Life of an Actor

An actor or an actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production expressing ideas and create images in theater, film, radio, television, and other performing arts media. They interpret a writer’s script to entertain, inform, or instruct an audience. The word actor refers to a person who acts regardless of sex, while actress refers specifically to a female person who acts; therefore a female can be/are referred to by either term.


As actress is a specifically feminine word, some groups assert that the word is sexist. Gender-neutral usage of actor has re-emerged in modern English, especially when referring to male and female performers collectively, but actress remains the common term used in major acting awards given to female recipients and is common in general usage.


The first recorded case of an actor performing took place in 534 BC (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 known person to speak words as a character in a play or story. Actors were traditionally not people of high status, and in the early middle ages travelling acting troupes were often viewed with distrust.


Significant Points:

  • Actors endure long periods of unemployment, intense competition for roles, and frequent rejections in auditions.
  • Formal training through a university or acting conservatory is typical; however, many actors, producers, and directors find work on the basis of their experience and talent alone.
  • Because earnings for actors are erratic, many supplement their incomes by holding jobs in other fields.

Most actors struggle to find steady work; only a few ever achieve recognition as stars. Some well-known, experienced performers may be cast in supporting roles. Others work as �extras,� with no lines to deliver, or make brief, cameo appearances, speaking only one or two lines. Some actors do voiceover and narration work for advertisements, animated features, books on tape, and other electronic media, including computer games.