List of stereotypical characters in the world of drama

This is a list of common stereotypical characters in the world of drama, and is not an exhausive list.

• In Western films, the villain typically wore black clothes, with a waxed moustache, whilst the hero dressed in white;
• The jolly Texan who wears a cowboy hat everywhere, even with a suit or a tuxedo;
• The sophisticated, well mannered, Latin womanizer;
• The lazy, cowardly, servile and/or uneducated Mexican, African American, Polynesian, etc;
• The overweight Polynesian who likes to relax wearing a flower shirt;
• The short-tempered, portly wrestler;
• The ebonic-esque, slang talking, "yo"-saying, African-American
• The "hard-boiled" or tough detective who dresses in a raincoat and fedora, drinking whiskey, smoking cigarettes and waiting for a case from a beautiful femme fatale or damsel in distress who enters in his office which has his name on the door
• The calm yet dangerous Italian mobster;
• The aging and clumsy absent-minded professor (sometimes speaking incoherently);
• The wealthy old miser living a poor life to save money;
• The old sage who holds great powers beyond his physical appearance;
• The ditzy, busty blonde woman ("brain-dead blonde");
• All teenage girls being the Valley girl
  • Also: The attractive, blonde teenage cheerleader
  • Also: The popular, mean-spirited teenage girl who all the geeks want
• The cool black guy teaching the nerdy white guy how to be cool
  • Other stereotype: White people can't dance
• The dowdy librarian (who becomes instantly attractive when she takes her glasses off and let her hair down);
• The nerdy scientist (with black wiry-framed glasses, black bowtie, sometimes lab coat and speaking in technobabble);
• The peg-legged pirate with an eye patch, pegleg, hook, cutlass, and parrot, who's obsessed with finding a buried treasure, attacking ships with cannons and forcing prisoners to walk the plank;
• The brave superhero with a cape, who tends to be a rip-off of Superman or a spoof of Batman and Robin;
• The overexcited mad scientist with a messy hairdo and a lab coat (often based on Albert Einstein);
• The sinister goth-like dark magic-using Dark Lord who has evil plans of world domination, who likes to engage in maniacal laughter and often complains about the incompetence of his henchmen;
• The overweight, doughnut-eating cop who purposefully overlooks crimes;
• The picky chef with his toque and piquant French accent;
• The effeminate homosexual male who works as a hairdresser or a fashion designer;
• The man-hating butch lesbian who sees male chauvinism everywhere;
• The peaceful, nature-loving Indian who always speaks in cryptic riddles;
• The stoic, elderly Chinese who quotes Confucius;
• The inebriated Irish redhead man called Seamus wearing only green, in a pub;
• The tight-fisted Scot;
• The blond-haired "busty" Scandinavian woman;
• The small Eskimo in a heavy snow outfit;
• The exaggeratedly masculine Australian, often called Bruce, dressed into a khaki attire for trips into nature;
• The stupid and brutal caveman wearing animal hides and armed with a wooden club;
• The wise and otherworldly African-American or Native American who communicates in exaggeratedly philosophical conundra;
• The demure, subservient Asian woman;
• The Asian/Eastern mystic;
• The greedy Jew with a hooked nose; (often as accountant, banker, law shark, loanshark, political puppetmaster, etc.)
• The Muslim terrorist or thief leader wearing a turban and a long beard;
• The Mormon man with his many wives;
• The green bald and pointy-eared alien invader in a flying saucer who plans to destroy/conquer Earth and who asks the first human he can find: "Take us to your leader!"
• The uneducated hick (American) Southerner, a white trash redneck, playing the banjo in a rocking chair on the porch next to a rifle and with a big Confederate flag hanging in back of him;
• The foul-mouthed U.S. Serviceman who is prone to engaging in domestic violence;
• The Frenchman with striped shirt, beret and holding a baguette or onions under his arm - see Onion Johnnie;
• The vulgar Frenchman who never or rarely bathes;
• The fat German wearing a green pair of lederhosen, a bowtie, and a jaunty hat with a feather, carrying a beer stein in one hand and a frankfurter in the other (or possibly an accordion), who may also yodel;
• The smart, hardworking, quiet Asian American - see Model minority;
• The fat American sitting at McDonald's with a Big Mac;
• The Italian chef with a large moustache;
• The hook-nosed witch in a black dress and pointy hat, riding a broom; sometimes green-skinned and wearing striped stockings;
• The fast talking Indian math genius who has a degree from an Indian Institute of Technology;
• The rich, snobbish Englishman/woman, wearing a monocle (if male), smoking a pipe or drinking tea, with a butler;
• The very pale-skinned henchman (not necessarily affected with albinism, though this is sometimes the case such as in the movie Foul Play) who dresses entirely in white - example: The Twins from The Matrix Reloaded;
• The Comic relief.

See also

• Stereotype
• List of common phrases based on stereotypes

See also: List of stereotypical characters in the world of drama, Absent-minded professor, Accordion, African American, Aging, Albinism, Alien, Asian, Asian American, Australia