text: Casting this haole as a Hawaiian continues the great Hollywood tradition of casting caucasians as non-whites.  As Jack Tatum points out, Jesus has been played by northern Europeans so often that most (white) Americans believe he was white instead of Semitic, conveniently forgetting that he was Jewish. Others commenters have mentioned other non-white roles played by whites.  In addition to the roles mentioned, I find Rex Harrison and Yule Brenner as Chinese and Al Jolson as African American particularly offensive--and, yes, he haole au.  As we should know by now, it's all about the $$$.