and pink clothing.
  • Crusoe (2008) – A recurring character Oliver is revealed to actually be a woman named Olivia (played by Mía Maestro). Crusoe discovered her one-day when she was bathing for the first time on the island after being aboard the ship for so long. She pretends to be Oliver and helps the doctor for her personal safety from the male crew.
  • In Cyberchase, Delete impersonates Motherboard with a wig and some makeup.
  • Cybersix from the 1999 serial and the comic, dresses as a male teacher named Adrian Seidelman, in order to escape Von Richter (her creator).
  • Chihiro Fujisaki from Danganronpa cross-dresses as a female because of his deep insecurity about his weak physique, resorting to cross-dressing to hide his gender identity.
  • Dårfinkar & dönickar[5] – The main character Simone is mistaken for a boy on her first day at a new school when she does not correct her teacher for mispronouncing her name as Simon.
  • Deal or No Deal – On the episode that aired on February 14, 2008, contestant Edward Tommasi wore heels and a dress to win a $10 bet.[6]
  • Degrassi: The Next Generation (renamed Degrassi from the tenth season) features a transgender student in season 10, Adam Torres (portrayed by Jordan Todosey). Adam is biologically female, but he identifies as male and dresses as a boy. Adam wants to keep the fact that he's transgender a secret, and hopes that the people he meets will see him as male.
  • Dexter's Laboratory – Many episodes feature Dexter in drag. Examples being Dimwit Dexter, Remember Me?, and Tribe Called Girl.
  • Doctor Who
    • In the 1966 story "The Highlanders" the second Doctor (Patrick Troughton) dresses as an old washerwoman as a ruse to try to find his companions in a crowded tavern in the aftermath of the Battle of Culloden.
    • In 1973 in "The Green Death" the third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) disguises himself as a cleaning lady to infiltrate Global Chemicals, where he engages in banter with the UNIT operative Mike Yates and refers to his plastic bucket as his 'handbag'. Both these interludes of 'cross-dressing' are played mainly for their comic value amid serious story-lines.
  • Dragon Ball GT
    • In the episode ″Trunks the Bride″ Trunks was forced to dress up as a bride to save a girl and planet's village after it was attacked by a monster named Zoonama who can create earthquakes. It was supposed to be Goku as the fake bride, but because he was too short to wear the dress he and Pan agreed on making him the fake bride.
    • In ″Whiskers of Power″ Trunks as Trunksette becomes the ″bride″ for Zoonama as he is taken to Soonama's lair while there Goku, Pan, and Doma, the bride's fińacee, try to cut Zoonama's whiskers as he drinks a potion to knock him out, they only cut one and he wakes up! With Pan finding out that Zoonama can only predict earthquakes and not make them, Zoonama's lair, really a volcano, burst in to flames as Goku blast it with his Kamehameha destroying it as the episode ends with Goku, Pan, and a happy-to-be-out-that-dress Trunks is given a dragon ball though someone steals it.
  • El Hazard – Makoto Mizuhara impersonates Princess Fatora of Roshtaria who is kidnapped by the Phantom Tribe because of his uncanny resemblance to the princess.
  • The Drew Carey Show – Drew's brother, Steve Carey, is a cross-dresser.
  • The Famous Five TV series
  • Fetch! with Ruff Ruffman – A Children's game show on PBS Kids Go!. Some episodes have boys dressing up in female outfits. Jay in Season 3 wore a cheerleading outfit (but it had shorts) in the episode "The Ol' Switcheroo", and in the episode of Season 4 called "Is it a Bird? Is it a Plane? It's...Ruffmanman!", Brian was with Bethany as part of the "Indestructible Butterflies"
  • Firefly – Mal Reynolds (played by Nathan Fillion) wears a dress and a bonnet as a disguise while saving a town from bandits. He is later asked about this, and his response indicates that he has cross-dressed in the past.
  • The Flip Wilson Show (1970) - Flip Wilson plays Geraldine Jones as a recurring character in this sketch variety series.
  • Friends – Chandler's father (played by Kathleen Turner) is a cross-dresser.
  • Fruits Basket – Ritsu Sohma dresses as female, because it makes him feel more confident, and comfortable. His cousins Ayame Sohma and his younger brother, Yuki occasionally cross-dress because they look good in female clothing. With the former it's voluntary, the latter less so.
  • Fushigi Yuugi – Nuriko, one of the Suzaku Seven Celestial Warriors, dresses as a woman in memory of his dead sister. In the middle of the manga series, the Suzaku Warriors had had to dress up as women to avoid being killed in the island of Nyousei, where barbaric, cannibalistic, anti-masculinist women lived. This idea is excluded from the anime series, but revived in the omake.
  • In Game of Thrones, Arya Stark is a tomboy who prefers more masculine activities such as sword fighting instead of the more feminine activities like embroidery. After her father is arrested and executed she assumes the identity of a boy named "Arry" and tries to return to her family.
  • In the anime Genesis Climber Mospeada (also known as the New Generation segment of Robotech) the character of Yellow Belmont/Lancer cross-dresses as a means of disguise, as well as to perform in his rock singer identity (known as Yellow Dancer in Robotech).
  • Gintama - In Episode 24 Gintoki and Katsura are wearing female kimono as Piko and Zuka.
  • Glee – In Season 3, episode 16 ("Saturday Night Glee-ver"), actor Alex Newell portrays Wade Adams, a member of rival glee club Vocal Adrenaline, who performs as his transgender alter ego "Unique". In Season 4, Wade/Unique becomes a recurrent character.
  • Golden Girls – Dorothy Zbronak's (Beatrice Arthur) brother Phil Petrillo, who was never seen on air, is a cross-dresser. When he died in the episode Ebbtide's Revenge, Phil's widow Angela had him buried in a teddy, to which Dorothy said to her roommates "it looks like he died in a Benny Hill sketch!".
  • Gravitation – The main character, Shuichi Shindou, wears his sister's schoolgirl uniform and dons a maid outfit to try to get the attention of Eiri Yuki.
  • H2O: Footprints in the Sand (2008) - Hamaji Yakumo is a boy who cross-dresses as a girl.
  • Hana-Kimi (1997–2004) - The manga series centers on Mizuki Ashiya, a Japanese girl who lives in the United States. One day, she sees a track and field competition on TV, and becomes attracted to one of the high jump competitors, Izumi Sano. She begins to idolize the young athlete and eventually transfers to Japan to attend the same school that Sano attends. There is a catch, however: Sano attends an all-boys high school, named Osaka Gakuen and Mizuki must disguise herself as a boy to enter. It has been adapted into four drama shows: Hanazakarino Kimitachihe (Taiwan), Hanazakari no Kimitachi e (Japan), Hanazakari no Kimitachi e (Japan) and To the Beautiful You (Korea).
  • Happiness! (2006) - A secondary character of the series, Jun Watarase, is a boy who dresses as a girl.
  • HeartCatch PreCure - For the first half of the series, Itsuki Myoudouin cross-dresses as a boy because her brother is too ill to be heir of their dojo.
  • Heaven's Lost Property - In episode 11, Sugata dresses like a long-haired woman while Mikako dresses like a man. Also, Tomoki is transformed into a girl called "Tomoko".
  • He's a Lady – The 2004 reality television series involves male contestants competing with each other to act as effeminately as possible, including cross-dressing.
  • Himegoto (2014) - The protagonist, Hime Arikawa, dresses as a girl.
  • Hollyoaks character Kris Fisher is a cross-dresser.
  • iCarly - In the episode "iWant My Website Back", Spencer dressed as an old lady to fool Nevel into giving iCarly their URL back, but instead, he attracted an old man.
  • InuYasha – Jakotsu of the Band of seven always wears women's clothes and repeatedly flirts with InuYasha.
  • Invader Zim – In the episode "Walk for your Lives", Zim uses a fat lady disguise to get rid of an explosion that is exploding really really slowly.
  • I My Me! Strawberry Eggs – Main character Hibiki Amawa disguises himself as a woman to obtain a job as a teacher at school that will only hire women.
  • In the British TV sitcom Keeping Up Appearances Hyacinth's brother-in-law Bruce is a cross-dresser which Hyacinth tries not to let people find out about. In several episodes one can see Bruce in his outfits.
  • Goretti from Killinaskully was played by actor Pat Shortt.
  • Various characters from Kuroshitsuji including main character Ciel Phantomhive and Grell Sutcliff crosdress in some episodes and the OVAs.
  • Leonardo – Lisa disguises herself as a boy (Tomaso) so she may study art under Andrea del Verrocchio.
  • Lilo & Stitch – Agent Pleakley (voiced by Kevin McDonald) dresses in female clothing because he misunderstands human gender roles.
  • Love in the Moonlight (2016) - A 19th-century Korean girl dressed as a boy and eventually becomes a eunuch.
  • The Loud House - Lincoln dresses up as a girl like in episodes like Overnight Success, A Novel Idea and Cover Girls.
  • Maid Sama! - Aoi Hyoudou, an internet celebrity, cross-dresses so he won't be made fun of for liking cute, girl things.
  • Maria Holic (2009) - Mariya Shidō is a boy who cross-dresses as a girl.
  • M*A*S*H – Klinger regularly cross-dresses as part of a futile attempt to be dismissed from the military.
  • McHale's Navy - Whenever McHale and/or his crew have to disguise themselves in order to carry out one of their elaborate schemes, it's usually Tinker (Billy Sands) or Ensign Parker (Tim Conway) who has to dress up as a woman.
  • Megaman NT Warrior (Rockman EXE) – Villain Magnus Gauss (Gauss Magnets) cross-dresses as a woman and is obsessed with Dr. Wily. In one episode (unaired in the dub), three of the main characters cross-dress as idol singer Aki-chan to rescue a group of kidnapped girls.
  • In Merlin's Apprentice a young girl Brianna disguises herself as a boy squire in order to avenge her family's loss of land.
  • "Written in Blood", the second episode of crime drama Midsomer Murders, features a cross-dressing victim.
  • Rich Fulcher plays a woman named Eleanor in the season 3 episode "Eels" of the British comedy show The Mighty Boosh. He continues to dress as Eleanor for stand-up comedy gigs, and refers to her as a separate person from himself. In the season 2 episode "Nanageddon", main characters Howard Moon (Julian Barratt) and Vince Noir (Noel Fielding) dress as nanas in order to sneak into a bingo game and find the elusive demon, Nanatoo.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Gundam pilot Tieria Erde cross-dresses in the second season in order to gain entrance to a party.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ, Gundam pilot Judau Ashta cross-dresses in the second season to free his female companions from a harem
  • Along with the members of Monty Python's Flying Circus dressing up as women for comedic purposes, Monty Python featured a sketch called "The Lumberjack Song", about a lumberjack who likes to "put on women's clothing and hang around in bars."
  • Minami-ke - Makoto regularly cross-dresses as Mako-chan to get close a girl he likes. Another character, Tōma is a tomboy with three older brothers that regularly wears male clothing.
  • Mr. Headmistress (1998) - TV movie - Ex-con Harland Williams disguises himself as the new Headmistress of an all-girl school to avoid some thugs.[7]
  • Murder, She Wrote - The episode "Birds of a Feather" features two drag queens. Also in "Amsterdam Kill", there is a woman disguised as a man and there is another in one of the episodes set in Ireland.
  • My Little Pony - In the episode called "Brotherhooves Social", Big MacIntosh is disguised as a mare named Orchard Blossom with a blond wig and a blue dress complete with pink makeup and fake eyelashes.
  • Nail Shop Paris (2013) - An author tries to break out of her writer's block by disguising herself as a boy so she can base her next novel on a nail salon staffed only by men.
  • In The Nick Cannon Show Nick dresses like a woman in 6 episodes.
  • Otoboku – Mizuho Miyanokoji cross-dresses to attend a girls' school as per his grandfather's wishes.
  • On Our Own the oldest brother of an orphaned family cross dresses, pretending to be an older aunt, to keep his family together until he is legally of age. Features the Smollett family.
  • One Piece – A Japanese anime and a manga about pirates includes a number of cross-dressing characters, the okamas. The most notable of them are Mr. 2 (a.k.a.Bon Clay) who can change his physical appearance and Emporio Ivankov, a queen of a drag queen kingdom, who can change his sex by controlling the hormones (and strongly resembles Tim Curry's Dr. Frank-N-Furter from the Rocky Horror Picture Show).
  • One Well-Raised Daughter - In this South Korean serial drama, the main protagonist, a female has to dress like a boy in order to inherit her family's Soy Sauce business in order to keep it out of the hands of a scheming woman and a competing company. Although she is outed after she succeeds, she exacts revenge on them upon learning their plans to take over the business.
  • Opposite Sex (2000) – In the pilot episode, the first three boys (Milo Ventimiglia, Kyle Howard and Chris Evans[8]) in a formerly all-girls school do a drag routine in the schools annual talent show.
  • Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru (2006) - The main character of the series, Mizuho Miyanokouji, is a boy who cross-dresses as a girl.
  • Ouran High School Host Club – Main character Haruhi Fujioka cross-dresses regularly and is initially mistaken as male by the members of the Host Club. Also, various Host Club members cross-dress on occasion, including manga episodes 10 (Hikaru, Kaoru, and Hunny as part of a plan to keep Haruhi away from Saint Lobelia's Zuka Club, and in the anime adaptation, Tamaki and Kyoya also cross-dress for the same reason), 11 (Hikaru and Kaoru take turns dressing as the witch of the central wing), 15 (Hikaru, Kaoru, Tamaki, and Mori all dress in Alice costumes, and Kyoya portrays the Black Queen as well as Alice's mother in this chapter), and 20 (Hunny while going undercover with the Host Club to monitor Haruhi and Hikaru's date).
  • Perfect Strangers Larry dresses up as a woman in the episode Just a Gigolo.
  • Pokémon – James from Team Rocket, often appears in a dress or skirt, and in one of the banned episodes, he is even seen in a bikini complete with inflatable breasts. A partial list of characters including Ash Ketchum (three times), and Jessie and Meowth of Team Rocket, have also been known to cross-dress, although not as often as James. One of Misty's older sisters dress up as a prince and Gastly also once disguised as a beautiful maiden and an old woman at a summer festival.
  • The Powerpuff Girls (1998) - Bubbles disguises herself as one of the Rowdyruff Boys, Boomer, to go undercover and track down his brothers, Brick and Butch. Professor Utonium also disguises himself as a woman in another episode.
  • Pretty Cure (2004) – In one episode, Nagisa Misumi disguises herself as a man twice in an attempt to reclaim Mepple, who had been confiscated. In a later episode, Nagisa plays the part of Romeo in Verone Academy's school play of Romeo and Juliet.
  • Princess Knight - Princess Sapphire disguises herself like a man to fight in her adventures.
  • Princess Princess – Three students in an all-male school dress as girls to raise the spirits of the other students.
  • Robin Hood (2006) – Djaq (played by Anjali Jay) is a Saracen who true name is Saffiya, but she disguises herself as a boy by adopting her dead twin brother's name and appearance.
  • Ramen Fighter Miki – Episode 10 Part 1 includes a scene where Kankuro is wearing Miki's outfit while trying to beat her at her own game (that being ramen delivery). Then at the end of Episode 12 Part 1, he dons the disguise of an aristocratic lady to try to get Miki to challenge him.
  • Ranma 1/2 – A Japanese Anime about a martial artist called Ranma who can transform into a girl. His gender is easily changed through means not under his control, so a costume which works on one gender often suddenly and comically becomes inappropriate cross-dressing. Also appearing in the anime and manga are Tsubasa Kurenai and Konatsu, who are male cross-dressers, and Ukyo Kuonji, a female cross-dresser and potential love interest of the gender-changing Ranma.
  • The Riches (2007) - Sam Malloy (Aidan Mitchell), the youngest son of an Irish-American Traveller family, prefers cross-dressing. Even though under certain circumstances Sam can wear boys' clothes, he occasionally reverts to girls' clothing, much to the embarrassment of his family. (The Riches also features Eddie Izzard portraying Sam's non-transvestite dad, Wayne Malloy.)
  • The Rose of Versailles (1979-1980) - Oscar François de Jarjayes, the main character of the series, is a woman who was raised as a boy and who cross-dresses as a man.
  • RuPaul's Drag Race (2009–present) a competition reality show premised around Drag Queens, men who cross-dress professionally as a means of entertainment. The show gives a deeper side to the art of female impersonation, as well as insight into the world of a gay drag artist.
  • Sailor Moon – In one episode of the first season, Zoisite (one of the villains) disguises himself as Sailor Moon. In the "Sailor Moon Super S" season, Fish-Eye always dresses like a woman. In both "Sailor Moon S" and "Sailor Stars" seasons, Haruka Tenoh (Sailor Uranus) wears masculine clothes most of the time, and even chooses to wear the masculine version of her school uniform, to the point of being mistaken for a boy by other characters. In "Sailor Stars", Seiya, Taiki, and Yaten, became Sailor Starlights.
  • Samantha oups! (2004–2007) - French comedy series starring two men who portray themselves as women—Samantha (played by David Strajmayster) and Chantal (Guillaume Carcaud).
  • Sasameki Koto (2009) - Masaki Akemiya is a boy who cross-dresses as a girl.
  • Saved by the Bell – Zach and Screech occasionally dress as women either to disguise themselves or for comic effect.
  • SheZow — A cartoon about a preteen boy who gains a magical ring that grants him superpowers, but since the ring is intended only for a girl, his superhero form is cross-dressed.[9]
  • In the Silver Spoons episode "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World", Ricky (Ricky Schroeder) is convinced to dress up in drag and be a friend's date for a dance because his friend saved Ricky from an almost fatal accident previously.
  • In The Simpsons episode "Girls Just Want to Have Sums", Lisa Simpson disguises herself as a boy named Jake Boyman in order to learn math when the school is segregated by gender. Bart has also worn girls' clothes on several occasions.
  • Something in the Air (2000–2002) – Features a cross-dressing politician, Doug Rutherford (played by Roger Oakley).
  • SpongeBob SquarePants – SpongeBob has dressed like a woman in several episodes. His best friend Patrick Star cross-dresses in order to protect himself from an assassin in the episode "That's No Lady".
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine has on several occasions featured characters cross-dressing. In "Profit and Lace", the character Quark dresses as a woman to prevent an enemy of his to ascend to the power of Grand Nagus. In another Ferengi-related episode, "Rules of Acquisition", a female Ferengi cross-dresses because females are not permitted to earn profit in the Ferengi culture. "Rules of Acquisition" is also one of the few episodes that references how the Federation views homosexuality when the character Dax discusses that it's a normal thing for a man to be in love with another man (She doesn't know that the man she is chatting with at the time is really a woman, cross-dressed).
  • On The Suite Life on Deck, Bailey pretended to be a boy so she could attend Seven Seas High on the SS Tipton because all of the girls rooms were taken. She becomes Zack's roommate and he agrees to keep it a secret. It is quickly found that Bailey is actually a girl and she ends up rooming with London.
  • The Suite Life of Zack & Cody - Both Zack and Cody (played by real life twins Cole and Dylan Sprouse) cross-dress in several episodes for numerous reasons; one most notably being Cody entering a beauty pageant for young girls while Zack approves of it because the first prize is a new bike.
  • Summer Heights High (2007) - Chris Lilley cross-dresses for the character of Ja'mie King in this Australian comedy; she is often seen wearing a green school dress.
  • Sungkyunkwan Scandal – In 18th century Korea, a young girl dresses as a boy so she can attend a prestigious school and earn money to support her impoverished family.
  • The Jeffersons (1975-1985) - George's navy buddy Eddie (Edie) Stokes and employee Leroy cross-dress to fool Louise when George can't find the real Eddie .
  • Three's Company (1977-1984) - Jack Tripper, played by John Ritter, dresses up as a woman in two episodes
  • Three's Company (1977-1984) - Larry Dallas played by Richard Kline dresses up as a woman in one episode.
  • Tipping the Velvet (2002) – A coming of age story about a young woman named Nan (Rachael Stirling) who falls in love with a male impersonator.
  • Together (2009) - Singaporean drama which in episode 10, Yao Wuji (Zhang Zhen Huan) was asked to cross-dress as part of his job of being an Ah Gua (a man who acts like a woman) which made his father (Wang Yuqing) to nearly kill him by constantly beating him. He was also seen cross-dressing in episode 9.
  • Twin Peaks (1990–1991) – The character Catherine Martell (Piper Laurie) disguises as Japanese investor Mr. Tojamura, Denise/Dennis Bryson (David Duchovny) is a male character who wear women's clothes because it relaxes him, and at one point Windom Earle (Kenneth Welsh) impersonates the Log Lady.
  • The Ugliest Girl in Town (1968) - sitcom about a male American actor who accepts a female modeling job in London to be with his girlfriend.
  • Uh Oh! - During episode 74 of the first season, a part of the Slime Tour obstacle course race that took place in Victoria, British Columbia included an obstacle where the three participants had to first put on ball gowns à la Queen Victoria before moving on to the next obstacle; one of the children in the race was a boy named "Rad" Rhys.[10]
  • We Can Be Heroes (2005) - Chris Lilley cross-dresses for two characters, Pat Mullins and Ja'mie King in this Australian mockumentary, the first show that Lilley created.
  • Work It (2012) - American television sitcom about two men who must dress as women in order to keep a job in a bad economy.
  • World Wrestling Entertainment wrestler Dustin Rhodes portrayed "Goldust", a gimmick that involved cross-dressing as well as former wrestler Vito LoGrasso, who later gained the nickname "The Toughest Man To Ever Wear A Dress". Tyler Breeze's "Fashion Police" gimmick alongside Fandango also involved cross-dressing. Numerous other male wrestlers in various promotions have also donned women's clothing as a punishment for losing a match over the years such as Brian Pillman and Perry Saturn.
  • Young Americans (2000) TV series in which one of the female characters poses as a boy.
  • You Can't Do That On Television – Several comedy sketches, particularly in the early years, featured boys in the cast wearing dresses for various reasons.
  • You Rang, M'Lord? – Cissy is a lesbian cross-dresser, complete with monocle, cravat and short hair.
  • You're Beautiful (2009) – A young nun cross-dresses as a boy to impersonate her brother in a boy band. You're Beautiful was remade into the 2013 Taiwanese series Fabulous Boys.
  • Yu Yu Hakusho – In The Deadly Triad episode (first season of the series), when Yusuke Urameshi fights against the Three Devils, he finds that Miyuki, one of Three Demons, is biologically a man, but in Miyuki's heart (s)he is a woman.[11] However, this "discovery" was edited out of the English version of this series.[12]
  • Zoey 101 In one episode of this show Lola disguises herself as a boy to prove boys can still act the same if a girl is around.
  • In Zoids: Chaotic Century episode 28 "Run, Wolf!" Prince Rudolph Zeppelin III is disguised as a girl in order to hide his identity.

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.denofgeek.com/uk/movies/mulan/49081/mulan-can-it-work-as-a-live-action-movie
  2. ↑ "Perfect Gentlemen". 14 March 1978. Retrieved 18 May 2017 – via IMDb.
  3. ↑ "Between Your Legs". 22 January 1999. Retrieved 18 May 2017 – via IMDb.
  4. ↑ Stein, Jeff (November 11, 2011). "Style: Cross-dressing J. Edgar Hoover story dismissed by historians". The Washington Post.
  5. ↑ Dårfinkar & dönickar on IMDb
  6. ↑ Devin Shoulders (2018-01-01), DOND: "The $5 Bet" S3 Ep 37 (2-14-08), retrieved 2018-04-03
  7. ↑ "Mr. Headmistress". 15 March 1998. Retrieved 18 May 2017 – via IMDb.
  8. ↑ VOSS, BRANDON (January 5, 2009). "A-List: Chris Evans". HERE MEDIA INC. Retrieved December 15, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Breaking News - The Hub Network Unveils 2013-'14 Program Slate with Six New Additions to Join Nine Returning Original Series - TheFutonCritic.com". www.thefutoncritic.com. Retrieved 18 May 2017.
  10. ↑ Uh Oh! (Game Show) | Episode 74 | YTV Retro, retrieved 2018-06-02
  11. ↑ Character Description: Miyuki. Absolute Anime web. Retrieved on July 29, 2009
  12. ↑ Cutting the Yu Yu Hakusho (24&25 EP). Anime News Network. Retrieved on July 29, 2009.
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