a person who acts in stage plays, motion pictures, television broadcasts, etc.
a person who does something; participant.
a person who acts in a play, film, broadcast, etc
informal a person who puts on a false manner in order to deceive others (often in the phrase bad actor )
The term actor is almost universally used nowadays to refer to people of either gender who act
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin āctor, equivalent to āg- ( see act) + -tor -tor
If you act in a play, whether it's written by Shakespeare or your little brother, you can call yourself an actor. Some actors make films, and others are on TV. Traditionally, the noun actor referred to a male performer, while actress was used to describe a female. These days, it's become more common to use actor for players of any gender. You can also use the word to describe someone who participates in some action, or makes things happen in a particular area: "She was a real actor in the labor movement." In Latin, actor means both "doer" and "theatrical player."
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Ahead of Saturday's awards ceremony, AFP brings you some of the chicest and craziest looks, and also the actor who brought a bit of grit to the glamour.
From Barron's • May 22, 2026
“But we’re so tired of it,” a 79-year old actor explained to me.
From Salon • May 22, 2026
You know him as the actor Gene Wilder.
From Los Angeles Times • May 22, 2026
The 33-year-old model and actor had been married for just five months to lawyer Samarth Singh when she was found dead in her matrimonial home.
From BBC • May 21, 2026
An actor noticed that Koch had used a British line from Wells’s story about hiding in the drains.
From "Spooked!" by Gail Jarrow
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
