actor
(æktəʳ )
Word forms: actors
countable noun A2
An actor is someone whose job is acting in plays or films. 'Actor' in the singular usually refers to a man, but some women who act prefer to be called 'actors' rather than ' actresses'.
His father was an actor in the Cantonese Opera Company.
You have to be a very good actor to play that part.
Synonyms: performer, player, artiste, leading man or lady
Image of actor
© MANDY GODBEHEAR, Shutterstock
Quotations:
An actor's a guy who, if you ain't talking about him, ain't listening
Collocations:
actor performs actor plays amateur actor aspiring actor brilliant actor comedy actor comic actor direct an actor famous actor favourite actor feature an actor film actor gifted actor highest-paid actor hire an actor lead actor legendary actor live actor principal actor professional actor soap actor stage actor star actor superb actor talented actor terrific actor theatre actor unknown actor versatile actor veteran actor well-known actor wonderful actor young actor
If an actor performs on automatic pilot, it's not a great play.
The Times Literary Supplement
A performance may also describe the way in which an actor performs.
Retrieved from Wikipedia CC BY-SA 3.0
In this technique, the actor performs a physical motion or a series of physical activities to create the desired emotional response for the character.
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The actor plays an ex-pro who has fallen on hard times and coaches his son's football team.
The Sun
Other scandals focus on the contrast between the character an actor plays on screen with his or her messier private life.
Times, Sunday Times
The actor plays a family man who endures a spell of unemployment and then a morally compromising job.
Times, Sunday Times
A character exists irrespective of how an actor plays the role.
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When an actor plays opposite a puppet, she or he participates in the same process.
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He began his career as an amateur actor in theatrical circle.
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He began his connection with the theatre in 1852 as an amateur actor.
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I started well, was perceptive and hard-working, but gained most of my popularity as an amateur actor, he later remembered.
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He became an amateur actor, and graduated in 1932.
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During this time he was an amateur actor and writer.
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Things like training, travelling and accommodation costs and long, underpaid years spent in trying to make a breakthrough are the lot of the aspiring actor.
Times, Sunday Times
She dropped out of acting in the late 1980s for a dozen years until one day she accompanied her step-grandson, an aspiring actor, to visit an agent.
Times, Sunday Times
If you're a musician or an aspiring actor, that means you get to take part in masterclasses or special performances with outside specialists.
Times, Sunday Times
An aspiring actor was dispensing slices of watermelon from the kitchen counter.
Times, Sunday Times
The witness to his shady past was an aspiring actor, who was subsequently thrown out of the acting circuit.
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It wasn't just because she was a brilliant actor; she was also intelligent and very funny.
Times, Sunday Times
Brilliant actor, no doubting that, but all that whingeing about paying his taxes?
Times, Sunday Times
He was a brilliant actor, which helps, and he had one of those faces made of planes and angles that was made for the screen.
Times, Sunday Times
He's a brilliant actor as well.
The Sun
He's a brilliant actor too.
The Sun
Yesterday, actors and friends paid tribute to a 'wonderful comedy actor' who 'belonged to an age of elegance'.
Times, Sunday Times
The comedy actor played down his adventure ride in a cab.
Times, Sunday Times
There's only so much a comedy actor can do with the material.
The Sun
He was the first comedy actor to earn more money than the leading tragedians.
Times, Sunday Times
My favourite comedy actor in the world?
The Sun
They are egged on by a slightly sinister older character, a comic actor in a touring theatre company.
Times, Sunday Times
He's a terrific comic actor, but less convincing as a romantic lead — there's something subliminally creepy about him.
Times, Sunday Times
It takes a skilful comic actor to time such lines to get more than the expected amount of laughter.
Times, Sunday Times
Here lived a poet laureate (born 1878); and a much-loved comic actor, born 1915, who latterly had a great propensity for forgetting his lines.
Times, Sunday Times
The comic actor, reported to still be worth £15million, claims he has been trying to repair the financial damage for more than a decade.
The Sun
The same applies when directing actors in a motion capture studio, when they have to imagine their character's scenarios and props.
Times, Sunday Times
She has been reading how to direct actors.
Times, Sunday Times
Fox helped direct the actors' performances, but found that they did not need much guidance for their roles.
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She loved watching her father direct actors, loved her uncle's acting skills and was awed by their knowledge of literature and plays.
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As well as his numerous film projects, his work in many professional theatres as director and writer provided an invaluable insight into working with and directing actors.
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Reveal too much as a famous actor and you come across as undignified and needy.
Times, Sunday Times
But if we were born 100 years ago, you could be the most famous actor, and you wouldn't get all that.
Times, Sunday Times
Once, if you wanted a decent audience or, indeed a commission, for your one-off drama - what used to be called a play - you cast a famous actor as the lead.
Times, Sunday Times
Some famous actor or comedian guest stars on a show and completely destroys whatever balance the show has acquired.
Globe and Mail
The clan includes a prosperous entrepreneur, a famous actor and a lowlife mob boss.
Times, Sunday Times
Luck has the same name as a favourite actor.
The Sun
You feel an instant connection when you're introduced to a newcomer who looks like your favourite actor.
The Sun
Plays can come from images, people, ideas and books, a doodle of dialogue, a favourite actor, your experience and from all the fantastical corners of human imagination.
Times, Sunday Times
He's basically my favourite actor, ever.
Times, Sunday Times
I love watching my favourite actor - myself!
The Sun
The play, which he also wrote, features an actor complaining that he has sacrificed his ideals to record a voiceover for nappies.
Times, Sunday Times
First we have this one-off episode, which features the actors ad-libbing as the characters on their daily commute.
Times, Sunday Times
The video was a mock trailer for a film featuring the actors.
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Perhaps that occasionally glimpsed sourness comes from being a film actor whose life has been consumed by his profession.
Times, Sunday Times
Why should a film actor be allowed more licence from a sensitive public than a stand-up comedian?
The Sun
You can see how it might, for a film actor used to multiple takes.
Times, Sunday Times
Screenwriter, occasional film actor — and performer of electric live gigs.
Times, Sunday Times
Apparently, he fancies himself as a film actor when he's done with football.
The Sun
He will have to become a more gifted actor to pretend that he wants it.
Times, Sunday Times
With her wonderfully expressive face, she can convey in a glance what a less gifted actor would need several lines of dialogue to get across.
Times, Sunday Times
Yet another gifted actor boarded with my piano teacher a short walk away.
Globe and Mail
They are both incredibly kind, professional, delightful to work with, and gifted actors who always elevate the performances of anyone they share a scene with.
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We've seen six gifted actors challenged by playing facets of a complete man.
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His films have grossed more than £7.7billion at the box office, and led to him setting a world record for the highest-paid actor in 2012.
The Sun
The swift settlement will help the world's highest-paid actor to keep his career on track.
Times, Sunday Times
So the two highest-paid actors in the world, the stars of internationally famous box-office hits, are unknown to you?
Times, Sunday Times
You don't hire an actor of his portrayer's status unless you have something meaty for him to do.
Times, Sunday Times
He restarted a 1980s ruse of making paintings under a pseudonym, then hired an actor to play the fictitious artist.
Times, Sunday Times
Thus, to be liable for negligent hiring, supervision, retention, or training, a defendant must have been involved in hiring the actor or retaining that actor in its employ.
Christianity Today
Instead, they hired an actor.
Times, Sunday Times
It's the director who hires the actors, and they didn't have a director yet.
Globe and Mail
Here, his lead actor partially rights that wrong with a terrifying, bizarre display of greed and obsession, the final 'milkshake' scene ensuring his riotous victory.
Times, Sunday Times
Inexperienced audience members who clap when the lead actor steps on stage for the first time are also a source of irritation.
Times,Sunday Times
Not to be outdone, the 'lead actor' jumped out into the road too, right in the path of the scooter.
Times, Sunday Times
Indeed, there's a cheerfully iconoclastic streak running through each production, starting with the lead actor.
Times, Sunday Times
With reality being at the heart of the flick, it was essential to cast a nonglamourous lead actor.
The Sun
The legendary actor, 81, has starred in more than 100 films, which have grossed almost $6 billion at the box office.
Times, Sunday Times
But fans of the legendary actor could soon get a more hands-on experience, if he gets his way.
The Sun
It's hardly the way we should want to remember a legendary actor and director.
The Sun
Which legendary actor has recorded a heavy metal album to mark his 92nd birthday?
The Sun
It proved to be the last film for both legendary actors.
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Said names are website actor, live actor, website spokesperson, video spokesperson.
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In the early days, live actors would have to imagine their interactions with computer-generated characters.
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With live actors, immersive theatrical sets, spectacular special effects and jumps and screams around every corner, you will have a fa-boo-lous time!
The Sun
By the curtain we're cheering not just the live actors but also a stuffed parrot and an invisible fly.
Times, Sunday Times
It uses film projections and live actors who interact with classic movie musicals and features.
Times, Sunday Times
Outside of the principal actor, all actors in the sketch had a script which they more or less followed, depending on the improvisations.
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We are amused with the adventures, but care nothing for the principal actor in them.
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The film franchise has made 1.9 billion at the box office and its principal actors are multimillionaires.
Times, Sunday Times
I reassured her that the two principal actors were standing next to us.
Times, Sunday Times
Its principal actors are unknowns?
Times, Sunday Times
Most of all he knows about timing - even if the amateur author frequently forgets what the professional actor always insists on: the need to focus.
The Times Literary Supplement
He changed his forename when he decided to pursue a career as a professional actor.
Times, Sunday Times
Although he did not become a professional actor until the age of 28, he made up for it by working as a soap star until well into his eighties.
Times, Sunday Times
The legal suit goes on to describe her as 'a professional actor of good repute and standing'.
The Sun
He pointed to a poster behind him that featured his face and explained he was a professional actor.
Times, Sunday Times
The soap actor has swapped his skates for trainers after winning the show last month.
The Sun
A soap actor can put up with much.
Times, Sunday Times
It's a pity other soap actors don't speak as clearly so those of us that are hard of hearing can understand them.
The Sun
I wish soap actors would not be filmed while they are eating.
The Sun
They are some of our best-loved soap actors.
The Sun
Like a stage actor, rehearsed my lines over and over in head.
Times,Sunday Times
As a stage actor, he says, it used to annoy him that he could never watch himself.
Times, Sunday Times
He was also a regular stage actor who took on many leading roles in the theatre.
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He began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, before being cast in supporting roles in film and television.
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Before his film career he was a stage actor and operatic comedian.
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Or were they just waiting for their star actor to start their scene?
Times, Sunday Times
Repertory theatre generally involves a group of similarly accomplished actors, and relies more on the reputation of the group than on an individual star actor.
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West has been very outspoken over his displeasure about the influx of movie star actors providing voice-over for films and major shows.
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A constant dispute amongst associates in the movie producing company was whether to showcase star actors on their movie posters.
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After their return, they became star actors, and made an extensive and profitable tour.
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Here he reminds us what a superb actor he can be.
The Sun
Superb actors were reduced to ciphers, spouting the neatest of lines.
Times, Sunday Times
Yet thanks to their finely honed sense of timing, comedians often turn out to be superb actors.
The Sun
We have so many talented actor friends who aren't working as much as they should.
The Sun
He was a breathtakingly talented actor even then and it was always certain he was going to be a huge star.
The Sun
He's an extraordinarily talented actor who can seemingly turn his hand to anything.
Times, Sunday Times
It didn't surprise me that she became such a talented actor.
Times, Sunday Times
He's a very talented actor and comedian.
The Sun
He's not simply a terrific actor who happens to write.
Times, Sunday Times
It's nothing to do with his acting ability, he's a terrific actor.
Times, Sunday Times
He's a terrific actor because he's so free on stage.
Times, Sunday Times
He's a terrific actor too, but he can't, as yet, ensure a sold-out season 12 months before a show opens.
Times, Sunday Times
It takes terrific actors to play such lousy liars.
Times, Sunday Times
Millions more viewers are likely to know the television character than the theatre actor, so why wouldn't the television authorities prioritise the former?
Times, Sunday Times
I always wanted to be a theatre actor.
Times, Sunday Times
He's a star for a reason and this makes you want to see more of him as a theatre actor.
Times, Sunday Times
His fame as a cinema actor quickly goes beyond the one he had built as a theatre actor.
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It was decided early on that the show should feature new songs and real musical theatre actors.
Times, Sunday Times
However, he claimed the corporation would not commission a relatively unknown actor.
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These characters - all played by relatively unknown actors - will fetch up together and try to save the world from impending disaster.
Times, Sunday Times
And they cast local, mainly unknown actors who could speak the broad regional dialect.
Times,Sunday Times
Using a mockumentary approach, the film entwines fictional 'found footage' starring unknown actors around genuine shakycam recordings made by members of the public during real power cuts.
The Sun
But no one would agree to do it - so they had to use unknown actors instead.
The Sun
Right now you'd be hard pushed to find a more versatile actor plying his trade in Hollywood.
The Sun (2007)
He's a very versatile actor and very easy to photograph, too.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
What a versatile actor he is!
The Sun (2009)
But the versatile actor, who died of cancer, was so much more than a brilliant baddie.
The Sun (2016)
In a long career he proved himself to be a versatile actor equally at home playing romantic leads, gritty character parts, comic roles or cameos.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
Or, the veteran actor might have added, a speedboat.
Times,Sunday Times
I was described in a newspaper as 'the veteran actor' on set.
The Sun
He insisted that the problem was an occupational hazard for a veteran actor.
Times, Sunday Times
So what winds up the veteran actor?
The Sun
Just before rehearsals began for this theatrical spoof, the veteran actor pulled out of the show with what its producer called 'a last-minute change of heart'.
Times, Sunday Times
He paid in cash, and now they're waiting for the party invites from the well-known actor next door.
Times, Sunday Times
Another early ambition was for each episode to feature a guest star voiced by a well-known actor of the day.
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Each performance had a cameo appearance from either a well-known actor or an audience member.
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The actor campaigned aggressively for a role in the film but the studio wanted a well-known actor.
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He was a well-known actor of stage and screen in the 1980s and 1990s, having performed in over 50 movies and stage productions.
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He was my friend and the most wonderful actor.
The Sun
He looked out at me from the photograph, his cap jauntily worn, his face film-star handsome — indeed, he had been a fine and wonderful actor.
Times, Sunday Times
He's one of my idols, a wonderful actor.
The Sun
This was a misbegotten waste of a wonderful actor and a great county.
Times, Sunday Times
He was a wonderful actor and director and had a lovely family.
The Sun
The young actor has been told he can basically write his own cheque.
The Sun (2010)
I bet the young actor loves rolling out the line about coming back to see his magic wand.
The Sun (2008)
Was all the improvisation a good grounding for a young actor?
The Sun (2016)
Nowadays a young actor would expect to make that trip.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
Many an aspiring, red-blooded young actor might have considered that as the pinnacle of their careers.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Translations:
Chinese: 演员
Japanese: 男優
- dreadful
- dreadful conditions
- dreadful consequences
- dreadful disease
- dreadfully
- dreadful mistake
- dreadful news
- dreadful situation
- dreadful start
- dreadful thing
- dreadlocked
- dreadlocks
- dread the moment
- dread to think
- dream
- dream debut
- dream destination
- dreamer
- dream guest
- dreamily
- dream interpretation
- dreamland
- dreamless
- dreamless sleep
- dreamlike