AOG - //It's strange Danny that so far you are the only one to point out the obvious, yes much better for a white actor to play someone with a white face, much more realistic than a black actress playing Marilyn Monroe, as one once did. //
In my view, to straight-jacket people into roles based on their ethnicity and gender is to prevent exploration and invention which is the very lifeblood of art itself.
As advised, Glenda Jackson has just finished a much-lauded run as King Lear, simultaneously underlining that not only is gender irrelevant in an appropriate production, but that a production can be conceived and presented precisely to underline that point.
That is why a black woman can play Marilyn Monroe - it is about character and personification, not slavishly following every single aspect of a character - if that was the rule, then make-up and wig artists would be out of work from tomorrow onwards.