An actor or actress (see terminology) is a person who acts Acting is the work of an actor or actress, which is a person in theatre, television, film, or any other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a character and, usually, speaking or singing the written text or play. Most early sources in the West that examine the art of acting discuss it as part of rhetoric in a dramatic Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do" (Classical Greek: δράω, drao). The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a production and who works in film A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a story conveyed with moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects. The process of filmmaking has developed into an art form and industry, television Television is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic ("black and white") or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission. The word is derived from mixed Latin, theatre Theatre is a branch of the performing arts. While any performance may be considered theatre, as a performing art, it focuses almost exclusively on live performers creating a self contained drama. A performance qualifies as dramatic by creating a representational illusion. By this broad definition, theatre had existed since the dawn of man, as a, or radio The original inventors of radio, such as Nikola Tesla and Guglielmo Marconi, expected it to be used for one-on-one communication tasks where telephones and telegraphs could not be used because of the problems involved in stringing wires from one point to another, such as in ship-to-shore communications. Those inventors had no expectations whatever in that capacity.[1] The ancient Greek word for an "actor," ὑποκριτής (hypokrites), means literally "one who interprets";[2] in this sense, an actor is one who interprets a dramatic character A character is the representation of a person in a narrative or dramatic work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr (χαρακτήρ), the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of "a part played by an.[3]
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Terminology
The word actor refers to a person who acts regardless of gender, while actress refers specifically to a female person who acts; therefore a female can be referred to by either term. The Oxford English Dictionary The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is a dictionary of the English language. Two fully-bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. As of December 2008[update], the editors had completed one quarter of a third edition states that originally "actor" was used for both sexes. The English word actress does not derive from the Latin actrix, probably not even by way of French actrice; according to the Oxford English Dictionary, actress was "probably formed independently" in English. 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,[4][5] 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 gender-neutral term "player" was common in film in the early days of the Motion Picture Production Code with regards to the cinema of the United States The cinema of the United States has had a profound effect on cinema across the world since the early 20th century. Its history is sometimes separated into four main periods: the silent film era, classical Hollywood cinema, New Hollywood, and the contemporary period . Since the 1920s, the American film industry has grossed more money every year, but is now generally deemed archaic In language, an archaism is the use of a form of speech or writing that is no longer current. This can either be done deliberately (to achieve a specific effect) or as part of a specific jargon (for example in law) or formula (for example in religious contexts). Many nursery rhymes contain archaisms. Archaic elements that occur only in certain. However, it remains in use in the theatre, often incorporated into the name of a theatre group or company (such as the East West Players East West Players is an Asian American theatre organization in Los Angeles, founded in 1965. As one of the nation's first Asian American theatre organizations, East West Players today continues to produce works and educational programs that give voice to the Asian Pacific American experience).
History
Actors Jim Brochu Jim Brochu is an American actor, writer, director, and playwright. Born in Brooklyn, he studied at Carnegie-Mellon University and received his B.A. from St. Francis College. His stage debut was in a production of William Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew. A friend of Lucille Ball, he is known as the author of the unauthorized biography Lucy in the and Steve Schalchlin Steve Schalchlin is widely regarded as one of the first HIV/AIDS bloggers, beginning his in 1996 to keep family and friends updated on his failing health. When he responded well to a last ditch effort in treatment by his doctor, he found out that his little "AIDS blog" had garnered a net following. A respected songwriter, Steve put his performing in The Big Voice: God or Merman play.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 Greece (English: /ˈɡriːs/ ; Greek: Ελλάδα, Elláda, IPA: /eˈlaða/ ( listen); Ancient Greek: Ἑλλάς, Hellás, IPA: /helːás/), also known as Hellas and officially the Hellenic Republic (Ελληνική Δημοκρατία, Ellīnikī́ Dīmokratía, IPA: /eliniˈci ðimokraˈtia/), is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on performer Thespis Thespis of Icaria (6th century BC), according to certain Ancient Greek sources and especially Aristotle, was the first person ever to appear on stage as an actor playing a character in a play (instead of speaking as him or herself). In other sources, he is said to have introduced the first principal actor in addition to the chorus 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. Prior to Thespis' act, stories were only known to be told in song In music, a song is a composition that contains vocal parts that are performed ("sung"), commonly accompanied by musical instruments, exception in the case of a cappella songs. The lyrics of songs are typically of a poetic, rhyming nature, although they may be religious verses or free prose and dance and in third person The narrative mode is the set of methods the author of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical story uses to convey the plot to the audience. The collection of all narrative modes in order to construct a complete narrative is also called the narration (the process of creating the narrative); the terms are sometimes differentiated. It narrative. In honour of Thespis, actors are commonly called Thespians. Theatrical legend to this day maintains that Thespis exists as a mischievous spirit, and disasters in the theatre are sometimes blamed on his ghostly In folklore, fiction, philosophy, and popular culture, a ghost is the soul or spirit of a deceased person, taken to be capable of appearing in visible form or otherwise manifesting itself to the living. Descriptions of the apparition of ghosts vary widely: the mode of manifestation can range from an invisible presence to translucent or wispy intervention.
Actors were traditionally not people of high status, and in the Early Middle Ages The Early Middle Ages was the period of European history lasting from the 5th century to approximately 1000. The Early Middle Ages followed the collapse of the Western Roman Empire and preceded the High Middle Ages . The period saw a continuation of trends begun during the decline of the Roman Empire, including population decline, especially in travelling acting troupes were often viewed with distrust. In many parts of Europe, actors could not even receive a Christian burial, and traditional beliefs of the region and time period held that this left any actor forever condemned. However, this negative perception was largely reversed in the 19th and 20th centuries as acting has become an honoured and popular profession and art.[6]
Techniques
Method acting
Main article: Method acting Method acting is a phrase that loosely refers to a family of techniques by which actors try to create in themselves the thoughts and emotions of their characters in an effort to develop lifelike performances. It can be contrasted with more classical forms of acting, in which actors simulate thoughts and emotions through external means, such asMethod acting is a technique developed from the acting "system" Stanislavski's system is an approach to acting developed by Constantin Stanislavski, a Russian actor, director, and theatre administrator at the Moscow Art Theatre . The system is the result of Stanislavski's many years of efforts to determine how a human being can control in performance the most intangible and uncontrollable aspects of human created in the early 20th century Twentieth-century theatre describes a wide range of movements in the theatrical culture of the 20th century, including Naturalism, Realism, and Expressionism by Constantin Stanislavski Constantin Sergeyevich Stanislavski (17 January [O.S. 5 January] 1863 – 7 August 1938), was a Russian actor and theatre director. His innovative contribution to modern European and American realistic acting has remained at the core of mainstream western performance training for much of the last century. Building on the directorially-unified in his work at the Moscow Art Theatre The Moscow Art Theatre is a theatre company in Moscow that the seminal Russian theatre practitioner Constantin Stanislavski, together with the playwright and director Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, founded in 1897. It was conceived as a venue for naturalistic theatre, in contrast to the melodramas that were Russia's dominant form of theatre at the and its studios. The Group Theatre (New York) The Group Theatre was a New York City theater collective formed by Harold Clurman, Cheryl Crawford and Lee Strasberg in 1931. It was intended as a base for the kind of theater they and their colleagues believed in — a forceful, naturalistic and highly disciplined artistry. They were pioneers of what would become an "American acting first popularised the Method in the 1930s; it was subsequently advanced and developed in new directions by Lee Strasberg Lee Strasberg was an American actor, director and acting teacher. He cofounded, with directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed as "America's first true theatrical collective". In 1951, he became director of the non-profit Actors Studio, in New York City, considered "the nation's most at the Actors Studio The Actors' Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights at 432 West 44th Street in the Clinton neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded October 5, 1947 by Elia Kazan, Cheryl Crawford, Robert Lewis and Anna Sokolow who taught movement for actors that were members.. Lee Strasberg in the 1940s and 50s.[7] In Stanislavski's "system" the actor analyses deeply the motivations and emotions of the character in order to personify him or her with psychological realism and emotional authenticity. Using the Method, an actor recalls emotions or reactions from his or her own life and uses them to identify with the character being portrayed.
Method actors are often characterized as immersing themselves so totally in their characters that they continue to portray them even off-stage or off-camera for the duration of the project. However, this is a popular misconception. While some actors do employ this approach, it is generally not taught as part of the Method. Stella Adler Stella Adler was an American actress and an acclaimed acting teacher, who founded the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York City (1949) with a long time protege Joanne Linville who continues to teach and furthers Stella Adler's legacy. Her Grandson Tom Oppenheim now runs the school in New York, which boasts Alumni including Marlon Brando,, who was a member of the Group Theatre, along with Strasberg, emphasised a different approach of using creative imagination.[8]
Method acting offered a systematized training that developed internal abilities (sensory, psychological, emotional); it revolutionized American theater Theater of the United States is based in the Western tradition, mostly borrowed from the performance styles prevalent in Europe.[citation needed] Regional or resident theatres in the United States are professional theatre companies outside of New York City that produce their own seasons
Presentational and representational acting
Main article: Presentational acting and Representational acting ‘Presentational acting’ and the related ‘representational acting’ are critical terms used within theatre aesthetics and criticismPresentational acting refers to a relationship between actor and audience, whether by direct address or indirectly by specific use of language, looks, gestures or other signs In linguistics, semiotics, also called semiotic studies or semiology, is the study of sign processes , or signification and communication, signs and symbols. It is usually divided into the three following branches: indicating that the character or actor is aware of the audience's presence.[9] (Shakespeare's use of punning The pun, or paronomasia, is a form of word play which exploits numerous meanings of a statement, allowing it to be understood in multiple ways for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use and abuse of homophonic, homographic, metonymic, or metaphorical language. A pun must be deliberate —an and wordplay, for example, often has this function of indirect contact.)
In representational acting, "actors want to make us 'believe' they are the character; they pretend."[9] The illusion of the fourth wall with the audience as voyeurs is striven for.[10]
As opposite gender
In the past, only men could become actors in some societies. In the ancient Greece and Rome[11] and the medieval world The Middle Ages is a period of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The period followed the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, and preceded the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period in a three-period division of history: Classical, Medieval, and Modern. The term "Middle Ages" (medium aevum) was coined in, 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 Venice (Italian: Venezia [veˈnɛttsia] , Venetian: Venesia) is a city in northern Italy known both for tourism and for industry, and is the capital of the region Veneto, with a population of 271,367 (census estimate 1 January 2004). Together with Padua, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area (population 1,600,000). The name is it was broken. In the time of William Shakespeare William Shakespeare [a] was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon".[b] His surviving works, including some collaborations, consist of 38 plays,[c] 154 sonnets, two long narrative, women's roles were generally played by men or boys.[12]
When an eighteen year Puritan The Puritans were a significant grouping of English-speaking Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1559, as an activist movement within the Church of England. The designation "Puritan" is often prohibition of drama Restoration comedy refers to English comedies written and performed in the Restoration period from 1660 to 1710. After public stage performances had been banned for 18 years by the Puritan regime, the re-opening of the theatres in 1660 signalled a renaissance of English drama. Restoration comedy is notorious for its sexual explicitness, a quality was lifted after the English Restoration The Restoration of the monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the War of the Three Kingdoms. The term Restoration may apply both to the actual event by which the monarchy was restored, and to the period immediately following the event of 1660, women began to appear on stage in England. Margaret Hughes Margaret Hughes is often credited as the first professional actress on the English stage is credited by some as the first professional actress on the English stage.[13] This prohibition ended during the reign of Charles II Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland in part due to the fact that he enjoyed watching actresses on stage.[14] The first occurrence of the term actress was in 1700 according to the OED The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is a dictionary of the English language. Two fully-bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. As of 10 June 2010)[update], the editors had completed the third edition from M to rococoesque and is ascribed to Dryden John Dryden was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden. Walter Scott named him "Glorious John.".[5]
In Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south. The characters that make up Japan's name mean "sun-origin", which is why Japan is, men (onnagata Onnagata or oyama , are male actors who impersonate women in Japanese kabuki theatre. The modern all-male kabuki was originally known as yarō kabuki (man kabuki) to distinguish it from earlier forms. In the early 17th century, shortly after the emergence of the genre, many kabuki theaters had an all-female cast (onna kabuki), with women playing) took over the female roles in kabuki Kabuki is the highly stylized classical Japanese dance-drama. Kabuki theatre is known for the stylization of its drama and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. The individual kanji characters, from left to right, mean sing (歌), dance (舞), and skill (伎). Kabuki is therefore sometimes translated as "the art of singing theatre when women were banned from performing on stage during the Edo period The Edo period , or Tokugawa period (徳川時代, Tokugawa jidai?), is a division of Japanese history which was ruled by the shoguns of the Tokugawa family, running from 1603 to 1868. The political entity of this period was the Tokugawa shogunate. This convention has continued to the present. However, some forms of Chinese The Culture of China is one of the world's oldest and most complex cultures. The area in which the culture is dominant covers a large geographical region in eastern Asia with customs and traditions varying greatly between towns, cities and provinces drama have women playing all the roles.
In modern times, women sometimes play the roles of prepubescent boys. The stage role of Peter Pan Peter Pan is a character created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie . A mischievous boy who can fly and magically refuses to grow up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood adventuring on the small island of Neverland as the leader of his gang the Lost Boys, interacting with mermaids, Indians, fairies, and pirates, and from time, for example, is traditionally played by a woman, as are most principal boys In pantomime, a principal boy role is the young male protagonist of the play, traditionally played by a young actress in boy's clothes in British pantomime Pantomime , not to be confused with a mime artist, referring to a theatrical performer of mime, is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, Japan, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the Christmas and New Year season. The word derives. Opera has several "breeches roles" traditionally sung by women, usually mezzo-sopranos. Examples are Hansel in Hänsel und Gretel, Cherubino in The Marriage of Figaro and Octavian in Der Rosenkavalier.
Women in male roles are uncommon in film with the notable exception of the film The Year of Living Dangerously. In this film Linda Hunt played the pivotal role of Billy Kwan. She received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance.
Having an actor dress as 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 overt cross-dressing, such as Francis Flute in A Midsummer Night's Dream. The movie A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum stars Jack Gilford dressing as a young bride. Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon famously posed as women to escape gangsters in the Billy Wilder film Some Like It Hot. Cross-dressing for comic effect was a frequently used device in most of the thirty Carry On films. Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams have each appeared in a hit comedy film (Tootsie and Mrs. Doubtfire, respectively) in which they played most scenes dressed as a woman.
Occasionally the issue is further complicated, for example, by a woman playing a woman acting as a man pretending to be a woman, like Julie Andrews in Victor/Victoria, or Gwyneth Paltrow in Shakespeare in Love. In It's Pat: The Movie, filmwatchers never learn the gender of the androgynous main characters Pat and Chris (played by Julia Sweeney and Dave Foley).
A few roles in modern films, plays and musicals are played by a member of the opposite sex (rather than a character cross-dressing), such as the character Edna Turnblad in Hairspray—played by Divine in the original film, Harvey Fierstein in the Broadway musical, and John Travolta in the 2007 movie musical. Linda Hunt won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for playing Billy Kwan in The Year of Living Dangerously. Felicity Huffman was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for playing Bree Osbourne (a man in the process of becoming a woman) in Transamerica.
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Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:09:55 GMT+00:00
USA Today The precedent for wrestlers becoming actors was established with former World Wrestling Entertainment superstar Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, who has gone on ...
Mon, 08 Oct 2007 13:21:40 PDT
Voice Actors From Avatar: The Last Airbender. *This Is Probably From The Earlier Chapters So Toph And Some New Characters Aren't included ... youtube.com.
Chris Heller
ue, 07 Sep 2010 21:16:08 GM
So, he signed an agent, auditioned for parts and just like that became an . actor. . (Of the 10 gigs he's landed so far, Ross's credits include a patient for a Red Cross video and a parolee for a Justice Department training video.) ...
