<Li> Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One : A Celtic mystic , who becomes Strange 's mentor . The character in the comics is a Tibetan man , a situation which co-writer C. Robert Cargill compared to the Kobayashi Maru , an unwinnable training exercise in the Star Trek universe . He explained that adapting the character as the comics portrayed him would be realizing the major Asian Fu Manchu stereotype , and would involve the film with the Tibetan sovereignty debate , but not giving one of few significant Asian roles to an Asian actor would also understandably be received negatively . Derrickson wanted to change the character to an Asian woman , but felt that an older Asian woman would invoke the Dragon Lady stereotype , while a younger Asian woman would be perceived as exploiting Asian fetish and `` a fanboy 's dream girl '' . To avoid the character filling any of those three stereotypes , or enabling the stereotype of a `` Western character coming to Asia to learn about being Asian '' , Derrickson decided to cast a non-Asian actor in the role , but to still take the opportunity to cast `` an amazing actress in a male role '' . Feeling that Swinton was the obvious choice to play `` domineering , secretive , ethereal , enigmatic , ( and ) mystical '' , Derrickson wrote the Ancient One in the film specifically for the actress , before she was offered the role . Additionally , though the film uses the terms `` her '' and `` she '' , Swinton chose to portray the character as androgynous , while Feige explained that the Ancient One and Sorcerer Supreme are mantles in the film held by multiple characters through time , so a more comic - accurate Ancient One could exist within the MCU . Still , Swinton 's casting was widely criticized as whitewashing . In response to this , Derrickson said that though he was pleased with the diversity of the film 's cast , in terms of both gender and ethnicity , `` Asians have been whitewashed and stereotyped in American cinema for over a century and people should be mad or nothing will change . What I did was the lesser of two evils , but it is still an evil . '' </Li>
<Li> Tilda Swinton as the Ancient One : A Celtic mystic , who becomes Strange 's mentor . The character in the comics is a Tibetan man , a situation which co-writer C. Robert Cargill compared to the Kobayashi Maru , an unwinnable training exercise in the Star Trek universe . He explained that adapting the character as the comics portrayed him would be realizing the major Asian Fu Manchu stereotype , and would involve the film with the Tibetan sovereignty debate , but not giving one of few significant Asian roles to an Asian actor would also understandably be received negatively . Derrickson wanted to change the character to an Asian woman , but felt that an older Asian woman would invoke the Dragon Lady stereotype , while a younger Asian woman would be perceived as exploiting Asian fetish and `` a fanboy 's dream girl '' . To avoid the character filling any of those three stereotypes , or enabling the stereotype of a `` Western character coming to Asia to learn about being Asian '' , Derrickson decided to cast a non-Asian actor in the role , but to still take the opportunity to cast `` an amazing actress in a male role '' . Feeling that Swinton was the obvious choice to play `` domineering , secretive , ethereal , enigmatic , ( and ) mystical '' , Derrickson wrote the Ancient One in the film specifically for the actress , before she was offered the role . Additionally , though the film uses the terms `` her '' and `` she '' , Swinton chose to portray the character as androgynous , while Feige explained that the Ancient One and Sorcerer Supreme are mantles in the film held by multiple characters through time , so a more comic - accurate Ancient One could exist within the MCU . Still , Swinton 's casting was widely criticized as whitewashing . In response to this , Derrickson said that though he was pleased with the diversity of the film 's cast , in terms of both gender and ethnicity , `` Asians have been whitewashed and stereotyped in American cinema for over a century and people should be mad or nothing will change . What I did was the lesser of two evils , but it is still an evil . '' </Li>
who plays the ancient one in doctor strange 2016
who plays the ancient one in doctor strange 2016
Tilda Swinton
Tilda Swinton