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Covers the Acting Profession for Television, Stage and/or Movies, including Award Ceremonies.
For topics about actors only, go to "Actors".
For topics about actresses only, go to "Actresses".
Actors & Actresses who have played the Opposite Sex
YouTube Video from the Movie "Living Dangerously"
Pictured: Linda Hunt playing a boy in "Living Dangerously" and as she appears today.
YouTube Video from the Movie "Living Dangerously"
Pictured: Linda Hunt playing a boy in "Living Dangerously" and as she appears today.
Cross-gender acting refers to an actor or actress portraying a character of the opposite gender. It is distinct from roles where transgender characters or characters who cross-dress are played.
Click here for more about cross-gender acting.
Click here for more about cross-gender acting.
Former Child Actors
YouTube Video of Elizabeth Taylor and Mickey Rooney as Child Actors
Pictured: Mickey Rooney & Elizabeth Taylor from National Velvet, and Andy Griffith & Ron Howard from the Andy Griffith Show.
This is a list of former child actors from the United States. These notable actors were age 17 or younger at the time that they started acting, but are currently are 18 years or over. The list also includes child actors now deceased.
List of People who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and/or Tony Award.
YouTube Video of Whoopi Goldberg winning best supporting actress for "Ghost"
Pictured: Audrey Hepburn and Mel Brooks.
Twelve people have won all four major annual American entertainment awards in a competitive individual (non-group) category: the Emmy Grammy Oscar and Tony.
Show Business Families
Pictured: Keith Carradine and Drew Barrymore
This is a list of show business families. It is contemporary (in the sense that a professional offshoot should still be working in the 20th or 21st-centuries) and should be expanded. The guideline is that at least one of the relationships in the clan should be by blood – siblings parents children cousins and so on. Following families are brothers and sisters who are recognizable as celebrity siblings (and who may be listed within families as well).
List of Highest Paid Film Actors & Actresses of All Time
YouTube of Sandra Bullock adrift in Space in the 2013 movie "Gravity"
Pictured: Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock.
Salaries for the world's highest paid film actors currently range from $20–30 million, but an actor can earn substantially more by deferring all or part of their salary against a percentage of the film's gross, known within the industry as a "profit participation" deal. Since not all salaries are made public, this is a non-definitive list of actors who have received $30 million or more as compensation for their services.
The figures are given at their nominal value, since earnings from profit based deals are accumulated over many years, making it unfeasible to adjust for inflation.
Click here for more about the List of the World's Highest Paid Film Actors/Actresses.
The figures are given at their nominal value, since earnings from profit based deals are accumulated over many years, making it unfeasible to adjust for inflation.
Click here for more about the List of the World's Highest Paid Film Actors/Actresses.
Golden Globe Awards
YouTube Video of Dustin Hoffman in "The Rain Man"
Pictured: (Pictured: Daniel Day-Lewis in "Lincoln" & Dustin Hoffman Starring (along with Tom Cruise) in "The Rain Man"
The Golden Globe Award is an American accolade bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign. The annual formal ceremony and dinner at which the awards are presented is a major part of the film industry's awards season, which culminates each year with the Academy Awards.
Click here for more about the Golden Globe Awards.
Click here for more about the Golden Globe Awards.
Peoples Choice Award for Actors and Actresses in TV or Films.
YouTube Video of Johnny Depp performing in the "Pirates of the Caribbean"
Pictured: Johnny Depp in "Pirates of the Caribbean" & Meryl Streep in "The Bridges of Madison County"
The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show, recognizing the people and the work of popular culture, voted on by the general public.
The show has been held annually since 1975. The People's Choice Awards is broadcast on CBS and is produced by Procter & Gamble and Survivor producer, Mark Burnett. The first awards recognized "The Sting" (1973) as Favorite Picture of 1974, Barbra Streisand as the year's Favorite Film Actress, and John Wayne as its Favorite Film Actor.
Ratings for the annual event peaked in 1977, when the third People's Choice Awards attracted 35.3 million viewers who witnessed Farrah Fawcett win the award for Favorite Female TV Star, "Star Wars" (the original 1977 Movie) win as the Favorite Picture, and Streisand and Wayne win again in the Film Actress and Actor categories.
Click here for more about the People's Choice Awards.
The show has been held annually since 1975. The People's Choice Awards is broadcast on CBS and is produced by Procter & Gamble and Survivor producer, Mark Burnett. The first awards recognized "The Sting" (1973) as Favorite Picture of 1974, Barbra Streisand as the year's Favorite Film Actress, and John Wayne as its Favorite Film Actor.
Ratings for the annual event peaked in 1977, when the third People's Choice Awards attracted 35.3 million viewers who witnessed Farrah Fawcett win the award for Favorite Female TV Star, "Star Wars" (the original 1977 Movie) win as the Favorite Picture, and Streisand and Wayne win again in the Film Actress and Actor categories.
Click here for more about the People's Choice Awards.
Stars appearing in TV and Movie Westerns
YouTube Video: The Best of Clint Eastwood Westerns
Pictured: John Wayne in "The Comancheros" & the cast of TV's Gunsmoke
The Western is a genre of various arts, such as comics, fiction, film, games, radio, and television which tell stories set primarily in the later half of the 19th century in the American Old West, often centering on the life of a nomadic cowboy or gunfighter. Westerns often stress the harshness of the wilderness and frequently set the action in an arid, desolate landscape of deserts and mountains.
Specific settings include ranches, small frontier towns and saloons of the Wild West. Characters also include Native Americans, bandits, lawmen, outlaws and soldiers. Some are set in the American colonial era.
The Western film was particularly popular in the 1930s and the 1950s and 1960s. There are also a number of films about Western-type characters in contemporary settings, such as Junior Bonner (1972) set in the 1970s and The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005) in the 21st century. The Western was the most popular Hollywood genre from the early 20th century to the 1960s
Stars appearing in TV and Movie Westerns
Specific settings include ranches, small frontier towns and saloons of the Wild West. Characters also include Native Americans, bandits, lawmen, outlaws and soldiers. Some are set in the American colonial era.
The Western film was particularly popular in the 1930s and the 1950s and 1960s. There are also a number of films about Western-type characters in contemporary settings, such as Junior Bonner (1972) set in the 1970s and The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005) in the 21st century. The Western was the most popular Hollywood genre from the early 20th century to the 1960s
Stars appearing in TV and Movie Westerns
Stars Appearing in Two of the Highest-rated Science Fiction TV Series
YouTube Video of Top 10 Star Trek: The Original Series Episodes
Pictured: Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock in the "Star Trek" Television Series and Burgess Meredith in the TV Twilight Zone Episode "Time at Last".
Science Fiction TV Series are listed in Order of Popularity.
Click here for more about Stars Appearing in Two of the Highest-rated Science Fiction TV Series.
Click here for more about Stars Appearing in Two of the Highest-rated Science Fiction TV Series.
Actor's Studio
YouTube video of Marlon Brando Appearing on Actor's Studio
Pictured: Actors who appeared on the Actors Studio TV show include Martin Balsalm and Marlon Brando
The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors theatre directors and playwrights at 432 West 44th Street in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded October 5 1947 by Elia Kazan, Cheryl Crawford, Robert Lewis, and Anna Sokolow who provided training for actors who were members.
Lee Strasberg joined later and took the helm in 1951 until his death on February 17 1982. It is currently run by Al Pacino, Ellen Burstyn, and Harvey Keitel. The Studio is best known for its work refining and teaching method acting.
The approach was originally developed by the Group Theatre in the 1930s based on the innovations of Constantin Stanislavski. While at the Studio actors work together to develop their skills in a private environment where they can take risks as performers without the pressure of commercial roles.
Click here for more about Actor's Studio.
Lee Strasberg joined later and took the helm in 1951 until his death on February 17 1982. It is currently run by Al Pacino, Ellen Burstyn, and Harvey Keitel. The Studio is best known for its work refining and teaching method acting.
The approach was originally developed by the Group Theatre in the 1930s based on the innovations of Constantin Stanislavski. While at the Studio actors work together to develop their skills in a private environment where they can take risks as performers without the pressure of commercial roles.
Click here for more about Actor's Studio.
Drama school
YouTube Video of Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting for which he won an Oscar
Pictured: Christine Baranski & Robin Williams, both graduates of Julliard.
A drama school or theater school is an undergraduate and/or graduate school or department at a college or university; or a free-standing institution (such as the Drama section at the Juilliard School); which specializes in the pre-professional training in drama and theatre arts, such as acting, design and technical theatre, arts administration, and related subjects.
If the drama school is part of a degree-granting institution, undergraduates typically take a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts, or, occasionally, Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Design. Graduate students may take a Master of Arts, Master of Science, Master of Fine Arts, Doctor of Arts, Doctor of Fine Arts, or Doctor of Philosophy degree.
Click here for more about Drama School.
If the drama school is part of a degree-granting institution, undergraduates typically take a Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts, or, occasionally, Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Design. Graduate students may take a Master of Arts, Master of Science, Master of Fine Arts, Doctor of Arts, Doctor of Fine Arts, or Doctor of Philosophy degree.
Click here for more about Drama School.
Method Acting
YouTube Video of Christopher Plummer commenting on Method Acting
Pictured: Daniel Day-Lewis & Robert De Niro
Method acting refers to a range of training and rehearsal techniques that seek to encourage sincere and emotionally expressive performances, as formulated by a number of different practitioners, principally in the United States, where it is among the most popular—and controversial—approaches to acting.
These techniques built on the 'system' of the Russian actor and director Konstantin Stanislavski.
Though many have contributed to the development of the Method, three teachers are associated with "having set the standard of its success," though each emphasized different aspects of the approach:
The approach was first developed when they worked together at the Group Theatre in New York.
All three subsequently claimed to be the rightful heirs of Stanislavski's approach. His three major books were An Actor Prepares, Building a Character, and Creating a Role.
Click here for more about Method Acting.
These techniques built on the 'system' of the Russian actor and director Konstantin Stanislavski.
Though many have contributed to the development of the Method, three teachers are associated with "having set the standard of its success," though each emphasized different aspects of the approach:
- Lee Strasberg (the psychological aspects),
- Stella Adler (the sociological aspects),
- and Sanford Meisner (the behavioral aspects).
The approach was first developed when they worked together at the Group Theatre in New York.
All three subsequently claimed to be the rightful heirs of Stanislavski's approach. His three major books were An Actor Prepares, Building a Character, and Creating a Role.
Click here for more about Method Acting.
Sports Stars Who Become Actors
YouTube Video of Hunter Fun Video - Season One - The Pilot - Starring Fred Dryer and Stepfanie Kramer
Pictured: Football Star James Brown and Wrestler Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.
These and other sport stars went on to launch acting careers: click on right arrow in slideshow for each athlete-turned-actor.
Click here for more about Sports Stars Who Became Actors.
Click here for more about Sports Stars Who Became Actors.
The Best TV Actors and Actresses of All Time (According to Ranker.com)
YouTube Video of Ten Most Bad Ass Tony Soprano Moments, part 1
Pictured: James Gandolfini and Jennifer Aniston
The greatest TV actors and actresses of all time. Some of these actors have been in movies, some of them are even more well known at this point for their work in films rather than on TV but all of these actors have really shown off some impressive chops on the small screen.
From Bryan Cranston to Hugh Laurie and beyond, these are the best TV actors ever. From Emmy winners to simply fan favorites.
Click here for more about the Greatest TV Actors and Actresses of all Time.
From Bryan Cranston to Hugh Laurie and beyond, these are the best TV actors ever. From Emmy winners to simply fan favorites.
Click here for more about the Greatest TV Actors and Actresses of all Time.
Actors Turned Directors
YouTube Video of Top 10 Actors Turned Directors by WatchMojo
Pictured: Barbra Streisand and Ron Howard
From Biography.com: After years of on-screen success, many talented actors decide to take their chances on the other side of the camera—often to even greater acclaim.
Click here to see Biography.com's collection of performers who have made a new name for themselves as film and television directors.
Click here for more about Actors who have turned Directors.
Click here to see Biography.com's collection of performers who have made a new name for themselves as film and television directors.
Click here for more about Actors who have turned Directors.
The Best Multiple Franchise actor/actress in history (as reported by IMDb)
YouTube Video of Harrison Ford Discussing his "Indiana Jones" Franchise
Pictured: Harrison Ford (Photo by Theo Wargo) and Jennifer Lawrence (Photo by Pamela Littky).
These celebrities have acted/notable role in more than one successful movie franchise, and include Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Swarzenneger, Harrison Ford, and Angelina Jolie.
Click here for The Best Multiple Franchise actor/actress in history.
Click here for The Best Multiple Franchise actor/actress in history.
Heroes & Villains
YouTube from "Silence of the Lambs"* (1991) as "Buffalo Bill Dance Goodbye Horses"
*- Silence of the Lambs Movie (1991)
Pictured: The great white shark about to devour "Quint" (Robert Shaw) in "Jaws" (1975). Sean Connery and his prized Aston Martin in "Goldfinger" (1964) from the James Bond movie franchise.
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains is a list of the one-hundred greatest screen characters (fifty each in the hero and villain categories) as chosen by the American Film Institute in June 2003. It is part of the AFI 100 Years… series.
Click here for more about Heroes and Villains.
Click here for more about Heroes and Villains.
List of Most Sought-after Character Actors/Actresses
YouTube Video: J. K. Simmons* (IMDb top choice) in "The Closer" TV Series**
* - J.K. Simmons
** -- "The Closer" TV series.
Pictured: LEFT: Steve Buscemi (Fargo); RIGHT: Martha Plimpton (Raising Hope)
Click on the top link for a listing of the 100 most sought-after character actors and actresses, based on the IMDb online database.
Actors and Actresses including a List
YouTube Video Top 10 Sandra Bullock Movies by WatchMojo
Pictured Clockwise from Upper Left: Johnny Depp; Reese Witherspoon; Halle Berry; Morgan Freeman
Click here for a List of Actors/Actresses.
An actor (male) or actress (female) is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theater, or in modern mediums such as film, radio, and television.
The actor's interpretation of their role pertains to the role played, whether based on a real person or fictional character. Interpretation occurs even when the actor is "playing themselves", as in some forms of experimental performance art, or, more commonly; to act, is to create, a character in performance.
Formerly, in some societies, only men could become actors, and women's roles were generally played by men or boys. When used for the stage, women occasionally played the roles of prepubescent boys.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Actor/Actress:
An actor (male) or actress (female) is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theater, or in modern mediums such as film, radio, and television.
The actor's interpretation of their role pertains to the role played, whether based on a real person or fictional character. Interpretation occurs even when the actor is "playing themselves", as in some forms of experimental performance art, or, more commonly; to act, is to create, a character in performance.
Formerly, in some societies, only men could become actors, and women's roles were generally played by men or boys. When used for the stage, women occasionally played the roles of prepubescent boys.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for more about Actor/Actress:
- Terminology
- History
- Techniques
- As opposite sex
- Types
- Actor game
- See also:
- Presentational and representational acting
- Vaudeville
- music hall
- farce
- pantomime
- Kabuki
- Commedia dell'arte
- Droll
- Bit part
- Body double
- Cameo appearance
- Cast member
- Character actor
- Child actor
- Dramatis personæ
- Extra (acting)
- GOTE
- Leading actor
- Matinee idol
- Meisner technique
- Mime artist
- Movie star
- Pornographic film actor
- Practical Aesthetics
- Supporting actor
- Understudy
- Voice acting
- Screen Actors Guild (SAG): a union representing U. S. film and TV actors.
- Actors' Equity Association (AEA): a union representing U. S. theatre actors and stage managers.
- American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA): a union representing U. S. television and radio actors and broadcasters (on-air journalists, etc.).
- British Actors' Equity: a trade union representing UK artists, including actors, singers, dancers, choreographers, stage managers, theatre directors and designers, variety and circus artists, television and radio presenters, walk-on and supporting artists, stunt performers and directors and theatre fight directors.
- Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance: an Australian/New Zealand trade union representing everyone in the media, entertainment, sports, and arts industries.
People Who Have Won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Award (EGOT) and featuring Rita Moreno
YouTube Video of the best acting performance by Rita Moreno in West Side Story
Picutured: L-R: Awards won by Rita Moreno; Rita Moreno accepting the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress in West Side Story (1961)
About Rita Moreno, one of only 12 people to win all four awards:
List of people who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards:
Twelve people and five media franchises have won all four major annual American entertainment awards in a competitive, individual (non-group) category: the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony.
Respectively, these awards honor outstanding achievements in television, audio recording, film, and theater. Winning all four awards has been referred to as winning the "grand slam" of American show business. The acronym EGOT was coined by actor Philip Michael Thomas.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for further amplification:
- Oscar (for Best Supporting Actress in West Side Story 1961),
- Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress - Drama Series in The Rockford Files in 1977,
- Tony for The Ritz, for which she won the 1975 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress
- Grammy Award for Best Album for Children (The Electric Company Album), 1972
List of people who have won Academy, Emmy, Grammy, and Tony Awards:
Twelve people and five media franchises have won all four major annual American entertainment awards in a competitive, individual (non-group) category: the Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony.
Respectively, these awards honor outstanding achievements in television, audio recording, film, and theater. Winning all four awards has been referred to as winning the "grand slam" of American show business. The acronym EGOT was coined by actor Philip Michael Thomas.
Click on any of the following blue hyperlinks for further amplification:
- Winners of all four awards
- Including non-competitive or special as well as Additional major awards or honors
- Qualifying awards summary (competitive only)
- Qualifying awards summary (including non-competitive awards)
- Three competitive awards
- Three awards (non-competitive)
- Four nominations
- PEGOT
- Franchises
- See also:
Show Business, including a List of Show Business Families
YouTube Video: Jane Fonda On Her Character's Most Important Scene In the Movie "On Golden Pond"
YouTube Video: On Golden Pond (9/10) Movie CLIP - Mad for So Long (1981)
Pictured Below:
Show Business families include (clockwise from Top Left):
Actors and brothers Billy, Stephen, Alec and Daniel Baldwin;
Actors Henry Fonda (1905-1982), Jane Fonda (1937), Peter Fonda (1940), and Bridget Fonda (1964);
Redgrave family (Michael and Vanessa Redgrave, Natasha and Joely Richardson)
Barrymore Dynasty Lionel Barrymore (1878-1954), John Barrymore (1882-1942), and Drew Barrymore (1975).
Click here for a list of Show Business Families
Show business, sometimes shortened to show biz or showbiz (since c. 1945), is a vernacular term for all aspects of the entertainment industry.
From the business side (including managers, agents, producers, and distributors), the term applies to the creative element (including artists, performers, writers, musicians, and technicians) and was in common usage throughout the 20th century, although the first known use in print dates from 1850.
At that time and for several decades, it typically included an initial the. By the latter part of the century, it had acquired a slightly arcane quality associated with the era of variety, but the term is still in active use. In modern entertainment industry, it is also associated with the fashion industry (creating trend and fashion) and acquiring intellectual property rights from the invested research in the entertainment business.
The entertainment sector can be split up into the following sub-sectors:
See also:
Show business, sometimes shortened to show biz or showbiz (since c. 1945), is a vernacular term for all aspects of the entertainment industry.
From the business side (including managers, agents, producers, and distributors), the term applies to the creative element (including artists, performers, writers, musicians, and technicians) and was in common usage throughout the 20th century, although the first known use in print dates from 1850.
At that time and for several decades, it typically included an initial the. By the latter part of the century, it had acquired a slightly arcane quality associated with the era of variety, but the term is still in active use. In modern entertainment industry, it is also associated with the fashion industry (creating trend and fashion) and acquiring intellectual property rights from the invested research in the entertainment business.
The entertainment sector can be split up into the following sub-sectors:
- Amusement parks
- Animation
- Circus
- Event management
- Film
- Gambling
- Game manufacturers
- Home video and home video distributors
- Music
- Sex business
- Talent agency
- Theater production
See also:
- Creative industries
- Cultural industry
- Cultural technology
- Light entertainment
- Outline of entertainment
- This Is Show Business, television series running from 1949 to 1956
- Show Business magazine, since 1941
- "There's No Business Like Show Business"