Eh, I have mixed feelings on that one, since if we only cast actors of mixed race as characters of mixed race, actors of mixed race would pretty much never have a job. Idk.

I guess my line on that one is the following: If the character's history/family background is explicitly not mixed (re: Runaway's Nico Minoru or implied in Chow's case), then I don't feel that the actor should be mixed (I know race is a construct, but to take a broad example, Nico Minoru's actress shouldn't be of European/Chinese mixed descent when the character is explicitly Japanese).

I'm not arguing that mixed actors should only play mixed characters, but rather that I'm seeing a trend for 'well, if the casting sheet says young Asian woman, let's cast someone who doesn't look too Asian, just exotically Asian in a white way.'

The default Hollywood casting trend is generic character = white, which I know neither of us approve of.

My point was more along the lines of it makes me very uncomfortable when I see characters who are explicitly non-white being played by half-white/mixed actors. It's not true to the character, and a lot of times it makes absolutely no sense.* It seems too much to me like a sop so that movie can say that they technically didn't case the role as white. =/

*In an inverse of this problem, I just find it beyond belief that the audience in Firefly is supposed to accept that both of River Tam's parents are white. I can accept Simon looking white, mixed blood does funny things, but there's no way River Tam came from these two. >_>