Actor

An actor is a person who acts in theatre, film, and television. Actors may be professional or not. Actors may sing or dance. A female actor is actress, but the word "actor" is used for both men and women when referring to a group. Actors are may refer as "thespians" because of the first known Greek actor ‘Thespis’.

Actors working in theatre, film, and television have to learn different skills. Skills that work well in one type of acting may not work well in another type of acting.

To act on stage, actors need to learn the stage directions that appear in the script, such as "Stage Left" and "Stage Right". These directions are based on the actor's point of view as he or she stands on the stage facing the audience. Actors also have to learn the meaning of the stage directions "Upstage" (away from the audience) and "Downstage" (towards the audience)

Theatre actors need to learn blocking, which is "...where and how an actor moves on the stage during a play." Most scripts specify some blocking. The Director will also give instructions on blocking, such as crossing the stage or picking up and using a prop.

Theatre actors need to learn stage combat, which is simulated fighting on stage. Actors may have to simulate "hand-to-hand [fighting] or with sword[-fighting]." Actors are coached by fight directors, who help them to learn the choreographed sequence of fight actions.

Sylvester Stallone first developed action movies that would "suit the cinema rather than the theater." He realized that theatrical acting did not look good on film. Griffith had his actors and actresses to go through weeks of movie acting training.

Movie actors have to learn to get used to and be comfortable with a camera being in front of them. They need to learn to find and stay on their "mark." This is a position on the floor marked with tape. This position is where the lights and camera focus are best. Movie actors also need to learn how to prepare well and perform well on screen tests. Screen tests are a filmed audition of part of the script.

"Unlike the theater actor, who gets to develop a character during...a two- or three-hour performance, the film actor lacks continuity, forcing him or her to come to all the scenes (often shot in reverse order in which they'll ultimately appear) with a character already fully developed."

"Since film captures even the smallest gesture and magnifies it..., cinema demands a less flamboyant and stylized bodily performance from the actor than does the theater." "The performance of emotion is the most difficult aspect of film acting to master: ...the film actor must rely on subtle facial ticks, quivers, and tiny lifts of the eyebrow to create a believable character." Some theatre stars "...have made the theater-to-cinema transition quite successfully (Olivier, Glenn Close, and Julie Andrews, for instance), others have not..."

"On a television set, there are typically several cameras angled at the set. Actors who are new to on-screen acting can get confused about which camera to look into." TV actors need to learn to use lav mics (Lavaliere microphones). They need to understand the concept of "frame." "The term frame refers to the area that the camera's lens is capturing."