List of entertainers who performed in blackface

This is a list of entertainers known to have performed in blackface makeup, whether in a minstrel show, as satire or historical depiction of such roles, or in a portrayal of a character using makeup as a racial disguise, for whatever reason.

A–C

 * Roy Acuff, country music singer, performed in blackface in 1930s-40s traveling medicine shows
 * Scarlet Adams
 * Anne of Denmark, Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland, in The Masque of Blackness
 * Fred Armisen, impersonating U.S. President Barack Obama on Saturday Night Live in 2008 and 2009
 * Louis Armstrong, as Zulu King during 1949's Mardi Gras in New Orleans
 * Clarence Ashley, 1910s-1940s singer and blackface comedian in traveling medicine shows
 * Ant and Dec, in old Saturday Night Takeaway sketches
 * Fred Astaire, in Swing Time (1936) and in Easter Parade (1948)
 * Gene Autry
 * Dan Aykroyd, in Trading Places (1983)
 * David Baddiel, while portraying Jason Lee on a 1995 episode of Fantasy Football League
 * Rita Baga
 * Marcus "Buff" Bagwell, while performing for World Championship Wrestling
 * Fay Bainter, as Topsy in a 1933 production of Uncle Tom's Cabin
 * Milt G. Barlow, 19th-century American minstrel
 * Ethel Barrymore, in the 1930 play Scarlet Sister Mary
 * Billy Barty, in Roman Scandals (1933) and Rabbit Test (1978)
 * Jack Black, in Be Kind Rewind (2008)
 * Sergei Bondarchuk, in Othello (1956)
 * John Boulter, lead singer of the long-running Black and White Minstrel Show on the BBC
 * Zach Braff, in the Scrubs episodes "My Friend the Doctor" and "My Chopped Liver"
 * Frank Brower, 1840s-1860s minstrel performer
 * David Byrne, in Stop Making Sense (1984)
 * George Burns
 * Butterbeans and Susie
 * John Byner, in season 3, episode 1 of Soap
 * Eddie Cantor, 1912-1927 performances in vaudeville and Ziegfeld Follies
 * Judy Carne, in a 1969 episode of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
 * Graham Chapman
 * Dave Chappelle, in a 2006 episode of Chappelle's Show
 * George Christy, born George Harrington but became a star with Christy's Minstrels in the 1840s
 * Charles Correll
 * Bing Crosby, in Dream House (1932), Mississippi (1935), Road to Singapore (1940), Holiday Inn (1942), Dixie (1943), and Here Come the Waves (1944)
 * Billy Crystal, in the "Negro Leagues" skit on Saturday Night Live in 1984 and whenever impersonating Sammy Davis Jr., including at the 84th Academy Awards.
 * CatboyKami, Online alias of Tor Gustafsson Brookes. Far-right troll who performs in blackface and an afro wig while brandishing a gun

D–G

 * Ted Danson, at a 1993 Friars Club roast of his then-girlfriend Whoopi Goldberg
 * Tommy Davidson in the 2000 film Bamboozled
 * Marion Davies in Going Hollywood (1933)
 * Sammy Davis, Jr. in Ocean's Eleven (1960)
 * Shane Dawson, YouTuber, actor, and comedian
 * Neil Diamond in The Jazz Singer
 * Thomas Dilward, 1850s-1870s dwarf minstrel performer
 * George Washington Dixon, 1820s-1830s stage performer
 * Lew Dockstader, 1870s-1900s minstrel performer
 * Roma Downey in an episode of the television series Touched By An Angel entitled “Black Like Monica”, the character is turned black to better empathize with a community dealing with racial tensions.
 * Robert Downey Jr. in the 2008 film Tropic Thunder
 * Drake, on the cover of Pusha-T's single "The Story of Adidon"
 * Jimmy Durante
 * Issi Dye singer and Al Jolson impersonator
 * Harry Enfield, impersonating Nelson Mandela in the television show Harry & Paul.
 * The Ethiopian Serenaders were a Boston troupe which performed at the White House in 1844 and then toured Britain.
 * Jimmy Fallon, impersonating Chris Rock on Saturday Night Live
 * Edwin Forrest
 * Dai Francis, lead singer of the long-running Black and White Minstrel Show on the BBC
 * Leigh Francis
 * Judy Garland in Babes in Arms 
 * George Givot, in the play The Constant Sinner (1931)
 * Freeman Gosden
 * Billy Gould (1869-1950)
 * Savion Glover in the 2000 film Bamboozled

H–L

 * Sam Hague
 * Masatoshi Hamada, dressed in blackface as Eddie Murphy from the film Beverly Hills Cop for the 2017 New Year's Eve special of Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!!
 * Jon Hamm on an episode of 30 Rock
 * Goldie Hawn, in a 1969 episode of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
 * Bob Height
 * Al Herman
 * Charles Hicks
 * Ernest Hogan
 * C. Thomas Howell in the 1986 movie Soul Man
 * William A. Huntley Starting 1860. Moved to whiteface in mid-1880s.
 * Dick Powell performed in blackface while singing Al Jolson's "Sonny Boy" in Hard to Get (1938)
 * George Jessel
 * Al Jolson
 * Louis Jordan
 * Buster Keaton, in vaudeville in the short film Neighbors (1920), possibly with satiric intent: he alternates in and out of blackface, receiving a very different reaction from a policeman; also in The Playhouse (1921) and College (1927)
 * Billy Kersands, 1880s-1900s minstrel performer
 * Jimmy Kimmel, impersonating Karl Malone and Oprah Winfrey on The Man Show
 * Jane Krakowski twice on 30 Rock
 * Wallace King, 1880s minstrel performer
 * Joey Lawrence, in season 4, episode 11 of Gimme a Break!, an episode criticizing blackface
 * Jennie Lee, in the 1915 film The Birth of a Nation
 * Francis Leon, 1870s-80s minstrel performer
 * Eddie Leonard, 1890s-1930s minstrel performer, "last of the great minstrels"
 * Paul Levesque
 * Chris Lilley as Jonah Takalua and S.mouse
 * Walter Long, in the 1915 film The Birth of a Nation
 * Sophia Loren in Aida (1953)
 * Peter Lorre, in the play Weisse Fracht
 * Matt Lucas, multiple characters in Little Britain, Precious Little in Come Fly with Me
 * Sam Lucas, 1870s minstrel performer

M–R

 * Robert Mandan, in season 3, episode 1 of Soap
 * Jenna Marbles, impersonating Nicki Minaj in a later removed 2011 Youtube video
 * Pigmeat Markham, performer in 1920s-1950s traveling shows, as well as The Ed Sullivan Show and Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
 * Rob McElhenney on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, portraying the character of Mac, a white man portraying the character Roger Murtaugh from the Lethal Weapon franchise in a fanmade home movie
 * Joni Mitchell appeared as black dandy, Art Nouveau, at parties and on the cover of Don Juan's Reckless Daughter
 * Emmett Miller, an important influence on early country stars like Jimmie Rodgers, Bob Wills
 * Flournoy E. Miller
 * Irvin C. Miller
 * David Mitchell, in season 1, episode 1 of That Mitchell and Webb Look
 * Clayton McMichen
 * Bill Monroe
 * Moran and Mack
 * Herbert Wassell Nadal (1873-1957)
 * Cornelius J. O'Brien (1869-1954)
 * Laurence Olivier in Othello (1965)
 * Kaitlin Olson on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, portraying the character of Deandra Reynolds, a white woman portraying a black character in a fanmade home movie based on the Lethal Weapon franchise
 * Richard Pelham
 * Arthur Petersen, in season 3, episode 1 of Soap
 * Larry Parks, in the 1946 film The Jolson Story
 * Robert Webb
 * Thomas D. Rice
 * Jimmie Rodgers
 * Mickey Rooney in Babes in Arms (1939)
 * Benny Rubin

S–Z

 * Harry Scott of the comedy duo Scott and Whaley, an African American act working in Britain.
 * Ramblin' Tommy Scott
 * Sarah Silverman
 * Frank Sinatra, in the Major Bowes short The Big Minstrel (1935) and Ocean's Eleven (1960)
 * Grace Slick, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (1968) and Teen Set magazine (1969)
 * Bessie Smith
 * Hobart Smith
 * Mel Smith in season 2, episode 4, of Not the Nine O'Clock News (sketch "Gone With The Wind", April 1980)
 * Howard Stern in a series of 1991 skits as Clarence Thomas and in a 1993 New Year's Eve special
 * Bert Swor (1878-1943)
 * Shirley Temple in The Littlest Rebel
 * George Siegmann in character as Silas Lynch in The Birth of a Nation (1915)
 * Frank Tinney, in vaudeville and Broadway musical comedies
 * The Three Stooges
 * Sophie Tucker
 * Tracey Ullman, in a 1989 episode of The Tracey Ullman Show
 * Ben Vereen, as a part of the 1981 inaugural celebrations for US President Ronald Reagan
 * Vladimir Vysotsky, as Abram Gannibal in How Czar Peter the Great Married Off His Moor
 * Glen Vernon Actor who performed in blackface in Hollywood Varieties (1950) with fellow actor Edward Ryan
 * Ted Waldman, comedy harmonica player
 * David Walliams, as a minstrel, and as character Desiree Devere in Little Britain
 * George Walker
 * Sean Waltman
 * Betty White, in The Golden Girls
 * Billy Whitlock
 * Gene Wilder in Silver Streak
 * Barney Williams
 * Bert Williams
 * Hank Williams
 * Slim Williams
 * Bob Wills
 * Tom Wilson
 * Jane Withers in Can This Be Dixie?
 * Jo Anne Worley, in a 1969 episode of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
 * Magda Szubanski, in various sketches for the Australian TV series, Fast Forward, most notably as the housemaid in a parody of Gone With the Wind.

Fictional Characters Who Were Depicted In Blackface

 * Bugs Bunny, in the 1942 cartoon Fresh Hare
 * Mickey Mouse, in the 1933 cartoon Mickey's Mellerdrammer
 * Tom and Jerry (Van Beuren), Not to be confused with the cat and mouse duo. appeared in blackface in 'Plane Dumb' (1932)
 * Smith Family Stan, Steve, Hayley and Francine Smith appeared in blackface in 2007 American Dad! episode 'An Apocalypse to Remember'
 * Eric Cartman, Depicted in blackface in 1999 movie South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut and in episodes of South Park
 * Tom and Jerry, appeared in blackface in 'The Yankee Doodle Mouse' (1943) 'The Milky Waif' (1946) 'Mouse Cleaning' (1948) and 'Casanova Cat' (1951)
 * Dirty Dick, Used blackface in a recreation of The Black and White Minstrel Show in the 1972 Dandy Annual
 * Sylvester the Cat, appeared in blackface in 'I Taw a Putty Tat' (1948)
 * Lyons Tea Minstrels mascots of Lyons Tea. Discontinued sometime in the 1990s
 * Ling-Ling, In Foxxy Vs. The Board Of Education (2005)