Movies & TV Shows Featuring a Multiracial Lead

Publish date: 2024-08-26

Growing up in Maine with a white mom and a Chinese dad, I rarely saw characters in movies and TV shows that looked like me. Scratch that—I never saw characters that looked like me. When I got older, friends compared me to Mulan or Lucy Liu, but that didn’t feel accurate (talk about a dearth of Asian female representation when you’re being compared to a cartoon character). Honestly, I didn’t think that representation was something that I was missing. How can you want what you’ve never had or what you don’t think that you deserve?

According to the 2020 census, about 10% of the total population now identifies as multiracial. And Hollywood is finally starting to reflect that reality. Multiracial people are not a monolith setting out to take over the world (yet). They represent a diversity of cultures, ethnicities, nationalities and life experiences. They are our family, friends, children, coworkers, neighbors, and ourselves. Kids from multiracial families deserve to see themselves as the main characters in the story, as the heroes and the villains, the love interests and the frenemies, the doctors and the lawyers, the comic relief and DMV pencil pusher #3.

What do we want? Multiracial protagonists that reflect our lived experiences. When do we want them? Now!

Here are ten TV shows and movies that feature mixed-race protagonists.

Our mission at SheKnows is to empower and inspire women, and we only feature products we think you’ll love as much as we do. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale.

‘Wizards of Waverly Place’
Selena Gomez stars as Alex Russo, a teen wizard in training, in this comedy-fantasy series for kids that aired on the Disney Channel from 2007 to 2012. The sitcom family features an Italian American father and a Mexican American mother, reflecting Gomez’s own multiracial background.
Watch on Disney+.
‘Ginny & Georgia’
It was the Oppression Olympics heard ’round the world when 15-year-olds Ginny and Hunter argued over how Black and Asian they were respectively (both are portrayed by mixed-race actors). If anything, the show’s portrayal of multiracial identity is a great conversation starter for older teens (the show has mature themes). If more multiracial representation means more cringe, I say bring on the cringe.
Watch on Netflix.
‘The Wilds’
Eight teen girls are stranded on a deserted island after their plane crashes in the ocean—will they survive the island and each other? The show covers some tough topics (being a teenage girl is basically hell on earth even without plane crashes) with surprising brutality and empathy. Two of the girls are sisters from a multiracial (Black and white) family.
Watch on Amazon.
‘Shadow & Bone’
Orphan cartographer Alina Starkov (Jessie Mei Li) is shunned for being “half-Shu” in the fantasy series Shadow and Bone. Played by an Asian and white actress, the character of Alina is that coveted fantasy trope of a despised outsider with hidden powers beyond her wildest imagination. Do multiracial people all have secret magical powers? Shhhh, we’ll never tell.
Watch on Netflix.
‘The Baby-Sitters Club’
Get the club back together because Netflix turned the beloved childhood classic into a series for kids (and adults who loved the books). Mary Anne Spier (Malia Baker) is biracial (Black and white) in this reboot.
Watch on Netflix.
‘Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse’
This Spider-Man is Black and Puerto-Rican, making Miles Morales (voiced by Shameik Moore) a bicultural, bilingual, Afro-Latino wunderkind. It’s about time we got the multiracial web-slinging superhero we want and deserve.
Watch on Amazon.
‘The Main Event’
Finally, the heartwarming WWE family dramedy we have all been waiting for when a 11-year-old boy, Leo (Seth Carr), finds a magical mask that makes him unstoppable in the ring. But it’s not just wish fulfillment and hanging bullies from lockers by their underwear, Leo learns important lessons about family, friendship and the source of his true strength.
Watch on Netflix.
‘Mixed-Ish’
The only show on record to focus on mixed family dynamics, Kenya Barris’s Mixed-ish (a spinoff of Black-ish) was cancelled by ABC after two season, proving that we can’t have nice things starring Mark-Paul Gosselaar (looking at you, Pitch). I’m not angry, just disappointed.
Watch on YouTube.
‘Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’
Chloe Bennet plays Inhuman S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Daisy Johnson in this Marvel drama’s ensemble cast. The character, like the actress, is Asian and white, and she kicks some serious ass.
Watch on Netflx.
‘Powerless’
This short-lived fantasy TV sitcom starring Vanessa Hudgens was that rare combination of cheeky superhero sendup and disturbingly relatable workplace comedy. I have to include it because it has one of the funniest and most accurate conversations about being mixed race that I have ever seen in my entire life, where everyone wants to inquire about your racial identity without being racist. Plus you get a bonus in Danni Pudi who is half Polish and half Indian.
Watch on YouTube.