In
Some Like It Hot (1959), two struggling musicians have to dress as women to escape the ire of gangsters. The film is a remake of a 1935 French movie,
Fanfare of Love, from the story by
Robert Thoeren and Michael Logan, which was remade in 1951 by German director
Kurt Hoffmann as
Fanfares of Love. In
Blake Edwards's 1982
musical comedy film Victor/Victoria, Victoria Grant, a struggling soprano, is unable to find work but she finds success when she becomes "Count Victor Grazinski", a female impersonator. The film is a remake of , a German film of 1933.
David Henry Hwang's 1988 play
M. Butterfly focuses on a love affair between a
French diplomat and a male
Beijing opera singer who plays
dan, or female, roles. Dr. Frank 'n' Furter in
The Rocky Horror Picture Show wore nothing but women's clothing the entire film/play. In
The Drew Carey Show, Drew's brother, Steve Carey, is a cross-dresser.
Robin Williams played a divorced father who dressed as a nanny to be with his children in the 1993 comedy
Mrs. Doubtfire.
Dame Edna was an Australian female impersonator with "wisteria-colored hair" who did international chat shows in the 1990s. Various installments of the British
Carry On comedy film series, such as
Carry On Constable (1960),
Carry On Screaming! (1966),
Carry On Again Doctor (1969),
Carry On Matron (1972) and
Carry On Girls (1973) featured male cast members who for various plot reasons masqueraded as women in female attire. Similarly, the films
Carry On Jack (1966) and
Carry On Dick (1974) featured female actors portraying male characters.
As a central plot element Movies that feature
cross-dressing as a central plot element: • Films based on the 1599 or 1600 play
As You Like It by
William Shakespeare •
As You Like It (1912) – an American film •
As You Like It (1936) •
As You Like It (2006) • Films based on the 1601 or 1602 play
Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare •
Twelfth Night (1910) – an American film •
Twelfth Night (1933) – an American film, the first film made by
Orson Welles •
Twelfth Night (1955) – a
Soviet film •
Twelfth Night (1986) – an Australian film •
Twelfth Night: Or What You Will (1996) – a British film • Several films based on the 1892 United Kingdom play ''
Charley's Aunt'' by
Brandon Thomas •
La Zia di Carlo (1911) - an Italian film • ''
Charley's Aunt'' (1915) – an American film • ''
Charley's Aunt'' (1925) - an American film • ''
Charley's Aunt'' (1926) - a Swedish film • ''
Charley's Aunt'' (1930) •
La tía de las muchachas (1938) – a Mexican film • ''
Charley's (Big-Hearted) Aunt'' (1940) • ''
Charley's Aunt'' (1941) •
Fíjate qué suave (1948) – Mexican remake of
La tía de las muchachas (1938) •
Charleys Tante (1956) – a German film • ''
Charles' Aunt'' (1959) – a Danish film starring
Dirch Passer •
Charleys Tante (1963) – a German film • ''
Hello, I'm Your Aunt!'' (1975) – a Soviet film •
La tía de Carlos (Charles' aunt) (1981) – a Spanish film starring Paco Martínez Soria •
Les Résultats du féminisme (1906) -- remade as
In the Year 2000 (1912); the latter believed to be lost •
College Chums (1907) – a young man dresses a woman in order to get his friend out of trouble with his girlfriend •
Getting Even (1909) –
Billy Quirk's character dresses as a woman to prank the other men in a mining camp •
Katchem Kate (1912) –
Mabel Normand disguises herself as a man after becoming a detective • ''
Mabel's Adventures'' (1912) –
Mabel Normand disguises herself as her "Cousin Jack" to test her suitors •
The Little House in Kolomna (1913) – a Russian comedy based on the joke poem by
Alexander Pushkin starring
Ivan Mosjoukine • ''
Mabel's Blunder'' (1914) –
Mabel Normand's character and her brother swap clothes so she can spy on her fiancé •
The Masquerader (1914) – after being fired from a film studio,
Charlie Chaplin's character dresses up as a woman in order to return to the studio •
Miss Bellboy (
Fräulein Piccolo) (1914) – After the bellboy and maid of her parents' hotel run off together,
Dorrit Weixler's character has to act (and dress) as both •
A Woman (1915) –
Charlie Chaplin's character dresses up as "Nora" in order to spend more time with his new girlfriend Edna • ''
Her Father's Son'' (1916) –
Vivian Martin's newly orphaned protagonist, taken in by her wealthy uncle (under the pretense, created by his estranged and relatively impoverished late brother, that his only child was actually a boy), impersonates his non-existent nephew in order to secure her promised share of his inheritance • ''
I Don't Want to Be a Man (Ich möchte kein Mann sein'') (1918) –
Ossi Oswalda is a woman who poses as a man to attend a lavish ball •
Know Thy Wife (1918) – After being secretly married,
Dorothy Devore's character is brought home to meet the parents as her husband's friend "Steve" •
Yankee Doodle in Berlin (1919) –
Bothwell Browne's character Captain Bob White dresses as a woman to steal a map from
the Kaiser •
Chasing the Chaser (1925) –
Frederick Kovert's detective disguises himself as a young woman to entrap an unfaithful husband •
Madame Behave (1925) –
Julian Eltinge's character Jack poses as a woman to evade the police •
The Unholy Three (1925) –
Lon Chaney's character Echo poses as an elderly woman to steal a necklace •
Beverly of Graustark (1926) –
Marion Davies poses as her cousin, the Prince of Graustark, in order to secure the throne •
The Clinging Vine (1926) –
Leatrice Joy starts the film as a severe businesswoman, with a suit and masculine hairstyle •
The Girl in Tails (1926) – Swedish comedy in which
Magda Holm attends a graduation ceremony in her brother's tuxedo •
She Goes to War (1929) –
Eleanor Boardman is the heroine who dresses as a man to fight in
World War I •
''That's My Wife'' (1929) –
Stan Laurel poses as
Oliver Hardy's wife to help him receive an inheritance •
The Unholy Three (1930) – sound remake •
Viktor und Viktoria (1933) – a woman impersonates a female impersonator, later remade as
First a Girl (1935) and
Victor Victoria in 1982; see below •
Queen Christina (1933) –
Greta Garbo's character Christina often dresses as a boy to have greater freedom, eventually meeting Antonio, the Spanish envoy, dressed as a boy •
She Loves Me Not (1934), remade as
True to the Army (1942) and
How to Be Very, Very Popular (1955) •
Girls Will Be Boys (1934) –
Dolly Haas disguises herself as a man •
Peter (1934) – a musical comedy by
Henry Koster starring
Franciska Gaal •
Czy Lucyna to dziewczyna? (
Is Lucy a Girl?) (1934) – comedy directed by
Juliusz Gardan; hoping to find work as a technician against the wishes of her father, the titular Lucyna disguises herself as a man • ''
Fanfare d'amour (1935) – a French comedy in which two poor musicians, played by Fernand Gravey and Julien Carette, dress as women to join an all-female jazz band. This movie inspired the later and more famous Some Like it Hot'' •
First a Girl (1935) – a comedy in which
Jessie Matthews dresses as a man. English remake of
Viktor und Viktoria (1933) •
Sylvia Scarlett (1935) –
Katharine Hepburn dresses as a man for most of the film; this is her first film with
Cary Grant •
The Devil Doll (1936) –
Lionel Barrymore plays an evil, elderly woman •
Yiddle with His Fiddle (1936) –
Molly Picon plays a traveling musician who dresses as a boy for safety •
Bringing Up Baby (1938) – Cary Grant cross-dresses •
Sysmäläinen (1938) – Finnish film set in the 17th century where the main female character disguises herself as a man who pretends to be a woman. •
The Black Sheep of Whitehall (1942) – comedian
Will Hay wryly impersonates a nurse and spends the night with the hospital nurses in this wartime British comedy •
Me ha besado un hombre (1944) – Mexican comedy in which
María Elena Marqués adopts her deceased brother's identity to migrate from Spain to Mexico City; remade in 1953 •
La hija del regimiento (1944) – Mexican musical comedy in which
Mapy Cortés, secretly raised within an all-male regiment, cross-dresses as a cadet •
Fram för lilla Märta (1945) – a Swedish film; a musician, played by
Stig Järrel, cross-dresses to get a job in an all-female orchestra •
Op med lille Martha (1946) – a Danish remake of
Fram för lilla Märta •
Little Giant (1946) –
Bud Abbott plays the Grandmother •
The Time of Their Lives (1946) – a comedy in which
Marjorie Reynolds's character Melody Allen dresses as a man •
Boy! What a Girl! (1947) – playing the part of an out of work burlesque comic named Bumpsie,
Tim Moore gives a frightfully hilarious female impersonation •
Enrédate y verás (1948) - Mexican comedy in which
Emilia Guiú cross-dresses as her cousin, a soldier •
I Was a Male War Bride (1949) – Cary Grant is a French officer who marries a U.S. Army officer played by
Ann Sheridan and cross-dresses to pass as a bride •
Yo quiero ser hombre (1950) – Mexican comedy in which
Alma Rosa Aguirre cross-dresses as a boy to carry out an inheritance scheme plotted by her aunt (
Sara García) •
I Am Very Macho (1953) – Mexican comedy in which
Silvia Pinal cross-dresses as her pilot brother and falls in love with the fleet's captain; remake of 1944's
Me ha besado un hombre (A Man Kissed Me) •
Pablo and Carolina (1957) – filmed in 1955; Mexican musical comedy in which a socialite played by
Irasema Dilián pretends to be her (non-existent) brother •
Das Wirtshaus im Spessart (1958) – young countess dresses as a poor boy and joins the robbers to save her friends •
Some Like It Hot (1959) –
Tony Curtis and
Jack Lemmon dress as women and join an all-female band in order to hide from the mob •
La joven mancornadora (1961) - Mexican rural musical comedy in which
Lola Beltrán cross-dresses to avenge her father. •
Homicidal (1961) – male role played by Jean Arless was actually actress
Joan Marshall •
Hussar Ballad (1962) – a Soviet musical comedy by
Eldar Ryazanov based on the real-life story of
Nadezhda Durova, a soldier during the
Napoleonic Wars •
Blonde Cobra (1963) –
Jack Smith spends the whole film in drag •
Me ha gustado un hombre (1965) – Mexican-Venezuelan co-production in which
Tere Velázquez cross-dresses to get work as a hotel bellboy •
Gunn (1967) – the killer is revealed to be a cross-dresser •
Monsieur Hawarden (1968) – Mr. Hawarden is actually a woman disguised as a man to avoid prosecution for killing her lover, 15 years ago; based on a true story •
The Kremlin Letter (1969) –
George Sanders plays a transvestite •
Sometimes Aunt Martha Does Dreadful Things (1971) – two criminals hide from the law, with one of them pretending to be the other's aunt •
Poszukiwany, poszukiwana (1973) – comedy directed by Stanisław Bareja; after a painting disappears from an art museum, an employee is falsely suspected of being responsible, and decides to go into hiding in the guise of a housemaid, until he can paint a perfect copy of the picture •
Female Trouble (1974) –
Divine plays an obese criminal woman and an obese man •
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) –
Tim Curry plays a self-proclaimed "sweet transvestite from
Transsexual,
Transylvania" •
Once Upon a Girl (1976) –
Hal Smith portrayed as the lewd
Mother Goose who is on trial for
obscenity due to telling the pornographic versions of three of the famous fairy tales •
Outrageous! (1977) –
Craig Russell impersonates famous women. •
Perfect Gentlemen (1978) – The four wives (
Lauren Bacall,
Ruth Gordon,
Sandy Dennis and
Lisa Pelikan) pose as male robbers to rob a hotel safe •
La Cage aux Folles (1978) – features female impersonators •
Lady Oscar (1979) – the
female protagonist dresses as a man, but privately acknowledges her feminine side •
Dressed to Kill (1980) – the killer dresses as a woman •
Victor Victoria (1982) – transvestism in various forms is included in this musical comedy, remake of
Viktor und Viktoria (1933); see above •
Tootsie (1982) –
Dustin Hoffman becomes the female star of a television soap opera •
Yentl (1983) –
Barbra Streisand poses as a boy in order to study at a yeshiva •
The Wicked Lady (1983) –
Faye Dunaway plays a bored English aristocrat who disguises herself as a highwayman in order to rob carriages carrying passengers •
A Blade in the Dark (1983) –
Michele Soavi plays Tony Rendina/Linda •
Sahara (1984) –
Brooke Shields disguises herself as a young man so she can compete in a car race in the African desert •
Her Life as a Man (1984) –
Robyn Douglass is a female reporter who poses as a man to land a job as a sportswriter for a national magazine. Based on an article by Carol Lynn Mithers. •
Just One of the Guys (1985) –
Joyce Hyser plays a boy so she can win a journalism contest • ''
He's My Girl'' (1987) –
T.K. Carter plays Reggie who pretends to be Regina when his friend wins a contest trip to Los Angeles •
Mascara (1987) – a hermaphrodistic transvestite (played by
Eva Robin's) and a trans woman (played by
Romy Haag) are murdered •
Too Outrageous! (1987) –
Craig Russell impersonates famous women. •
Delinquent in Drag (1988) – Suke Banji gets expelled from school and is forced to masquerade as a girl in his next school •
Torch Song Trilogy (1988) –
Harvey Fierstein plays Arnold, a New York female impersonator •
Quisiera ser hombre (1988) – Mexican comedy in which
Lucero poses as a man to get work in the fashion industry. • ''
Nobody's Perfect'' (1990) –
Chad Lowe is kicked off his college's tennis team and dresses up as a girl to join the women's team and be closer to his crush •
Nuns on the Run (1990) –
Eric Idle and
Robbie Coltrane disguise as nuns •
Just Like a Woman (1992) –
Adrian Pasdar is Gerald, a finance executive and transvestite, who finds himself thrown out by his wife, when she discovers women's underwear in their flat •
Ladybugs (1992) –
Jonathan Brandis dresses as a girl to play on the girls' soccer team •
A Little Bit of Lippy (1992) –
Chris Bernard Husband is discovered cross-dressing, wife and community must come to terms •
Little Sister (1992) – Bobby (
Jonathan Silverman) becomes Roberta in order to infiltrate a sorority house and be close to Diana (
Alyssa Milano) •
Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) –
Robin Williams's character Daniel Hillard disguises himself as a woman so he can see his children •
Anything for Love (1993) – Chris (
Corey Haim) dresses as a girl to avoid his tormentors at school •
My Summer as a Girl (1994) – Tony (
Zach Braff) cross-dresses to get a job as a chambermaid •
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) – an offbeat comedy of two men and a
trans woman traveling cross country to perform a drag show in the outback of Australia • ''
He's a Woman, She's a Man'' (1994) – Wing (
Anita Yuen) is a sassy girl who enters a country-wide, males-only talent search, disguised as a man •
Color of Night (1994) –
Jane March's character Rose disguises herself as her dead brother Richie •
Ed Wood (1994) – Directed by
Tim Burton, the biopic stars
Johnny Depp as the famous low-budget cross-dressing filmmaker •
All Men Are Liars (1995) – Mick becomes Michelle to join an all-female band in order to earn some money as a musician •
To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995) – three drag queens help people in a small town after their Cadillac breaks down on the way to Los Angeles •
My Friend Joe (1996) – Joe (
Schuyler Fisk) is a girl disguising as a boy •
The Associate (1996) –
Whoopi Goldberg dresses as a white man to prove Wall Street wrong •
The Birdcage (1996) – features drag queens, including Albert Goldman (
Nathan Lane), who dresses up like Val Goldman's mother to help him win the hand of his girlfriend •
Chachi 420 (1998) – a
Bollywood film reminiscent of Mrs. Doubtfire, in which a father gets divorced and also loses the custody of his daughter •
Mulan (1998) – a
Chinese woman disguises herself as a soldier under the name Ping to fight the
Huns in place of her father •
Shakespeare in Love (1998) – includes Shakespeare's use of female impersonators in his plays •
Ask Harriet (1998) - A sexist sports journalist decides to apply for the job of female advice columnist. •
Adolescence of Utena (1999) – Utena Tenjou, a
bisexual girl, cross-dresses as a male student at Ohtori Academy where she is drawn into a series of swordsmen's duels to win the hand of Anthy Himemiya, the mysterious "Rose Bride" •
Flawless (1999) – a conservative security guard (
Robert De Niro) suffers a stroke, and is assigned to a rehabilitative program that includes singing lessons with the drag queen next door •
Bruno (2000) – an eight-year-old boy who wears dresses as a source of empowerment as well as feeling the need to express himself while trying to win the spelling bee • ''
Big Momma's House'' (2000) –
Martin Lawrence plays an FBI agent who goes undercover and dresses as a heavy-set woman •
Holiday Heart (2000) – Holiday Heart (
Ving Rhames) is a
gay drag queen who performs at a night club • ''
All the Queen's Men'' (2001) –
Matt LeBlanc and
Eddie Izzard head a team of Army men sent to infiltrate a German factory dressed as women •
Motocrossed (2001) –
Alana Austin is a girl whose father will not let her race because she's a girl, so she goes undercover and poses as a male racer to race for her twin brother •
Triumph of Love (2001) –
Mira Sorvino plays the daughter of a usurper, who disguises herself as a young male scholar named Phocion to get closer to Agis, the rightful heir to the throne •
Sorority Boys (2002) –
Barry Watson,
Michael Rosenbaum, and
Harland Williams pose as girls when they're kicked out of their dorm •
Juwanna Mann (2002) – a disgraced
NBA player (
Miguel A. Núñez Jr.) is fired from his job and dresses as a loud-mouthed
Southern belle in order to join the
WNBA •
The Hot Chick (2002) –
Rob Schneider plays a girl who turns into a man overnight, and must find a way to change back •
Girls Will Be Girls (2003) – all three of the main characters (Evie, Coco and Varla) are drag alter egos of the actors, who have existed "on their own" for several years •
Party Monster (2003) –
Seth Green plays club personality
James St. James •
Stage Beauty (2004) –
Ned Kynaston (
Billy Crudup) is an actor famed for his portrayal of female characters, particularly
Desdemona in
Othello •
Freddy vs. Jason (2003) -
Freddy Krueger (
Robert Englund) disguises himself as
Jason Voorhees's mother, (
Pamela Voorhees) to convince him to kill some people in Springwood. •
Connie and Carla (2004) –
Nia Vardalos and
Toni Collette go on the run, after accidentally witnessing a mafia hit in Chicago, and wind up posing as drag queens at a gay club •
White Chicks (2004) –
Shawn and
Marlon Wayans play FBI agent brothers who must protect two cruise line heiresses from a kidnapping plot while in disguise of the women they are protecting •
Kinky Boots (2005) –
Chiwetel Ejiofor's character Simon cross-dresses as drag queen Lola •
Tyler Perry portrayed as
Madea in a series of comedy films: •
Diary of a Mad Black Woman (2005) • ''
Madea's Family Reunion'' (2006) •
Meet the Browns (2008) •
Madea Goes to Jail (2009) •
I Can Do Bad All by Myself (2009) • ''
Madea's Big Happy Family'' (2011) • ''
Madea's Witness Protection'' (2012) •
A Madea Christmas (2013) •
Boo! A Madea Halloween (2016) •
Boo 2! A Madea Halloween (2017) •
A Madea Family Funeral (2019) •
A Madea Homecoming (2022) • ''
Madea's Destination Wedding'' (2025) • ''
She's the Man'' (2006) –
Amanda Bynes dresses as a man to be accepted in Illyria's boys' soccer team and get revenge in Cornwall; based on the play
Twelfth Night by
William Shakespeare •
Butch Jamie (2007) – writer/director/actor
Michelle Ehlen plays a
butch lesbian actress who gets cast as a man in a film •
Jolly Fellows (2009) – film about five drag performers •
Dil Bole Hadippa! (2009) – Bollywood actress
Rani Mukerji plays a girl who dresses as a boy in order to play on the
Indian cricket team •
Cockpit (2012) –
Jonas Karlsson portrays the pilot Valle who re-applies for the job as Maria and wins it through
affirmative action •
Sisterakas (2012) – a film from the Philippines starring
Vice Ganda as Bernice Sabroso • ''
The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again'' (2016) –
Laverne Cox plays a transvestite. •
Naughty Grandma (2017) – Aleksandr Rubenstein (
Aleksandr Revva) is forced to hide from his pursuers in his uncle's nursing home, posing as a grandmother. •
Amnesia Love (2018) – Kimmer (
Paolo Ballesteros) is a
gay man who tries to remember his gender orientation after being washed up in a remote island •
Boyette: Not a Girl Yet (2020) – Boyette Camacho (
Zaijian Jaranilla) is a flamboyant gay college student who generally cross-dresses while pretending to be straight to get closer to his crush Charles (
Inigo Pascual) •
Stage Mother (2020) - A conservative Christian woman (
Jacki Weaver) inherits her gay son's drag club in San Francisco following his death. •
''Everybody's Talking About Jamie'' (2021) - The story follows and is based upon the true-life story of 16-year-old British
Jamie Campbell, as he overcomes prejudice and bullying, to step out of the darkness and become a drag queen. •
Enter the Drag Dragon (2023) - A drag-themed
B-movie parody in which a drag queen detective is drawn into a bizarre criminal underworld. • ''
Hemet, or the Landlady Don't Drink Tea'' (2023) - Liz Topham-Myrtle, the film's titular landlord, is portrayed in drag makeup by screenwriter
Brian Patrick Butler.
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. •
The Female Highwayman (1906) – Features a female criminal who dresses as a man while committing thefts and an armed robbery •
Filibus (1915) – The sky pirate Filibus disguises herself as both a Baron and Baroness in this Italian adventure/crime •
Poor Little Peppina (1916) –
Mary Pickford's character disguises herself as a boy after running away from home •
Hamlet: The Drama of Vengeance (1921) – In this German adaptation, Hamlet (
Asta Nielsen) was raised as a boy in order to secure the throne •
Beggars of Life (1928) –
Louise Brooks's character goes on the run disguised as a boy after killing her abusive foster father •
Hotel Splendide (1932) – Features a criminal gang whose leader disguises himself as "Mrs. LeGrange" •
Young Fugitives (1938) – The heroine dresses as a man. •
Shadows on the Stairs (1941) – Tom Armitage (
Miles Mander), dresses as a woman. •
The Wicked Lady (1945) – The heroine poses as a highwayman. •
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) – The heroine wears a cavalry uniform to accompany her uncle to safety. •
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) –
Norman Bates (
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 Goat Horn (1972) - Kara Ivan (
Anton Gorchev) is a Bulgarian shepherd. After his wife was raped and killed by the Turkish, he disguised his daughter Maria (
Katya Paskaleva) as a boy and trained her in the masculine art of warfare to take refenge. •
Theatre of Blood (1973) – Edwina Lionheart (
Diana Rigg) helps her father Edward execute a plan to get revenge on theater critics. To do this, she dresses as a man: puts on a wig, sunglasses and a false mustache. •
Dog Day Afternoon (1975) – Sonny robs a bank to finance his wife Leon's sex change operation. Chris Sarandon plays Leon. •
The Tenant (1976) – The main character suffers from a
split personality. •
A Strange Role (1976) – The Hungarian revolutionary is forced to hide from the persecutors, changing into a woman's dress in the sanatorium Hercules Waters. •
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. •
Gardes-Marines, Ahead! (1988) –
Dmitry Kharatyan plays a Gardes-Marine Aleksei Korsak who disguises himself as a girl. •
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. •
Pret-A-Porter -
Danny Aiello's character is revealed to be a cross-dresser towards the end of the film, wearing a Chanel suit which viewers had presumed was for his mistress. •
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
dan performer (
John Lone) in a Chinese opera, where all roles are performed by men. •
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994) — a drag queen takes his act on the road. •
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. •
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 film 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. •
Albert Nobbs (2011) –
Glenn Close plays a 19th-century Irish woman who poses as a man to work as a butler in Dublin's most elegant hotel. •
Les Misérables (2012) –
Éponine changes her clothes from feminine to masculine in order to join the
June Rebellion. •
The Boxtrolls (2014) – Archibald Snatcher is disguised as Madame Frou-Frou. •
Rudhramadevi (2015) – A young princess is disguised as a boy to keep the succession of her royal family line intact. •
Teen Titans Go! To the Movies (2018) – Slade is disguised as a female
film director named Jade Wilson. •
Jump, Darling (2020) - Russell (Thomas Duplessie) tries to build a name for himself as a drag performer after being forced to move from
Toronto back to his hometown in
Prince Edward County. •
Solo (2023) - A doomed romance between drag performers Simon (
Théodore Pellerin) and Olivier (
Félix Maritaud). •
Rose (2026) - A woman disguises as a soldier during the
Thirty Years' War 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: •
Comic Costume Race (1896) – Men compete in running, wearing women's clothes. •
Where Is Coletti? (1913) - As part of one of his disguises, the titular character dresses up as a woman •
His Wedding Night (1917) –
Buster Keaton tries on a wedding dress •
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) – During a drunken feast in an occupied castle, some German officers start dancing while wearing women's dresses. Of the scene,
June Mathis would later tell the
Los Angeles Times, "I had the German officers coming down the stairs with women's clothing on. To hundreds of people that meant no more than a masquerade party. To those who have lived and read, and who understand life, that scene stood out as one of the most terrific things in the picture." •
Dr. Mabuse the Gambler (1922) –
Anita Berber performs in a tuxedo • ''
Entr'acte'' (1924) – Inge Frïss poses as bearded ballerina. •
Morocco (1930) –
Marlene Dietrich wears a tuxedo. •
Sherlock Holmes (1932) –
Clive Brook poses as a woman. •
Babes in Toyland (1934) –
Stan Laurel poses as a bride. •
The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934) –
Leslie Howard poses as a woman. •
The Bold Caballero (1936) –
Robert Livingston poses as a woman. •
Professor Beware (1938) –
Harold Lloyd poses as a woman. •
Kentucky Moonshine (1938) – At the end of the radio show, the
Ritz Brothers dance in women's dresses. •
Tower of London (1939) –
Nan Grey poses as a chimney sweep. •
Vasilisa the Beautiful (1940) –
Georgy Millyar plays an old witch
Baba Yaga. He reprised this role in the films
Jack Frost (1964),
Fire, Water, and Brass Pipes (1968),
The Golden Horns (1973) and (
cameo appearance)
Finist, the Brave Falcon (1976). He also voiced the role of
Baba Yaga in the cartoon '''' (1954). •
Honolulu Lu (1941) –
Lupe Vélez dresses up as
Adolf Hitler in this wartime comedy. •
This Is the Army (1942) - Ronald Reagan stars as Lt Johnny Jones, the producer of an all US Army musical revue featuring a performance of soldiers in drag. •
National Velvet (1944) –
Elizabeth Taylor as Velvet Brown, who disguises herself as a male jockey, and trains a horse for the Grand National steeplechase. •
Sunset Boulevard (1950) –
Gloria Swanson dresses up as
Charlie Chaplin. •
Houdini (1953) –
Janet Leigh dresses up as
Harry Houdini. •
Calamity Jane (1953) –
Dick Wesson poses as an actress. •
I Vitelloni (1953) – Alberto (
Alberto Sordi) goes to the carnival in a woman's dress. • ''
Casanova's Big Night'' (1954) –
Bob Hope appears in drag. • ''
The Belles of St. Trinian's'' (1954) –
Alastair Sim plays twins, headmistress Millicent Fritton and her brother Clarence Fritton. •
White Christmas (1954) -
Bing Crosby and
Danny Kaye take over from
Rosemary Clooney and
Vera-Ellen's performance of "Sisters" in order for them to make a getaway from an abusive landlord. •
Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops (1955) –
Lou Costello appears in drag. •
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) -
Percy Herbert and a group of British soldiers perform in drag during a morale event celebrating the completion of the bridge. •
Man of a Thousand Faces (1957) –
James Cagney dresses as a woman for a few scenes. •
South Pacific -
Mitzi Gaynor and
Ray Walston perform in drag during a show during a Thanksgiving morale event for the sailors stationed on a South Pacific island during World War II. • '''' (1959) – Constanze Hübner (
Romy Schneider) sneaks into the ball dressed as a man. In another episode, a secret police agent dresses up in a woman's dress, posing as a flower seller. •
Swiss Family Robinson (1960) –
Janet Munro dresses as a boy to appear less vulnerable to pirates. •
The Night Before Christmas (1961) –
Georgy Millyar, who played the Devil, also appears in a small role as a gossip girl. •
The Silence (1963) – Out of curiosity, Johan (
Jörgen Lindström) enters the hotel room where the dwarf artists are staying. They jokingly dress the guest in a woman's dress. •
Thunderball (1965) – A former enemy of
James Bond fakes his death and poses as his own widow in the prologue segment. •
The Producers (1968) –
Roger De Bris (
Christopher Hewett) appears in a women's evening gown and
tiara. •
Head (1968) –
T. C. Jones played the dual male/female roles of Mr. and Mrs. Ace. •
The Damned (1969) – Directed by
Luchino Visconti. Martin's (a character played by
Helmut Berger)
drag performance as
Marlene Dietrich in
The Blue Angel at his grandfather's birthday celebration, notorious at the time of the film's release, has since become an iconic image in cinema history. •
Attention, Turtle! (1970) –
Rolan Bykov plays Vova Didenko's grandmother. •
Diamonds Are Forever (1971) –
Bond's arch enemy
Ernst Stavro Blofeld dresses up as a woman to escape from his Hotel hideout. •
Gentlemen of Fortune (1972) – The Soviet criminal comedy; escaped prisoners dress up in women's clothing. •
Freebie and the Bean (1973) – Mystery hit man turns out to be a convincing transvestite. •
Three Wishes for Cinderella (1973) –
Cinderella (
Libuše Šafránková) uses a magical hazelnut to dress up as a young huntsman and join the Prince's hunting party. •
Arabian Nights (1974) – Zumurrud disguises as a man and comes to a far-away kingdom where she becomes king. •
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974) –
Jeff Bridges cross-dresses to distract bank guards in a robbery. •
Fantozzi (1975) – Adult actor plays Mariangela, Fantozzi's daughter. Also in some sequels. •
Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975) – The four masters dress in women's clothes and coerce their male victims, clothed in wedding dresses, into
same-sex marriage. •
Incorrigible (1975) – Victor Vauthier (
Jean-Paul Belmondo) dresses up as a transvestite to expose his client's cheating husband, but is arrested by the police during a raid. • ''
La Course à l'échalote'' (1975) – Pierre Vidal (
Pierre Richard) is pursuing a thief who disguised himself as a woman and stole a document from a safe deposit box. A thief performs in a theatrical show as a drag queen. •
Gable and Lombard (1976) –
Carole Lombard (
Jill Clayburgh) disguises herself as an extra to see
Clark Gable (
James Brolin) act. •
The Wing or the Thigh (1976) – Taster Charles Duchemin (
Louis de Funès) disguises himself in a woman's dress to avoid being recognized by the owners of the restaurant. • '''' (1979) – A girl named Natasha, nicknamed "Bullet" (Katya Sychyova), pretends to be a boy in order to save the river together with other boys. •
The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again (1979) – Amos (
Tim Conway) and Theodore (
Don Knotts) disguise themselves as bar-room dance girls to hide themselves from the gang of "Big Mac" (
Jack Elam). • ''
Monty Python's Life of Brian'' (1979) – Several "women" (actually portrayed by the all-male Python ensemble) disguise themselves as men in order to attend a stoning. • '''' (1977) – Zoya () plays the role of Khlestakov in an amateur performance based on the
Nikolai Gogol's play
The Government Inspector. •
Dragonslayer (1981) –
Caitlin Clarke plays a young woman whose father disguised her as a boy from birth in order to protect her from an annual lottery in which young women are selected to be fed to the dragon. •
Family Relations (1981) – Young actor plays Irishka, Nina's daughter. •
Das Boot (1981) - One of the crew performs in drag during a lighthearted moment as they let off some steam to ease the boredom of weeks on picket duty. •
Nighthawks (1981) – Wulfgar (
Rutger Hauer) sets out to kill Irene DaSilva (
Lindsay Wagner), unaware that it is Sgt. Dick DaSilva (
Sylvester Stallone), who has donned women's clothing and a wig. •
Santa Claus Is a Stinker (1982) –
Christian Clavier plays a transvestite named Katia. •
Liquid Sky (1982) –
Anne Carlisle played the dual male/female roles of Jimmy and Margaret. •
The Year of Living Dangerously (1982) –
Linda Hunt plays the male role of photographer Billy Kwan (but won an
Oscar for
Best Supporting Actress). Film critic
Roger Ebert wrote about her performance: "Billy Kwan is played, astonishingly, by a woman—Linda Hunt, a New York stage actress who enters the role so fully that it never occurs to us that she is not a man. This is what great acting is, a magical transformation of one person into another". •
Deathstalker (1983) – The sorcerer Munkar, turns his henchman Gargit into the image of Princess Codille (
Barbi Benton), in order to seduce the hero Deathstalker. •
Yellowbeard (1983) – Captain Hughes sneaks a woman on board ship by having her dress as a man. • '''' (1983) – Demobilized sergeant Nikolai Gorovoy () dresses up in a woman's gypsy outfit to deceive his father. •
Le Marginal (1983) –
Jean-Claude Dreyfus plays the role of a transvestite. •
Angel (1984) – Dick Shawn plays street-smart transvestite, who is like a den-mother to the main character, child prostitute, Angel. • ''
Ronia, the Robber's Daughter'' (1984) – A robber dresses as a female to con other robbers. •
Mary Poppins, Goodbye (1984) –
Oleg Tabakov plays Miss Euphemia Andrew. •
Cannonball Run II (1984) – J.J. McClure (
Burt Reynolds), Victor Prinzi (
Dom DeLuise), and Morris Fenderbaum (
Sammy Davis Jr.) dress up as
belly dancers. • ''
Pee-wee's Big Adventure'' (1985) – To disguise themselves from the police,
Pee-wee Herman and an escaped convict dress as husband and wife, with Pee-wee as the wife. • '''' (1985) –
Michel Serrault plays the role of popular TV comedian Gaëtan, famous among other things for his comedic female roles.
Coluche also plays the role of Georges Khorseri, who appears in women's clothing. •
Castle in the Sky (1986) – Pazu disguises Princess Sheeta as a boy in attempt to escape from the air pirates. •
Armed and Dangerous (1986) – Frank Dooley (
John Candy) dresses as a
Divine-type drag queen to track down criminals. •
Betty Blue (1986) – Zorg dresses (and passes) as a woman ("Josephine") in two crucial scenes. •
Les Fugitifs (1986) – Jean Lucas (
Gérard Depardieu), François Pignon (
Pierre Richard) and his daughter Jeanne () dress up and pretend to be the vacationing family: Jean being the father, François the mother, and Jeanne, after Jean giving her a haircut, as their son, Jean-Claude. •
Outrageous Fortune (1987) –
Bette Midler and
Shelley Long disguise themselves as pre-pubescent boys to gain entry into a remote
brothel in
New Mexico. •
Willow (1988) – Madmartigan (portrayed by
Val Kilmer) disguises himself (unsuccessfully) as a woman to hide an apparent infidelity from a jealous husband. •
Hairspray (1988) – While not exactly a plot element, the role of Edna Turnblad has always been played by a man in drag, and was indeed written with that intention, most recently portrayed by
John Travolta in the
2007 remake. •
Island of Rusty General (1988) –
Alexander Lenkov plays the role of the robot
Baba Yaga. •
Tango & Cash (1989) – Gabriel Cash (
Kurt Russell) cross-dresses to escape from the police. •
Three Fugitives (1989) – Daniel James Lucas (
Nick Nolte), Ned Perry (
Martin Short) and his daughter Megan (Sarah Doroff) dress up and pretend to be the vacationing family: Daniel being the father, Ned Perry the mother, and Megan, after Daniel giving her a haircut, as their son. •
Total Recall (1990) –
Arnold Schwarzenegger disguises himself as a lady in an attempt to avoid
Michael Ironside, who wants to capture him on his return to Mars. •
Sleeping with the Enemy (1991) –
Julia Roberts's character disguises herself as a young man in order to visit her elderly mother and avoid her possessive husband. •
Robin Hood (1991) –
Uma Thurman's character Marion disguises as Martin to join the band of Robin Hood. •
Hook (1991) –
Glenn Close plays a pirate who is part of
Captain Hook's crew. •
Nothing but Trouble (1991) –
John Candy plays twins, brother Dennis Valkenheiser and sister Eldona Valkenheiser. •
Good Luck, Gentlemen (1992) – Former Soviet officers, dressed in women's dresses, take part in a beauty contest. •
Weather Is Good on Deribasovskaya, It Rains Again on Brighton Beach (1992) – KGB agent Fyodor Sokolov (
Dmitry Kharatyan) dresses up as a prostitute to catch a maniac. •
The Adventures of Huck Finn (1993) –
Huckleberry Finn (
Elijah Wood) disguises himself as a girl under the name Sarah-Mary Williams to steal things in a woman's house. •
Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) –
Little John, Ahchoo,
Will Scarlet O'Hara and Blinkin disguise themselves as women to go see the archery contest that Robin of Loxley is competing in. •
Mr. Nanny (1993) –
Hulk Hogan's Sean Armstrong puts on the outfit of a ballerina. •
Fatal Instinct (1993) -
Armand Assante's Ned Ravine dances in a pair of red stilettos to the tune of "
Brown Eyed Girl" by
Van Morrison. •
Junior (1994) –
Arnold Schwarzenegger disguises himself to hide in a
women's shelter during the last few months of an experimental male pregnancy. •
Captain Pronin 4: Captain Pronin at the Opera (1994) – Captain Pronin puts on the outfit of a ballerina. •
Haruka Tenou is a lesbian girl who regularly cross-dresses as a boy due to her romantic relationship with
Michiru Kaiou in a series of
Sailor Moon films: •
Sailor Moon S: The Movie (1994) •
Sailor Moon SuperS: The Movie (1995) •
Sailor Moon Eternal (2021) •
The Brady Bunch Movie (1995) –
RuPaul Charles appears in drag as high school guidance counselor named Mrs. Cummings. •
Shirli-myrli (1995) – Vasily Krolikov (
Valery Garkalin) changes into a woman's dress, hiding from his pursuers. •
Kids in the Hall: Brain Candy (1996) – Several female characters played by
The Kids in the Hall, a
Canadian comedy troupe. •
Beverly Hills Ninja (1997) – Gobei (
Robin Shou) disguises as a woman to look out for Haru (
Chris Farley), who disguises as a waiter who unknowingly serves on a table Gobei sits on in a Japanese restaurant for a mission. •
Con Air (1997) –
Renoly Santiago appears as Ramon 'Sally-Can't Dance' Martinez – an
effeminate, transvestite inmate who appears sexually subservient to his fellow detainees. •
The Fifth Element (1997) –
Chris Tucker appears as Ruby Rhod, a "
RuPaul/
Dennis Rodman"-inspired media sensation who tags along with Korben Dallas on his mission to save the earth. •
The Waterboy (1998) - In a black & white dream sequence,
Henry Winkler's Coach Klein who is on the phone with his grandmother can be briefly seen in a pair of heels as he stomps in them three times by shouting "I just hate him, I hate him, I hate him!". •
Between Your Legs (1999) – Victor Rueda passes as a woman in this Spanish drama. •
Wild Wild West (1999) – U.S. Marshal Artemus Gordon (
Kevin Kline) disguises himself as a prostitute. Jim West (
Will Smith) also appears as a belly dancer to rescue U.S. Marshal Artemus Gordon from antagonist Arliss Loveless (
Kenneth Branagh). •
The Boondock Saints (1999) – FBI Agent Paul Smecker (
Willem Dafoe) disguises himself as a prostitute in order to infiltrate the Yakavetta headquarters. •
100 Girls (2000) –
Jonathan Tucker's character Matthew dresses in drag. •
The Last of the Blonde Bombshells (2000) –
Ian Holm plays Patrick, who attempted to avoid enlistment during World War II by dressing as a woman. •
Wonder Boys (2000) – Michael Cavadias's character Tony/Antonia is a part-time transvestite. •
Sweet November (2001) – Sara's two confidantes, Chaz and Brandon, are gay transvestites. •
Lilo & Stitch (2002) – Pleakley, a male alien who formerly served as an agent of the Galactic Federation, disguises himself as a woman when visiting Earth with his partner Dr. Jumba Jookiba. •
Boat Trip (2002) – Two straight men (
Cuba Gooding Jr. and
Horatio Sanz) mistakenly end up on gay cruise together and encounter the flamboyantly gay Hector (
Maurice Godin) who introduces himself in drag as well as Tom (
Ken Campbell) who cross-dresses regularly. There are also other instances of drag throughout the film. •
The Mudge Boy (2003) – Duncan Mudge (Emile Hirsch) wears his deceased mother's
wedding dress. •
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) –
Pintel and Ragetti disguise themselves as women while
Hector Barbossa's skeleton crewmen attack the British ship, HMS
Dauntless. •
Camp (2003) – One of the main characters, Michael, gets beaten up for wearing a dress, fishnet stockings, and high heels to his high school prom. Later on in the film, in his birthday party at camp, all his friends dress in drag as part of the celebration. Because of this, the camp director is on a crusade to be more like a normal summer camp. •
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) –
Éowyn dresses as a soldier to be allowed to fight with the men. • ''L'île de Black Mor
(The Island of Black Mor'') (2004) – In
Jean-François Laguionie's motion picture, Petit Moine (Little Monk), captured by the pirates in a monastery, reveals to be a girl disguised as a boy, which leads to many arguments, since women on board are forbidden by pirate law. •
Rent (2005) – One of the main characters, Angel, is a drag queen. •
Robots (2005) – Fender (voiced by
Robin Williams) slowly unleashes his cross-dressing tendencies. •
The Producers (2005) – The gay director,
Roger De Bris, wears a dress when he is supposed to be
Grand Duchess Anastasia. •
Offside (2006) – An Iranian girl disguises herself as a boy to go attend the 2006 World Cup qualifying match between Iran and Bahrain. • ''
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) – Elizabeth Swann disguises herself as a man aboard the merchant vessel Edinburgh Trader
and convinces the crew to sail for Tortuga. Jack Sparrow mistakes Elizabeth for a "lad" trying to join his crew aboard the Black Pearl''. •
Stardust (2007) – Captain Shakespeare is a
closeted cross-dresser. •
Molière (2007) – Monsieur Jourdain (
Fabrice Luchini) secretly enters a high society salon in a woman's dress. •
The Gamers: Dorkness Rising (2008) – Director Matt Vancil is a male gamer rather unsuccessfully plays a female character. •
Rage (2009) –
Jude Law plays Minx, a transvestite supermodel. •
District 13: Ultimatum (2009) – While undercover, Damien Tomaso (
Cyril Raffaelli) dresses up as a girl to infiltrate the lair of mafia boss Monsieur Wu. •
The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya (2010) - During the alternate universe sequence, Haruhi, who in this universe is a Kouyouen student, wears Kyon's tracksuit when disguising herself as a North High student. •
Denizen (2010) – The lead character (
J.A. Steel) is a lesbian with a cross-dressing father, who is a general in the US Army. •
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011) –
Angelica disguises herself as
Jack Sparrow in order to recruit a crew members as volunteers hoping to sail with Sparrow, eventually having Sparrow himself
shang-hai'ed aboard
Blackbeard's ship, ''
Queen Anne's Revenge''. •
J. Edgar (2011) – after his mother dies, Hoover is shown donning her dress and necklace •
Paddington (2014) – Henry Brown (
Hugh Bonneville) dresses up as a cleaning lady to help Paddington get information from the archives. •
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014) – Alfrid Lickspittle (
Ryan Gage) dresses in women's clothes to save his life. •
Paddington 2 (2017) – Phoenix Buchanan (
Hugh Grant) dresses up as a nun to sneak into
St Paul's Cathedral. •
Ready Player One (2018) – Helen Harris (
Lena Waithe), the lesbian African-American, plays a
virtual reality OASIS as her male avatar named Aech, while appearing to be more masculine in real life. •
A Star is Born (2018) – The lead character, Ally (
Lady Gaga), works as a performer at a drag club where she is discovered by Jackson Maine. •
Ratsasan (2018) – In a twist, main antagonist Christopher cross-dresses as his mother Mary Fernandez when abducting schoolgirls. •
The Beach Bum (2019) – The lead character, Moondog, disguises himself in women's clothing to escape discovery from the police. • ''
Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling'' (2019) – Ralph Bighead (voiced by
Joe Murray) is a
transgender cane toad who transitions to a girl under the name Rachel. •
Enola Holmes (2020) – Running away from home, Enola Holmes (
Millie Bobby Brown) dresses in the clothes of her brother Sherlock, posing as a young man. •
Sailor Moon Eternal (2021) –
Hawk's Eye is one of the evil circus performers who pretends to be a female owner of the
herb store so that he can lure
Makoto Kino into a trap. •
Cruella (2021) –
Cruella de Vil (
Emma Stone) disguises herself as a male
truck driver to break Jasper and Horace Badun (
Joel Fry and
Paul Walter Hauser) out of jail. •
The Bad Guys (2022) - In one of Wolf's attempt plans to get the Golden Dolphin as a trophy, Shark disguises himself as a woman for the gala, complete with a wig. Wolf later dresses as a grandmother as part of a lesson in good manners. •
The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) - In Bowser's wedding rehearsal, Kamek dresses up as Princess Peach.
Comedic element 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. The 1936 Polish film
Bohaterowie Sybiru has an episode where
Polish insurgents exiled to Siberia are partying with Siberian peasants. Two Polish officers make a mock performance of a Polish folk dance, with one of them making a makeshift impersonation of a woman. There are
quite a few adaptations of the 1892 farce ''
Charley's Aunt''. In the original, a teenager impersonates his friend's aunt. ==Television==