system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
CMV: Any actor should be allowed to play any gender (i.e a non-trans person should be allowed to play a trans character)

Recently I've heard calls for all characters of different genders to be played by actors of matching genders. My view is that anyone should be able to play any character. This shouldn't be mistaken with race (which is what the gender thing has been compared to) - White-washing isn't really right because it doesn't make sense to see a white guy play an Asian character (just an example), but when it comes to genders, if one can look the part and play the part, they should have it - acting is portraying someone you're not, right? Cumberbatch nailed it in Imitation game and he's not gay, Redmayne nailed it The Danish Girl and he's not trans. There are other examples. I think if an actor can make you believe the role they're doing their job.
gpt
There are two problems here.

a) Nearly all cases of public outcry over cis actors playing trans characters, really pretty much everything except *TransAmerica* (which cast Felicity Huffman as a trans woman), are when a cis man has been cast to play a trans woman, or (as in Scarlett Johansson's case) a cis woman has been cast to play a trans man.

If the character is a man, *at least cast a man to play him.* If the character is a woman, cast a woman to play her. Stop casting cis women to play trans men. Stop having women portray our lives, get lauded as "brave" for doing so, then showing them on national TV accepting their awards for it while dressed in a damn ballgown. Stop casting men to portray trans women, then showing them accepting their awards in a tux and beard. Stop reinforcing the public image of trans men as being women in costume and trans women as being men in costume.

b) And, god forbid, actually involve some trans people in the damn stories about our lives.

Fictional characters are still the most common "contact" cis people have with trans people, and the overwhelming majority of these depictions are being written, produced, and acted by cis people who have catastrophic misunderstandings about trans people. These are media depictions shaping how cis people see trans people, and they're characters being created *without involving any actual trans people at all.*

Not to mention a trans man who has been on testosterone for any length of time is going to go through most of the changes associated with male puberty. A trans woman who has been on estrogen for any length of time will go through most of the changes associated with female puberty. Even if they are still visibly trans, a trans man isn't going to look like a cis woman, and a trans woman isn't going to look like a cis man. 

One of the rare examples of a cis actor of the wrong gender playing a trans character that didn't do this was the sitcom *Transparent*. Jeffrey Tambor played the main character, a trans woman named Maura. In this specific case, casting a cis man for the role made sense, because Maura is specifically supposed to be a trans woman just starting transition later in life. And the show very emphatically sought out trans writers, consultants, and co-producers for the show, and trans actors to play other trans characters.

It's not that there are no circumstances in which a cis actor may be the best choice to play a trans role. But in the overwhelming majority of cases, really pretty much *all* cases except *Transparent,* cis actors are cast for trans roles despite this being a terrible idea.