Actors express ideas and portray characters in theater, film, television, and other performing arts media. They interpret the writer’s script to entertain or inform the audience.
Most actors struggle to find steady work and few achieve star recognition. Some work as “extras” – actors who have no lines but are included in scenes to provide a more realistic setting. Some actors do voiceovers or narration for animated features, audiobooks, or other electronic media.
Most actors have long periods of unemployment between roles and often hold other jobs to make ends meet. Some actors teach acting classes as a second job.
Words to Describe Actors
Following are common adjective words used for describing various actors and actresses:
| Comic | Fine | Promising |
| Able | Flamboyant | Purposive |
| Acclaimed | Fledging | Rational |
| Accomplished | Foremost | Reluctant |
| Admirable | Freelance | Renowned |
| Alive | Frustrated | Resourceful |
| Amateur | Gifted | Respected |
| Aspiring | Greatest | Retired |
| Autonomous | Ham | Seasoned |
| Aware | Handsome | Shakespearean |
| Bad | Heavy | Shakespearian |
| Best | Hobbesian | Skilled |
| Brechtian | Incomparable | Skillful |
| Brilliant | Indifferent | Superb |
| Busy | Inexperienced | Supranational |
| Capable | Influential | Talented |
| Casted | Inspired | Tan |
| Celebrated | Intervening | Temperamental |
| Centered | Itinerant | Terrific |
| Charismatic | Kabuki | Tragic |
| Chief | Key | Trained |
| Clever | Lead | Transnational |
| Comedic | Legendary | Underrated |
| Competent | Lone | Unemployed |
| Consummate | Lousy | Unified |
| Costumed | Marvelous | Unitary |
| Deviant | Masked | Unnamed |
| Distinguished | Mediocre | Untrained |
| Dominant | Melodramatic | Unwilling |
| Drunken | Monolithic | Versatile |
| Elizabethan | Nameless | Veteran |
| Eminent | Negligent | Viennese |
| English | Noh | Welsh |
| Experienced | Noted | Yiddish |
| Extra | Pivotal | Young |
| Famed | Porn | |
| Famous | Preeminent | |
| Favorite | Principal | |
| Favorite | Professional | |
| Fellow | Prominent |
Finally, Actors face intense competition for work. Most roles, no matter how minor, have many actors vying for them. For stage roles, actors with a bachelor’s degree in theater may have a better chance of landing a role than those without one.
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