Definition of 'actor'

Word Frequency

actor

(æktər )

Word forms: actors

countable noun

An actor is someone whose job is acting in plays or films. 'Actor' in the singular usually refers to a man, but some women who act prefer to be called 'actors' rather than 'actresses.'

His father was an actor in the Cantonese Opera Company.

Image of 'actor'

Video: pronunciation of 'actor'

Word Frequency

actor in American

(ˈæktər ; akˈtər)

noun

a person who does something or participates in something

a person, often, specif., a man, who acts in plays, movies, etc.

Word origin of 'actor'

ME actour, a doer, steward, plaintiff < L actor, a doer, advocate < actus: see act1

Word Frequency

actor in British

(ˈæktə )

noun

a person who acts in a play, film, broadcast, etc

2. informal

a person who puts on a false manner in order to deceive others (often in the phrase bad actor)

▶ USAGE The term actor is now almost universally used to refer to people of any gender who act

Example sentences containing 'actor'

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An actor played the victim in the police reconstruction. The Sun (2016)The council is asking the public to call police if they see actors taking part in such films. Times, Sunday Times (2016)Back for the next act of a drama where the audience plays almost as big a part as the actors. The Sun (2016)He's also a pretty good actor! The Sun (2016)At the end of the play, the actor is obsessed by his legacy. Times, Sunday Times (2016)In doing so, he provides two thumping great parts for actors. Times, Sunday Times (2016)We try to sift out those who come for the wrong reasons but if you're a good actor you can get through. The Sun (2016)The implication there is that an English play needs white actors, which is problematic. Times, Sunday Times (2017)You have to be a good actor, a good painter, a good musician. Times, Sunday Times (2016)Also I couldn't sing and quite often actors have to sing. Times, Sunday Times (2016)Why did you become an actor rather than a singer? The Sun (2014)He is a great actor and father. The Sun (2006)Now imagine that most of the actors are pretty bad. Times, Sunday Times (2009)Maybe he is practising for his new job as an actor. The Sun (2015)We know they are actors playing a part for the artist to film. Claudia Hammond EMOTIONAL ROLLERCOASTER: A Journey Through the Science of Feelings (2005)What if it was an actor whose films you detested? Times, Sunday Times (2006)Is he the most accomplished actor or a man who knows he has got it right? Times, Sunday Times (2016)Her parents were actors and often out of work. Times, Sunday Times (2007)The model of the actor combines two rather different senses of rationality. Hindess, Barry Choice, Rationality, and Social Theory (1988)But would she have preferred him to be a classical actor like his father? Times, Sunday Times (2012)Horror stories of actors finding the job spec harder than they bargained for are legion. Times, Sunday Times (2014)The characters are so believable and all the actors play their parts to the max. The Sun (2014)The most contact the rest of us had with naked actors was filming the summer solstice scenes. The Sun (2012)As a man and an actor. Times, Sunday Times (2015)My one condition is that none of the actors who play in my Sunday cricket team succumbs. Times, Sunday Times (2008)Having the four other actors play something like 30 different roles adds to the vertigo. Times, Sunday Times (2007)It's not that either actor is bad here. The Sun (2008)And the actors all played up to it, like foie gras geese at teatime. Times, Sunday Times (2014)The actors often completely rewrote the scripts, he said. Times, Sunday Times (2012)The actor's job is to play the multiple meanings. Times, Sunday Times (2007)Her father was an actor. Times, Sunday Times (2013)Generally played by bad actors. The Sun (2009)I watched it, and he's a breathtakingly good actor whose stage presence is intense and enormous. Times, Sunday Times (2013)