actor
/ˈæktɝ/
nounsomeone whose job involves performing in movies, plays, or series
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Examples
1. Movies are usually labeled as the work of the actors or director.
2. Appropriate actions include warning, suspending or terminating a bad actor's account.
3. Joke-busters Before the cameras roll, actors carefully memorize their lines.
4. Actors performed a show.
5. In the classical world, actors wore masks.
actress
/ˈæktɹəs/
nouna woman whose job involves performing in movies, plays, or series
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Examples
1. The actress announced her departure from the series with an Instagram post on May 26, 2021.
2. The actress got positive feedback from both Bollywood bigwigs and critics alike.
3. A good example of this type of Gemini was actress Marilyn Monroe.
4. In October 2017, the actress welcomed her first child with husband Preston J. Cook.
5. This person is an actress.
double
/ˈdəbəɫ/
nounsomeone who takes part in a movie in order to replace the real actor while the nude or dangerous scenes are recorded
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Examples
1. The first half of the 20th century saw the world’s population almost double.
2. Unemployment nearly doubled.
3. In just three years, nurse vacancies nearly doubled.
4. Doubling the amount of chocolate lessens the amount of batter per cookie.
5. The sprawl version of California almost doubles the urban physical footprint.
ensemble cast
/ɑːnsˈɑːmbəl kˈæst/
nouna group of actors who share roughly equal screen time and importance in a movie
Examples
character actor
/kˈæɹɪktɚɹ ˈæktɚ/
nounan actor who always plays the role of a bizarre or outlandish character rather than a main role
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Examples
1. I'm a character actor.
2. He is an amazing character actor.
3. Just some character actor playing Carl Jr.
4. He's a character actor.
5. And celebrated character actor Ray Walston.
leading man
/lˈiːdɪŋ mˈæn/
nounactor who plays the leading male role
Examples
leading lady
/lˈiːdɪŋ lˈeɪdi/
nounan actress who plays the main role in a movie or play
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Examples
1. The leading lady of the movie, Greta Nissen, was cut because of her strong Norwegian accent and Carpenter stepped into the role.
2. But if more sequels are on the way, the series' leading lady won't be coming along.
3. She's not just like, a leading lady romantic interest.
4. We found our two leading ladies early on.
5. Are you a leading lady?
ham
/ˈhæm/
nounan actor with an exaggerated theatrical style
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Examples
1. Just hams.
2. Going ham? -
3. Where's the rum ham?
4. Ham dinner kind of sounds yummy.
5. You guys went ham.
lead
/ˈɫɛd/, /ˈɫid/
nounan actor who plays the main role in a play or movie
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Examples
1. A culinary choice in South China led to a fatal infection in Hong Kong, subsequently 8,000 cases of SARS, nearly 1,000 deaths, 30 countries, six continents.
2. My ego is leading the way.
3. The royal always leads the way.
4. Lead your partner.
5. - Lead the conversation.
supporting actor
/səpˈoːɹɾɪŋ ˈæktɚ/
nounan actor who plays a secondary character in a film or television show, often providing support or context to the main plot or protagonist
Examples
voice actor
/vˈɔɪs ˈæktɚ/
nouna performer who provides voices for animated films, TV shows, video games, commercials, audiobooks, and other media where speaking voices are needed
Examples
bit part
/bˈɪt pˈɑːɹt/
nouna minor role in a movie or play
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Examples
1. So, a bit part of the problem is that not all of the water on Earth is usable.
2. Kirsch began his TV career with bit parts on a variety of shows throughout the early '90s.
3. They're all like little bit parts.
4. Just focus on the bacon bit part.
5. Stockard Channing had a bit part as Cynthia, the old college friend of the film's main stars.
stand-in
/stˈændˈɪn/
nouna person who replaces someone else briefly in doing their job while they are not available
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Examples
1. Like here, vague language provides a stand-in for detailed testimony.
2. So this is a stand-in.
3. This is a stand-in for some other arbitrary goal.
4. During this period, beep speech was usually a stand-in for a real language.
5. Stories are stand-ins for our own fraught-filled lives.
star
/ˈstɑɹ/
nounthe chief actor or performer in a motion picture, play, TV or radio program, etc.
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Examples
1. If you don't know what Hush is, it is a movie that came out on Netflix and it stars Kate Siegel.
2. We are as much the universe as a neutron star or a black hole or a nebula.
3. Star jumps.
4. Star jumps.
5. Star jumps.
starlet
/ˈstɑɹɫət/
nouna young and promising female actor who is coached and publicized in order to become a star
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Examples
1. So most starlets, that's not their real name.
2. She's just a pretty Hollywood starlet.
3. In January 2005, the Hollywood starlet met country music superstar Kenny Chesney.
4. My first impression of Damon Wayans Jr., was starlet, just a true Hollywood starlet.
5. My first impression of Damon Wayans Jr., was starlet, just a true Hollywood starlet.
tragedian
/tɹædʒˈiːdiən/
nounan actor who takes part in performing a role in a tragedy
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Examples
1. Because he felt that in the hands of a great tragedian, like Sophocles or Euripides, a story can be told in such a way that rather than calling the guy who has murdered his family a weirdo, or a nut case, or et cetera, you start to see something very, very frightening indeed.
2. I would not want to be known as a comedy star or only a tragedian.
3. The next event that we hear about in Athens that's relevant to our story is that in the year 493, the Athenian tragedian Phrynicus presents his play called, The Capture of Miletus.
4. If he had been slender and well made he would have been the first tragedian on any stage.
5. Milton invokes a tragedian, Gregory Nazianzen, Gregory Nazianzen who was able to finish a tragedy: Gregory Nazianzen, a Father of the Church, thought it not unbeseeming the sanctity of his person to write a Tragedy, which he entitl'd Christ Suffering.
understudy
/ˈəndɝˌstədi/
nounan actor who practices the lines of another actor in order to replace them if necessary
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Examples
1. She played understudy and apprentice to legendary point guard Teresa Weatherspoon.
2. Now do you have your understudy?
3. You are my understudy?
4. Are you my understudy?
5. - Are you my understudy?
walk-on
/ˈwɔˌkɑn/
nouna small, non-speaking role played by an actor who appears briefly on screen, often as a background character or extra
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Examples
1. No, she does not need walk-on music.
2. well I'm just a walk-on here if I knew how to do it what I can do is pull the microphones closer I think that's it
3. This guy named Brian Rohleder he was the sophomore walk-on for Kansas State.
4. We can do a walk-on.
5. A walk-on is like-- you have a puppy mill.
acting coach
/ˈæktɪŋ kˈoʊtʃ/
nouna professional who trains actors to improve their performance skills and technique
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Examples
1. He's a very good Acting Coach.
bad guy
/bˈæd ɡˈaɪ/
nouna character in a story or film who is portrayed as an antagonist or villain
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Examples
1. The Blue Morpho is a Bad Guy!
2. I got the Bad Guy!
3. -So, the song that you'll be singing tonight is "Bad Guy."
4. Bad Guy by Billie Eilish, Come on Eileen, or I Wanna to Dance with Somebody by Whitney Houston.
5. I really love Billie Eilish and I love Bad Guy. -
cameo
/ˈkæmiˌoʊ/
nouna minor role that is played by a well-known actor
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Examples
1. Knock knock, Houston, we have a cameo.
2. You have a cameo.
3. Susan Sarandon's cameo is the final scene in the movie.
4. My children have their cameo.
5. They make a cameo.
co-star
/kˈoʊstˈɑːɹ/
nouna leading actor or actress who takes part in a movie, play, etc.
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Examples
1. Harden needed a co-star.
2. Her co-stars include Tyler Posey, Jamie Chung, Rachel House, and Joseph Fiennes.
3. In June 2019, co-star Alan Cumming essentially confirmed the beef to Us Weekly.
4. She also praised her co-star and director, the legendary Denzel Washington.
5. Now you famously married your co-star.
extra
/ˈɛkstɹə/
nounsomeone who plays a very small part in a movie, usually as a part of a crowd
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Examples
1. This one came out extra large. -
2. Now, extras are paid about $90 for a 12-hour day.
3. Luckily, we got extras.
4. Only my enthusiasm for the guac is extra.
5. You guys are so extra.
good guy
/ɡˈʊd ɡˈaɪ/
nouna protagonist or a heroic character in a story or film who embodies positive traits and intentions
Examples
part
/ˈpɑɹt/
nounthe specific role given to an actor
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Examples
1. This is in large part, due to home equity being bequeathed from one generation to the next.
2. The first part of her trip was tough.
3. Life in Poland was tough during the latter part of the 19th century.
4. Pollen is moved from the male part of a flower to the female part of a flower, then fertilisation can happen causing fruit to grow.
5. Pollen is moved from the male part of a flower to the female part of a flower, then fertilisation can happen causing fruit to grow.
role
/ˈɹoʊɫ/
nounthe part or character that an actor plays in a movie or play
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Examples
1. The three other brothers, Carlo, Bindo, and Mario also played roles.
2. Gavin's career also featured roles in Imitation of Life, Spartacus, and Fantasy Island.
3. So without further ado, role the tape.
4. Role the tape.
5. So the sun is playing a role.
starring role
/stˈɑːɹɪŋ ɹˈoʊl/
nouna lead or main role played by an actor in a film or a theatrical production
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Examples
1. In fact only one LATINA will even be competing,Ly Aeks is ble DELL for her guest Starring Role in a Handmaid 'S Tale.
2. The PRESIDENT has cast himself in the Starring Role of the BLAMELESS victim of a DEADLY pandemic, of a stalled economy, of Deep Seated Racial Unrest, all of which happened to HIM rather than the COUNTRY.
3. If you look at Eric Swalwell On the Judiciary Committee, jeffries, there are individuals who are former prosecutors and who are part of PELOSI's Leadership Team that want to play a Starring Role in THIS, if you will.
title role
/tˈaɪɾəl ɹˈoʊl/
nounthe role of the character after whom the play is named
Examples
villain
/ˈvɪɫən/
nounthe main bad character in a movie, story, play, etc.
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Examples
1. Villains go first.
2. - Villains have the corner.
3. Villains are feminine.
4. -What villains do?
5. Hero conquerors villain.
line
/ˈɫaɪn/
nounthe words recited by an actor in a play or movie
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Examples
1. Some people wait in line for hours for their favorite rides.
2. These are the border cells of your body, lining your organs and mucosa waiting to be infected.
3. But if delta x got a little bit smaller, then the secant line would look like that.
4. Line the baking sheet with aluminum foil.
5. Line the ramekin with plastic wrap.
cue
/ˈkju/
nouna few words or actions that hint another performer to say a line or do something
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Examples
1. Cue the rain!
2. Cue the outro montage.
3. Cue the llamas.
4. Cue the waterworks!
5. Cue your anxiety and guilt.
prompt
/ˈpɹɑmpt/
nouna word or phrase that an actor says to signal another actor to begin acting or say a line
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Examples
1. Vince's distance from these decisions prompted trade rumors.
2. The demonstrations are prompting heated debates.
3. Our fifth on the list is prompted choice.
4. The fall of Galilee to Vespasian’s legionaries prompted more internal strife among the Jewish factions.
5. At the same time, in Great Britain the war also prompted a crisis of leadership.
stage direction
/stˈeɪdʒ dɚɹˈɛkʃən/
nouna text in the script of a play, giving an instruction regarding the movement, position, etc. of actors
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Examples
1. He was also big on speaking stage directions out loud.
2. And there are stage directions that I'm going to read.
3. Baby Dil's lines are all for the most part in the beginning in the stage directions.
4. In the script, it's like one line of stage direction.
5. That's a stage direction.
casting
/ˈkæstɪŋ/
nounthe process of assigning roles and parts to actors or performers in a movie, play, etc.
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Examples
1. -They're central casting.
2. Casting is a key ingredient in the secret sauce of great filmmaking.
3. You talk central casting.
4. Casting is officially closed!
5. Good casting can bring a script to life.
screen test
/skɹˈiːn tˈɛst/
nouna session of audition during which the actor is recorded in order to be assessed for a role
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Examples
1. So it was into screen test time
2. It passes the window dragging around the screen test with flying colors.
3. We actually met doing a screen test for Zorro in the future.
4. The young star was later called out for a screen test in Los Angeles.
5. Your first kiss was in a screen test for a job you were doing.
act
/ˈækt/
nouna main part of a play, opera, or ballet
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Examples
1. So the first guy is acting as the interpreter, and, first of all, he's not even really a professional interpreter.
2. Because the aid and oil or mineral money acts the same way.
3. - No, act your age!
4. This means act immediately.
5. - Acting.
baddy
/bˈædi/
nounan evil character in fiction or a motion picture
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Examples
1. The wrestler-type baddy is an action game trope that lives on to this day.
2. And then I go for a little blue baddy. -
3. I subtract four for baddy cubes, but add five.
4. This is just the baddy version of you.
5. Maya turns into an Insta baddy.
aside
/əˈsaɪd/
nounan actor's line that is told to the audience but the other characters on the stage are not intended to hear
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Examples
1. - Terrible puns aside, the speakers are pretty solid here.
2. Devils aside, what causes this blood red water?
3. All jokes aside, change is good.
4. All jokes aside, squats do have some major benefits.
5. Throw your integrity aside.
protagonist
/pɹoʊˈtæɡənəst/
nounthe main character in a movie, novel, TV show, etc.
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Examples
1. Today’s protagonist is universally recognised as one of the greatest science fiction writers in the history of literature.
2. Today’s protagonist was an Olympics-level horse rider, a ladies’ man, a cavalry officer of three wars, a guerrilla fighter, and a secret agent.
3. Today’s protagonist is one of them.
4. And the protagonist, the key person in the case, again, has to make a decision with some uncertain information.
5. The protagonist is no hero by conventional literary standards.
dialogue
/ˈdaɪəˌɫɔɡ/
nouna written or spoken line that is spoken by a character in a play, movie, book, or other work of fiction
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Examples
1. We need dialogue.
2. He loved dialogue.
3. Does dialogue make a difference?
4. I balked dialogue.
5. Develop a dialogue.
exit
/ˈɛɡzɪt/, /ˈɛksət/
nounan act of departure from the stage by an actor
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Examples
1. The flavor has exited the building.
2. Three Democratic candidates in three days have exited the Democratic race for president.
3. So exit the rock star.
4. One individual must exit the room.
5. The vehicle is exiting a highway?
goody
/ˈɡʊdi/
nounsomeone who is morally good, especially a character in a movie, play or book
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Examples
1. - Grab your goodies.
2. My weasel holds lots of goodies!
3. Goody bags, oh my god.
4. - Goody boog.
5. Oh, goody, here's my shot.
hero
/ˈhiɹoʊ/, /ˈhɪɹoʊ/
nounthe main male character in a story, book, movie, etc., often known for his bravery and other great qualities
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Examples
1. The asylum seekers are arriving heroes.
2. And heroes save the day.
3. The world will always need heroes.
4. - Heroes wear hoodies.
5. Are heroes.
heroine
/ˈhɛɹoʊən/
nounthe main female character in a story, book, film, etc., typically known for great qualities
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Examples
1. These headstrong heroines provide an entertaining anchor for their tumultuous romantic narratives.
2. So, I write, 'Heroine.'
3. You're just doing heroine?
4. But here in Germany, my heroine is Frau Merkel.
5. In the book series, the heroine is especially full of piercings.
love interest
/lˈʌv ˈɪntɹəst/
nouna person who is romantically or emotionally involved with another person, often a central character in a story or narrative
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Examples
1. To sort of be a love interest to Carrie.
2. You played Joey's love interest in an episode of Friends.
3. I play Blake Lively's husband, Anna Kendrick's love interest.
4. There's no white woman love interest.
5. Where's Ryan's love interest?
soliloquy
/səˈɫɪɫəkwi/
nouna speech that a character in a dramatic play gives in the form of a monologue as a series of inner reflections spoken out loud
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Examples
1. I'm writing a, I'm writing a little soliloquy here.
2. - Soliloquy, I guess?
3. It's called "FF's Soliloquy."
4. It is the soliloquy of a beholding and jubilant soul.
5. And I did that with the Hamlet soliloquy.
superhero
/ˌsupɝˈhiɹoʊ/
nouna fictional character with special and strange powers
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Examples
1. Superheroes are outlawed.
2. Superhero: Aw, come on!
3. The world still needs superheroes
4. Superheroes help other people.
5. Superheroes wear this.
character
/ˈkɛɹɪktɝ/
nouna role or part played by an actor or performer
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Examples
1. I have never seen you smile really before, your character is so dour.
2. And I love John Smith as a character because he was a braggart.
3. Items with distinctive shapes, like a bow tie, add character.
4. So, stories have characters.
5. Characters have a noticeable weight and slowness with affords a satisfying realism to the movement and animations.
actor's assistant
/ˈæktɚz ɐsˈɪstənt/
nouna wardrobe assistant for an actor
Examples
actor-manager
/ˈæktɚmˈænɪdʒɚ/
nounsomeone who manages a theater company and also acts in their plays
Examples
cast
/ˈkæst/
nounall the actors and actresses in a movie, play, etc.
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Examples
1. Cast the runes!
2. The good people of South Thanet, they cast their vote.
3. Sarai's barren state really casts a shadow over the promise from the very beginning of the story of Abraham and Sarah.
4. Early voters have already cast their ballot.
5. Fire casts no shadow.
matinee idol
/mˈætənˌeɪ ˈaɪdəl/
nouna good-looking actor who is admired by women
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Examples
1. And there was a while-- there was five years when I was trying to be a matinee idol and wear the leather jacket--
2. In 1984, an American matinee idol met a disturbing end.
3. For his more athletic and adventurous side, he modeled himself after the matinee idol of his own youth, Douglas Fairbanks Sr.
movie star
/mˈuːvi stˈɑːɹ/
nouna famous actor or actress who plays the leading role in a movie
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Examples
1. Movie stars like Marie Dressler, here seen on Hearst's arm, and his longtime mistress, actress Marion Davies, on the left ham it up in home movies.
2. This movie stars two young actors that you may recognize from other movies or TV series: Asa Butterfield and Chloë Grace Moretz.
3. Movie stars are usually thin.
4. - Who was the movie star?
5. - Be a movie star.
player
/ˈpɫeɪɝ/
nounan actor specially one who performs a role on the stage
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Examples
1. Players carry the weight of debt.
2. Players take the role of either Allies, US, UK and Soviet Union, or the Axis, Germany and Japan.
3. Then players shift all abilities and characters on their cooldown track one space.
4. Players could explore all parts of it.
5. About ten steps away from the pyramid, players mark a line.
prompter
/pɹˈɑːmptɚ/
nounsomeone who reminds actors what to say if they forget their lines on the stage
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Examples
1. There's no prompter?
2. - There's no prompter.
3. Your lines are on the prompter.
4. - What does the prompter say? -
5. That's called a prompter.
stunt man
/stˈʌnt mˈæn/
nouna person who doubles for an actor during the production of dangerous scenes in a motion picture
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Examples
1. Do stunt men respect Johnny Knoxville?
2. Stunt man Joaquin strikes the dummy with full force.
3. Are you a stunt man?
4. We can't be killing stunt men.
5. I play Duke Kaboom, Canada's greatest stunt man.
stunt woman
/stˈʌnt wˈʊmən/
nouna woman who doubles for an actor during the production of dangerous scenes in a movie
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Examples
1. and it's her stunt woman
2. He really had to find a stunt woman, who could give him what he wanted from this film.
3. Not that I would ever take the credit away from the incredible stunt women that have doubled me, including Heidi Moneymaker, who does all the, that's her real name, who has done a lot of Black Widow stuff with me.
4. One is a stunt woman suing the studios-- and the employer in particular-- because a man was allowed to wear a wig and pretend he was a woman, and women in the stunt world are trying to get work.
5. This is the first stunt woman, Rosie Venger, an amazing woman.
trouper
/tɹˈuːpɚ/
nounan actor or performer who is very reliable and has a lot of experience
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Examples
1. Talk about a trouper.
press agent
/pɹˈɛs ˈeɪdʒənt/
nounsomeone who is in charge of the advertising and publicity of a particular actor, musician, etc., providing information to a newspaper, magazine, etc.
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Examples
1. One of the reasons that we know so much about the paratroopers today is because of a press agent by the name Colonel Barney Oldfield, the name Barney Oldfield might mean something to you race car fans because his uncle was a famous race car driver.
2. I was practically his press agent.
3. Let me be his press agent for a little while.
4. An announcement came over the intercom, requesting a meeting with manager Epstein, their press agent and the Beatles’ personal assistants, Mal and Neil.
monologue
/ˈmɑnəˌɫɔɡ/
nouna long speech recited by an actor in a movie or play
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Examples
1. It's an amazing monologue.
2. He didn’t sing, but instead delivered a monologue during one of the band’s songs.
3. - Which one is monologue about?
4. She brought a monologue.
5. Take the monologue out of the context of the play or film.
ad lib
/ˈæd lˈɪb/
nouna line that is recited in a speech or performance without prior preparation
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Examples
1. Luckily he had some of the funniest ad libs.
2. - Okay, so, this is the Porky Pig stutter ad lib.
3. Tight lyrics and ad libs are nothing new to pop music.
4. Is it Barry, I'm sorry, the older brother ad libs at the end.
5. I talk ad lib.
characterization
/ˌkɛɹəktɝɪˈzeɪʃən/
nounthe techniques used by actors to develop and portray a character, including their physicality, personality, and backstory
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Examples
1. The issue of characterization is hugely, hugely, hugely significant.
2. I agree with Martha's characterization.
3. We never had a characterization of this river.
4. That characterization, in my view, is even more charitable.
5. I have a characterization.
screen actor
/skɹˈiːn ˈæktɚ/
nouna performer who appears on television, film, or other visual media
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Examples
1. However, the name actors had accepted a lower pay rate for the sake of the production, and the strict rules of the Screen Actor's Guild required that, for them to do so, there needed to be a domestic release in theaters first.
2. but she flipped the script on 'em a couple of years ago and did something dramatic and got nominated for a Screen Actor's Guild Award for her work in I Smiled Back.
3. And then you transition to a incredible movie where you were nominated for a Screen Actor's Guild Award.
4. The movie itself was incredibly powerful, and Channing's performance won her a Screen Actor's Guild Award and an Emmy Award.