Actor
An actor is a person who acts, or has a role (a part) in a movie, television show, play, or radio show. Sometimes actors only sing or dance, or sometimes they only work on radio. A woman actor is also an actress, but today most people use the word "actor" for both men and women.
History.
The first time we know an actor worked was in 534 B.C., probably on November 23rd. The changes in calendar over the years make it hard to say exactly when the Greek actor Thespis became the first person to speak words as a character in a play at the "Theatre Dionysus". This was a big change in storytelling. Before then, people sang and danced stories, but no-one had been a person in the story. Today we call actors "thespians" because of Thespis.
Naming.
In the past, the name "actor" was only for men. Women only began performing often in the 17th century. When they began, people called them the "actresses". In the ancient world and in the Middle Ages, people thought it was bad (shameful) for a woman to act. People thought this until the 17th century. In the time of William Shakespeare, men and boys played women's roles, but we think perhaps women also acted secretly.
Today, the name "actor" is for both men and women, because some people think the name "actress" is sexist. But people also use the name "actress" very often.
Actresses in men's roles.
Women actors sometimes act the roles of young boys, because in some ways a woman is more similar to a boy than a man is. A woman usually plays the role of Peter Pan, for example. In pantomime, a sort of play for children (not the same as mime), the most important young man is also a woman. Opera has some 'pants roles' which women traditionally sing, usually mezzo-sopranos. Examples are "Hansel" in "Hansel und Gretel", and "Cherubino" in "The Marriage of 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.
In comic theatre and film, people often use a man for a woman's part, or a woman for a man's part - this has a long history. Most of Shakespeare's comedies have examples of this. Both Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams were in popular comedy films where they played most scenes as men in women's clothes, pretending to be women.
Voice acting.
Voice acting is a special type of acting. It is most commonly used in animation for both television and movies. Voice actors are the people who make the voices for the characters. They may also create the voices used for narration in non-animated works.
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