 Actors in period costume sharing a joke whilst waiting between takes during location filming. An actor is a person who acts, or plays a role, in an artistic production. The term commonly refers to someone working in movies, television, live theatre, or radio, and can occasionally denote a street entertainer. Besides playing dramatic roles, actors may also sing or dance or work only on radio or as a voice artist. A female actor may be known as an actress, although some prefer the term "actor", using it as a gender-neutral term. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (3000x3002, 6358 KB) The Blue Marble: This photo is of Africa, Antarctica, and the Arabian Peninsula as taken en route to the Moon by Apollo 17s Harrison Schmitt on December 7, 1972. ...
Download high resolution version (480x640, 105 KB)Actors in period costume, resting between takes whilst on location filming in London. ...
Download high resolution version (480x640, 105 KB)Actors in period costume, resting between takes whilst on location filming in London. ...
Acting is the work of an actor, a person in theatre, film, or any other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a character and, usually, speaking or singing the written text or play. ...
Jump to: navigation, search Film refers to the celluloid media on which movies are printed Film is a term that encompasses motion pictures as individual projects, as well as the field in general. ...
For other usages see Theatre (disambiguation) Theater (American English) or Theatre (British English and widespread usage among theatre professionals in the US) is that branch of the performing arts concerned with acting out stories in front of an audience using combinations of speech, gesture, music, dance, sound and spectacle — indeed...
A voice actor (or voice artist) is a person who provides voices for computer and video games, puppet shows, amusement rides, audio dramas, dubbed foreign language films, stop motion, and animation works (including cartoons, animated feature films, animated shorts), and radio and television commercials. ...
Jump to: navigation, search Female symbol Female is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces egg cells. ...
An actor usually plays a fictional character. In the case of a true story (or a fictional story that portrays real people) an actor may play a real person (or a fictional version of the same). Occasionally, actors appear as themselves. A fictional character is any person who appears in a work of fiction. ...
Etymology
"Actor" comes from Latin, from the noun actor from the Latin verb agere "to do, drive, pass time" + the affix -or "so./st. who performs the action indicated by the stem". Jump to: navigation, search Latin is an Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ...
Jump to: navigation, search This list of Latin verbs includes all four principal parts (three in the case of deponent verbs, semi-deponent verbs, and certain passives) of the verbs in this order (all are 1st person, singular, active, indicative): 1- present 2- infinitive 3- past perfect 4- passive perfect...
History The first recorded case of an actor performing took place in 534 B.C. (probably on 23 November, though the changes in calendar over the years make it hard to determine exactly) when the Greek performer Thespis stepped on to the stage at the Theatre Dionysus and became the first person to speak words as a character in a play. The machinations of storytelling were immediately revolutionized. Prior to Thespis' act, stories were told in song and dance and in third person narrative, but no one had assumed the role of a character in a story. In reverence to Thespis, actors are formally referred to as thespians. Theatrical myth to this day maintains that Thespis exists as a mischievous spirit, and disasters in the theatre are sometimes blamed on his ghostly intervention. Centuries: 7th century BCE - 6th century BCE - 5th century BCE Decades: 580s BCE - 570s BCE - 560s BCE - 550s BCE - 540s BCE - 530s BCE - 520s BCE - 510s BCE - 500s BCE - 490s BCE - 480s BCE Events and trends 539 BCE - Babylon is conquered by Cyrus the Great 537 BCE - Jews transported to...
Jump to: navigation, search November 23 is the 327th day of the year (328th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 38 days remaining. ...
Jump to: navigation, search Thespis of Icaria (6th century BC) is claimed to be the first person ever to appear on stage as an actor in a play although the reality is undoubtedly more complex. ...
Jump to: navigation, search A song is a relatively short musical composition for the human voice (possibly accompanied by other musical instruments), which features words (lyrics). ...
Storytelling is the art of portraying in words, images, and sounds what has happened in real or imagined events. ...
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Mythology. ...
However, this negative perception dramaticaly changed in 20th Century as acting became an honored and popular profession and art. Part of the reason is due to the rise of the popular appeal and access to dramatic film entertainment and the resulting rise of the movie star in social status and the large salaries they commanded. The combination of public presence and wealth had a profound rehabilitation to the image. (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the...
Jump to: navigation, search Film refers to the celluloid media on which movies are printed Film is a term that encompasses motion pictures as individual projects, as well as the field in general. ...
A movie star is a celebrity who is well known for his or her starring, or leading, roles in motion pictures. ...
In the past, only men could become actors. In the ancient and medieval world, it was considered disgraceful for a woman to go on the stage, and this belief continued right up until the 17th century, when in Venice it was broken. In the time of William Shakespeare, women's roles were played by men or boys, though there is some evidence to suggest that women disguised as men also (illegally) performed. The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ...
(16th century - 17th century - 18th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 17th century was that century which lasted from 1601-1700. ...
Jump to: navigation, search Location within Italy Venice (Italian: Venezia), the city of canals, is the capital of the region of Veneto and of the province of Venice, 45°26′ N 12°19′ E, population 271,663 (census estimate 2004-01-01). ...
Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ...
Actresses in male roles Women actors sometimes play the roles of prepubescent boys, because in some regards a woman has a closer resemblance to a boy than does a man. The role of Peter Pan, for example, is traditionally played by a woman. The tradition of the principal boy in pantomime may be compared. An adult playing a child occurs more in theater than in film. The exception to this is voice actors in animated films, where boys are generally voiced by women, as heard in "The Simpsons". Opera has several 'pants roles' traditionally sung by women, usually mezzo-sopranos. Examples are Hansel in Hansel und Gretel, and Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro. A male Caucasian toddler child A child (plural: children) is a young human. ...
Statue of Peter Pan in St. ...
In pantomime, the principal boy role is the young male protagonist of the play, traditionally played by a young actress in boys clothes. ...
Pantomime may refer to two different types of performing arts. ...
Animation refers to the process in which each frame of a film or movie is produced individually, whether generated as a computer graphic, or by photographing a drawn image, or by repeatedly making small changes to a model (see claymation and stop motion), and then photographing the result. ...
Homer, a safety inspector at the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, is a generally well-meaning buffoon whose short attention span often draws him into outrageous schemes and adventures. ...
Jump to: navigation, search The foyer of Charles Garniers Opéra, Paris, opened 1875 Opera refers to an art form particular to Europe, which is made up of a dramatic stage performance set to music. ...
A breeches role (also pants role or trouser role) is a role in which an actress appears in male clothes (breeches being tight-fitting knee-length pants, the standard male garment at the time breeches roles were introduced). ...
A mezzo-soprano (meaning medium soprano in Italian) is a female singer with a range usually extending from the A below middle C to the F an eleventh above middle C. Mezzo-sopranos generally have a darker (or lower) vocal tone than sopranos, and their vocal range is between that...
Jump to: navigation, search Hänsel und Gretel is an opera by Engelbert Humperdinck (Humperdinck himself described it as a fairy opera. ...
Jump to: navigation, search QPAC poster for The Marriage of Figaro The Marriage of Figaro (Italian: Le nozze di Figaro) is an opera buffa (comic opera) composed in 1786 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Beaumarchais, Le mariage de Figaro...
Mary Pickford played the part of Little Lord Fauntleroy in the first film version of the book. Linda Hunt won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in The Year of Living Dangerously, in which she played the part of a man. Jump to: navigation, search Mary Pickford Mary Pickford (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979) was a motion picture star and co-founder of United Artists, known as Americas Sweetheart and the girl with the curl. ...
Little Lord Fauntleroy is a novel by American (English-born) author Frances Hodgson Burnett, published in 1886. ...
Linda Hunt (born April 2, 1945 in Morristown, New Jersey, USA) is an American actress. ...
The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress is one of the awards given to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; nominations are made by Academy members who are actors and actresses. ...
DVD cover The Year of Living Dangerously is a 1982 film directed by Peter Weir and written by C. J Koch (from his novel), Weir, and David Williamson. ...
Having an actor play the opposite sex for comic effect is also a long standing tradition in comic theatre and film. Most of Shakespeare's comedies include instances of cross dressing, and both Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams appeared in hit comedy films where they were required to play most scenes dressed as women. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon famously posed as women to escape gangsters in the Billy Wilder film Some Like It Hot. Jump to: navigation, search Dustin Hoffman Hoffman with Ben Stiller in 2004s Meet the Fockers. ...
Jump to: navigation, search Robin Williams performing in Iraq. ...
Jump to: navigation, search Tony Curtis is the stage name of Bernard Schwartz (born June 3, 1925 in The Bronx, New York). ...
Jump to: navigation, search Jack Lemmon Jack Uhler Lemmon III (February 8, 1925 – June 27, 2001) was a consummate Hollywood actor. ...
Jump to: navigation, search Billy Wilder (June 22, 1906–March 27, 2002) had a career as a screenwriter, film director and producer that spanned more than 50 years and more than 60 films. ...
Some Like It Hot is a 1959 comedy film by Billy Wilder. ...
Techniques of acting Actors employ a variety of techniques that are learned through training and experience. Some of these are: - The rigorous use of the voice to communicate a character's lines and express emotion. This is achieved through attention to diction and projection through correct breathing and articulation. It is also achieved through the tone and emphasis that an actor puts on words
- Physicalisation of a role in order to create a believable character for the audience and to use the acting space appropriately and correctly
- Use of gesture to complement the voice, interact with other actors and to bring emphasis to the words in a play, as well as having symbolic meaning
Shakespeare is believed to have been commenting on the acting style and techniques of his era when Hamlet gives his famous advice to the players: William Shakespeare—born April 1564; baptised April 26, 1564; died April 23, 1616 (O.S.), May 3, 1616 (N.S.)—has a reputation as the greatest of all writers in English. ...
Jump to: navigation, search The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is a tragedy by William Shakespeare and one of his most well-known and oft-quoted plays. ...
Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, trippingly on the tongue: but if you mouth it, as many of your players do, I had as lief the town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do not saw the air too much with your hand, thus, but use all gently; for in the very torrent, tempest, and, as I may say, the whirlwind of passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance that may give it smoothness. O, it offends me to the soul to hear a robustious periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings, who for the most part are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumbshows and noise: I would have such a fellow whipped for o'erdoing Termagant; it out-herods Herod: pray you, avoid it. Be not too tame neither, but let your own discretion be your tutor: suit the action to the word, the word to the action; with this special observance: o'erstep not the modesty of nature: for any thing so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, both at the first and now, was and is, to hold, as 'twere, the mirror up to nature; to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure. Now this overdone, or come tardy off, though it make the unskilful laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve; the censure of the which one must in your allowance o'erweigh a whole theatre of others. O, there be players that I have seen play, and heard others praise, and that highly, not to speak it profanely, that, neither having the accent of Christians nor the gait of Christian, pagan, nor man, have so strutted and bellowed that I have thought some of nature's journeymen had made men and not made them well, they imitated humanity so abominably. O, reform it altogether. And let those that play your clowns speak no more than is set down for them; for there be of them that will themselves laugh, to set on some quantity of barren spectators to laugh too; though, in the mean time, some necessary question of the play be then to be considered: that's villanous, and shows a most pitiful ambition in the fool that uses it. Go, make you ready.
Acting awards Although he never won an Oscar for any of his movie performances, the comedian Bob Hope received two honorary Oscars for his contributions to cinema. ...
The Golden Globe Awards are American awards for motion pictures and television programs, given out each year during a formal dinner. ...
An Emmy Award. ...
The Genie Awards are given out to recognize the best of Canadian films and television, by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. ...
The Gemini Awards are an annual awards ceremony that celebrates the achievements for TV members of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. ...
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), is a British organization that hosts annual awards shows for film, television, childrens film and television, and interactive media. ...
What is popularly called the Tony Award (formally, the Antoinette Perry Award) is an annual award celebrating achievements in live American theater, including musical theater. ...
Broadway theatre is often considered the highest professional form of theatre in the United States. ...
The Laurence Olivier Awards, previously known as The Society of West End Theatre Awards, were renamed in honour of British actor Laurence Olivier, Baron Olivier in 1984, having first been established in 1976. ...
Jump to: navigation, search The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) is the labor union representing over 120,000 film actors in the United States. ...
See also A movie star is a celebrity who is well known for his or her starring, or leading, roles in motion pictures. ...
This article is about stunt performance. ...
For the 1998 movie, see Celebrity (1998 movie). ...
Suggested reading - An Actor Prepares by Constantine Stanislavski (Theatre Arts Books, 0878309837, 1989)
- A Dream of Passion: The Development of the Method by Lee Strasberg (Plume Books, 0452261988, 1990)
- Sanford Meisner on Acting by Sanford Meisner (Vintage, 0394750594, 1987)
- Letters to a Young Actor by Robert Brustein (Basic Books, 0465008062, 2005).
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