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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British actor Anthony Head, whose decades-long acting career includes roles in ‘Ted Lasso’ and ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer,’ has died.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 11, 2026
The writer, actor, podcaster and aspiring ‘Prince of Christmas’ does brunch, goes for a solo hike, orders Postmates and catches up on the ‘Real Housewives.’
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 11, 2026
She didn't write her first true love song until 2024: So American – a punchy new wave cut, about falling head over heels for English actor Louis Partridge.
From BBC • Jun. 10, 2026
Fashioning your lead actor as a totem to project your thoughts about apathy and loneliness would be a risky move for anyone other than writer-director Amanda Kramer, who’s made a career out of brazen chicness.
From Salon • Jun. 10, 2026
“Has Liyana ever told you about when I met the actor Omar Sharif?”
From "Habibi" by Naomi Shihab Nye
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.
