A character actor is an actor, especially in motion pictures, who predominantly performs in similar roles throughout the course of a career. Actors in period costume sharing a joke while waiting between takes during location filming An actor or actress is a person who acts, or plays a role, in a dramatic production. ... For other uses see film (disambiguation) Film refers to the celluliod media on which movies are printed Film — also called movies, the cinema, the silver screen, moving pictures, photoplays, picture shows, flicks, or motion pictures, — is a field that encompasses motion pictures as an art form or as...

Character actor roles can range from bit parts to secondary leads. However, character actors often play supporting roles: characters who do not undergo a major change in the course of the movie, and whose role is less prominent than the leading actors'. A bit part is a supporting acting role with at least one line of dialogue. ... A leading actor, leading actress, or simply lead, plays the role of the protagonist in a film or play. ...

While some actors aspire to leading man or leading woman status, many notable actors have had enduring careers in less prominent, but important and memorable character parts. A frequent trait of character actors is that their names are not widely known yet their faces or voices are instantly recognizable to movie fans: Michael Ironside, Paul Henreid, Sydney Greenstreet, Jonathan Banks or Barry Fitzgerald are some examples. Michael Ironside screen shot Michael Ironside (born Fred Ironside February 12, 1950 in Toronto, Ontario) is a Canadian character actor. ... Henreid in Casablanca Paul Georg Julius Hernreid Ritter von Wassel-Waldingau, (January 10, 1908 - March 29, 1992), known professionally as Paul Henreid, was an actor and film director probably best known for his roles in Casablanca and Now, Voyager. ... Greenstreet in The Maltese Falcon Sydney Greenstreet (December 27, 1879 – January 18, 1954) was an actor, originally from Sandwich, England. ... Jonathan Banks was born on January 31, 1947 in Washington, D.C.. He is a character actor who has had some small roles and some big roles in film and in television. ... Barry Fitzgerald (March 10, 1888 – January 14, 1961) was an Irish actor. ...

Some character actors play essentially the same character over and over, as with Andy Devine's humorous but resourceful sidekick or Dennis Farina's tough cop/gangster. For the Emmerdale actor, see Andy Devine (actor). ... Dennis Farina as Detective Joe Fontana in Law & Order Donaldo Guglielmo Dennis Farina (born February 29, 1944 in Chicago, Illinois) is an Italian-American film and television actor, starring since 2004 as Detective Joe Fontana on NBCs Law & Order. ...

See stock character and commedia dell'arte for a discussion of related theatrical traditions. To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article may require cleanup. ... Karel Dujardins set his closely-observed scene of a travelling troupes makeshift stage against idealized ruins in the Roman Campagna: dated 1657 (Louvre Museum) Commedia dellarte (Italian: play of professional artists also interpreted as comedy of humors), also known as Extemporal Comedy, was a popular form of improvisational...

Reasons people become character actors

There are many reasons people might become character actors. Some of these reasons might be seen as unfair, arbitrary, biased or prejudiced. Actors may also simply seem better suited to character roles than to leading roles. Another fact worth noting is that while any film has a handful of leading roles, it may also require dozens of smaller supporting roles, and that there are arguably more oportunities for professional success as a character actor than as a movie star.

• Actors may find character work because they are seen as typecast (strongly identified with, or only suitable for certain types of roles), often due to an early success with a particular role or genre; J.T. Walsh crafted a career of playing villainous characters, and Steve Buscemi, who has made a career of playing witty, scheming characters.
• Character actors may lack some of the physical attributes associated with movie star: they may be regarded as too tall, too short, unattractive, overweight, or somehow lacking an ephemeral "star quality".
• Actors may be deemed too old or too young for leading roles (see ageism).
• Actors from marginalized or minority groups (such as certain ethnic or racial groups, women, or transsexuals) might be barred from roles for which they were otherwise suited.
• Actors from outside of the US may be famous in their own countries, but find their roles limited in the U.S. for any number of reasons (see Marcel Dalio, Cantinflas and Jet Li).
• Some character actors have distinctive voices or accents which limit their roles. Actors such as James Earl Jones, Selma Diamond and Julie Kavner have been able to turn this to their advantage, often in voice-over work.
• Sometimes character actors have developed careers because they had specific talents that are required in genre films, such as dancing, horsemanship or swimming ability.
• The stars of a movie that fails badly at the box office are often considered part of the reason it failed, and they may have trouble finding work later. Character actors are almost never blamed for these failures, and can continue to find work relatively easily.

For other meanings, see typecasting. ... J.T. Walsh (September 28, 1943–February 27, 1998) was an American actor best known for his roles as quietly sinister white-collar sleazeballs (quote from Leonard Maltin) in numerous feature films. ... Steven Vincent Buscemi (born December 13, 1957) is an American actor and film director. ... A movie star is a celebrity who is well known for his or her starring, or leading, roles in motion pictures. ... Manifestations Slavery · Racial profiling Hate speech · Hate crime Lynching · Gay bashing Genocide · Holocaust Ethnocide · Ethnic cleansing Pogrom · Race war Religious persecution Movements Discriminatory Aryanism · Neo-Nazism White/Black supremacy Hate groups · Kahanism Anti-discriminatory Abolitionism Womens/Universal suffrage Civil rights · Gay rights Childrens rights · Youth rights Policies Discriminatory... A transsexual (sometimes transexual) person establishes a permanent identity with the opposite gender to their assigned (usually at birth) sex. ... Marcel Dalio (17 July 1900 in Paris, France – 20 November 1983 in Paris) was a French character actor. ... Mario Moreno Reyes (August 12, 1911 – April 20, 1993) was a comedian of the Mexican theatre and film industry. ... Jet Li (born Li Lianjie on April 26, 1963 in Beijing, China) is a Chinese martial artist, actor and action star. ... James Earl Jones (b. ... Selma Diamond (August 5, 1920 - May 13, 1985) was a Canadian-born comedic actress and TV writer. ... Julie Deborah Kavner (born September 7, 1950) is an Emmy Award-winning American actress, best known for her role as Brenda Morgenstern on Rhoda in the 1970s, as an actress in several Woody Allen-directed films, and for providing the voice of Marge Simpson on the animated television show The... A voice-over is a narration that is played on top of a video segment, usually with the audio for that segment muted or lowered. ...

Crossover actors

Many character actors have gained star status or become widely known lead actors.

Examples include Robert DeNiro, Dustin Hoffman, Dennis Hopper, Gene Hackman, Kevin Spacey, Alan Arkin, Robert Duvall, Peter Lorre, Gene Wilder, John Malkovich, Ed Harris, Jack Black, Tom Hanks, Jack Nicholson, Don Cheadle, Sean Bean and Lynne Thigpen. Robert De Niro Robert De Niro, Jr. ... This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Dennis Hopper (born May 17, 1936) is an American actor and film-maker. ... Eugene Allen Hackman[1] (born January 30, 1930) is an acclaimed Academy Award-winning American actor. ... Kevin Spacey (born Kevin Spacey Fowler[1] on July 26, 1959) is a two-time Academy Award winning American actor (film and stage) and director. ... Alan Wolf Arkin (born March 26, 1934) is an Academy Award-winning American actor and director. ... Robert Selden Duvall (born January 5, 1931) is an Academy Award-winning American film actor and director. ... Peter Lorre, 1946, by Yousuf Karsh Peter Lorre (June 26, 1904 – March 23, 1964), born Ladislav (László) Löwenstein, was a stage and screen actor of Austrian descent especially known for playing roles with sinister overtones in Hollywood crime films and mysteries. ... Gene Wilder (born Jerome Silberman on June 11, 1933) is an American actor and comedian who has starred in more than thirty movies. ... John Gavin Malkovich (born December 9, 1953) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor, producer and director. ... Ed Harris as Richard Brown in The Hours Edward Allen Ed Harris (born November 28, 1950) is a four-time Academy Award-nominated American actor, director and producer. ... Jack Black (born Thomas J. Black, Jr. ... Thomas Tom Jeffrey Hanks (born July 9, 1956) is a two-time Academy Award-winning American film actor, Emmy winning director, voice-over artist and movie producer who starred in family-friendly and screwball comedies before achieving notable success as a dramatic actor in well written plum roles in Philadelphia... This article refers to the actor. ... Don Cheadle (November 29, 1964) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor. ... Shaun Mark Bean (born 17 April 1959) is an English film and stage actor. ... Lynne Thigpen Lynne Thigpen (December 22, 1948 – March 12, 2003) was an American actress. ...

Other character actors have developed a cult following with a particular audience as well, such as the fans of Star Trek, Doctor Who or The Rocky Horror Picture Show. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The current Star Trek franchise logo Star Trek is an American science fiction franchise. ... Doctor Who is a long-running British science fiction television programme (and 1996 television movie) produced by the BBC about the adventures of a mysterious time-traveller known as the Doctor, who explores time and space with his companions, solving problems and righting wrongs. ... The Rocky Horror Picture Show (RHPS) (first released in the United Kingdom on 14 August 1975) is a cult-science fiction-comedy-horror musical film directed by Jim Sharman from a screenplay by Sharman and Richard OBrien. ...

However, character actors are not limited to only seasoned performers, but also can refer to film directors who have either made the crossover to acting or worked in front of the camera before, such as John Huston, Sydney Pollack, Paul Mazursky, Mark Rydell and Tim Blake Nelson to name a few. The film director, on the right, gives last minute direction to the cast and crew, whilst filming a costume drama on location in London. ... John Marcellus Huston (August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director and actor. ... Sydney Pollack (born July 1, 1934 in Lafayette, Indiana) is an American actor, producer, and director. ... 00:46, 12 March 2007 (UTC)00:46, 12 March 2007 (UTC)~~Paul Mazursky (born April 25, 1930) is an American actor and film director. ... Mark Rydell (born March 23, 1934 in New York City) is an American actor, film director and producer. ... Tim Blake Nelson (born May 11, 1964 in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is an American character actor and film director. ...

Examples of character roles

• ethnic stereotype
• femme fatale
• gunslinger
• sidekick
• town drunk
• villain
• hooker with a heart of gold
• scene stealer
• neurotic
• best friend
• confidant

Ethnic stereotypes in popular culture, involve a stereotypical representation of the typical characteristics of a members of an ethnic group in music, literature, print media, film and the performing arts that is often false or over-simplified. ... This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ... Gunslinger from The Great Train Robbery Gunslinger, also gunfighter, is a name given to men in the American Old West who had gained a reputation as being dangerous with a gun. ... Don Quixote and Sancho Panza unsuccessfully confront windmills. ... The depraved inhabitants of a tavern, from a nineteenth century temperance play. ... One popular concept of the villain, meant to mimic the purposely distinctive visage of villains from silent films of the early 20th century. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... A scene stealer is a character in a film or dramatic performance who dominates the audiences attention, thus stealing the scene or stealing the show. The term is usually used of a supporting character, such a sidekick, best friend, confidant, villain, etc. ... A neurosis, in psychoanalytic theory, is an ineffectual coping strategy that Sigmund Freud suggested was caused by emotions from past experience overwhelming or interfering with present experience. ... A Best Friend is usually a chosen friend with whom one shares a deeper level of understanding, trust and affection than most others they are close to. ... The confidant character is usually someone the lead character confides in and trusts. ...

See also

• For a list of notable character actors, see List of character actors
• Category:Character actors
• List of fat actors