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;
The short-tempered, portly wrestler;
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 aging absent-minded professor, a schlemiel (sometimes speaking incoherently);
The wealthy miser living a poor life to save money;
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);
The nerdy scientist (with black wiry-framed glasses, black bowtie, white coat, 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 flying superhero with a cape;
The mad scientist with a messy hairdo and a lab coat;
The sinister goth-like dark magic -using Dark Lord who has evil plans of world domination, who likes to engage in maniacal laughter and who 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 Irishman;
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 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 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: Cain and Abel from The Matrix Reloaded;
The Comic relief.

List of stereotypical characters in the world of drama

See also