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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Will it spend more on defence so it can once again be the independent security actor it once was?
From BBC • Apr. 29, 2026
As an actor, Chasing Horse was best known for his role as a young member of South Dakota's Sioux tribe in the Oscar-winning 1990 film Dances With Wolves.
From BBC • Apr. 28, 2026
But for Chinese regulators, "no matter the exact deal structure, sensitive AI technology seen as vital to China's national interests... has found its way into the hands of a major US tech actor".
From Barron's • Apr. 28, 2026
“My team and I want to know that when my voice or likeness is ever used, it’s because I approved and signed off on it,” the actor told the Wall Street Journal in January.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 28, 2026
On the ragged edge, a neat person had printed in blue ink, “P.A.” and the year the actor, dancer, or musician had graduated.
From "When I Was Puerto Rican" by Esmeralda Santiago
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.
