on

Etymology tree
Proto-West Germanic *ana
Old English on
Middle English on
English on
From Middle English on, from Old English on, an (“on, upon, onto, in, into”), from Proto-West Germanic *ana, from Proto-Germanic *ana (“on, at”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂en-.
Cognate with North Frisian a (“on, in”), Saterland Frisian an (“on, at”), West Frisian oan (“on, at”), Dutch aan (“on, at, to”), Low German an (“on, at”), German an (“to, at, on”), Swedish å (“on, at, in”), Faroese á (“on, onto, in, at”), Icelandic á (“on, in”), Gothic 𐌰𐌽𐌰 (ana), Ancient Greek ἀνά (aná, “up, upon”), Albanian në (“in”); and from Old Norse upp á: Danish på, Swedish på, Norwegian på, see upon.

etymon

Southern US, Midland US, Philadelphia, Baltimore

(acting, drama, roleplaying games) Acting in character.


star

Sranan Tongo: stari
Aukan: sitali

→ Finnish: stara

→ French: star

→ German: Star

→ Italian: star

→ Swahili: staa

From Middle English sterre, from Old English steorra (“star”), from Proto-West Germanic *sterrō, variant of *sternō, from Proto-Germanic *sternô, *sternǭ (“star”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂stḗr (“star”). Doublet of aster, stella, étoile, and estoile.
Cognates
Cognate with Scots starn, ster, North Frisian steer, West Frisian stjer, Saterland Frisian Stiern, Dutch ster, Luxembourgish Stär, German Stern, Yiddish שטערן (shtern), Vilamovian śtaom, Swedish stjärna, Norwegian stjerne, Icelandic stjarna, Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌹𐍂𐌽𐍉 (stairnō), Spanish estrella, Portuguese estrela, Italian stella, Romanian stea, Occitan estela, Venetan stéła, Sicilian stidda, Sardinian isteddu, Mirandese streilha, Walloon sitoele, Romansch staila, Megleno-Romanian steau̯ă, Istriot stila, Istro-Romanian ste, Latin stēlla, Greek αστέρι (astéri), Ancient Greek ἀστήρ (astḗr), Old Armenian աստղ (astł), Persian ستاره (setâre), Tajik ситора (sitora), Pashto ستوری (storay), Mazanderani اساره (ëssâre), Northern Kurdish stêr, Central Kurdish ئەستێرە (estêre), Zazaki astare, Ossetian стъалы (st’aly), Hindi तारा (tārā), Urdu تارا (tārā), Punjabi ਤਾਰਾ (tārā), Gujarati તારો (tāro), Sanskrit तारा (tārā).

аеҵǝа

a celestial body appearing as a point of light on the clear night sky, whose position is relatively fixed with respect to each other

Many Hollywood stars attended the launch party.


ad lib

Abbreviation of ad libitum, borrowed from New Latin ad libitum.

(acting) An instance of something improvised, especially a line.


vocal

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Mélange a trois-vocal.wav

Late Middle English vocal, borrowed from Latin vōcālis (“uttering a voice, sounding, speaking”), from vōx (“a voice, sound, tone”) + -ālis (“-al”, adjectival suffix). Doublet of vowel and vocalis. Compare Old French vocal.

af

(music) A part of a piece of music that is sung.

(acting) A musical performance involving singing.


lead

en-noun

lead (countable and uncountable, plural leads)

From Middle English leden, from Old English lǣdan (“to lead”), from Proto-West Germanic *laidijan, from Proto-Germanic *laidijaną (“to cause one to go, lead”), causative of Proto-Germanic *līþaną (“to go”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyt- (“to leave, die”).
Cognate with West Frisian liede (“to lead”), Dutch leiden (“to lead”), German leiten (“to lead”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål lede (“to lead”), Norwegian Nynorsk leia (“to lead”), Swedish leda (“to lead”). Related to Old English līþan (“to go, travel”).

der

"You make moving pictures. In jungles and places." "That's me. And I've picked you for the lead in my next picture."

1932, Delos W. Lovelace, King Kong, published 1965, page 43:

(acting, theater) The main role in a play or film; the lead role.

(acting) The actor who plays the main role; lead actor.


actor

→ Scottish Gaelic: actair

→ Welsh: actor

Inherited from Middle English actour, from Anglo-Norman actor, Middle French actor, and their source, Latin āctor (“doer”), from agō (“to do”). Equivalent to act + -or. Cognate with Ancient Greek ἄκτωρ (áktōr, “leader”), from ἄγω (ágō, “lead, carry, convey, bring”).

(obsolete) Someone acting on behalf of someone else; a guardian.


business

en-noun

business (countable and uncountable, plural businesses)

Tok Pisin: bisnis

→ Albanian: biznes

→ Belarusian: бі́знэс (bíznes)

→ Bulgarian: би́знес (bíznes)

→ Czech: business, byznys

→ Dutch: business

→ Indonesian: bisnis, bisnes

→ Faroese: besnissaður

→ Finnish: bisnes, business

→ French: business

→ Haitian Creole: biznis

→ Italian: business

→ Japanese: ビジネス (bijinesu)

→ Jersey Dutch: bääznäs

→ Marshallese: peejnej

→ Moroccan Arabic: بزناس (biznās)

desc

→ Newar: बनय्ज्या (banêjyā), बनेज्या (banejyā)

→ Pennsylvania German: Bisniss

→ Polish: biznes

→ Romanian: bișniță

desctree

→ Russian: би́знес (bíznes), би́знесъ (bíznɛs) — Pre-reform orthography (1918)
→ Armenian: բիզնես (biznes)
→ Yakut: биисинэс (biisines)

→ Slovak: biznis

→ Spanish: bisnes

→ Tatar: business

→ Ukrainian: бі́знес (bíznes)

→ Welsh: busnes

From Middle English busines, busynes, businesse, bisynes, from Old English bisiġnes (“business, busyness”), equivalent to busy + -ness. Doublet of busyness.

business

action carried out with a prop or piece of clothing

business in the front, party in the back

The business with the hat is a fine example of the difficulty of distinguishing between 'natural' and 'formal' acting.

1983, Peter Thomson, Shakespeare's Theatre, →ISBN, page 155:

(acting, theater) Ellipsis of stage business (“aspect of acting”).


ham

Uncertain, though it is generally agreed upon that it first appeared in print around the 1880s. At least four theories persist:
* It came naturally from the word amateur. Deemed likely by Hendrickson (1997), but then the question would be why it took so long to pop up. He rejects the folk etymology of Cockney slang hamateur because it originated in American English.
* From the play Hamlet, where the title character was often played poorly and/or in an exaggerated manner. Also deemed likely by Hendrickson, though he raises the issue that the term would have likely been around earlier if this were case.
* From the minstrel's practice of using ham fat to remove heavy black makeup used during performances.
* Shortened from hamfatter (“inferior actor”), said to derive from the 1863 minstrel show song The Ham-fat Man. William and Mary Morris (1988) argue that it's not known whether the song inspired the term or the term inspired the song, but that they believe the latter is the case.

Writing in The New Yorker in 2005, James Wood praised Mr. McCarthy as “a colossally gifted writer” and “one of the great hams of American prose, who delights in producing a histrionic rhetoric that brilliantly ventriloquizes the King James Bible, Shakespearean and Jacobean tragedy, Melville, Conrad, and Faulkner.”

2023 June 13, Dwight Garner, quoting James Wood, “Cormac McCarthy, Novelist of a Darker America, Is Dead at 89”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(acting) An overacting or amateurish performer; an actor with an especially showy or exaggerated style.


ham

en-verb

ham (third-person singular simple present hams, present participle hamming, simple past and past participle hammed)

hams (present singular third-person)
hamming (participle present)
hammed (participle past)
hammed (past)

(acting) To overact; to act with exaggerated emotions.


actress

→ Cebuano: aktres

→ Tagalog: aktres

From actor + -ess. Probably formed independently of Middle French actrice.

My mental anguish, and the dreadful scenes in which I had been an actress, advanced the period of my labour.

1796, Matthew Lewis, The Monk, Folio Society, published 1985, page 290:

(now rare) A female doer or "actor" (in a general sense).


method

en-noun

method (countable and uncountable, plural methods)

From Middle French methode, from Latin methodus, from Ancient Greek μέθοδος (méthodos).

mètode

(programming) subroutine or function in object-oriented languages

my very easy method just speeds up naming planets

In this case, the application of the famous method was a little shaky. To be fair, the director was dealing with a pretty stroppy cast.

1989, Kenneth Branagh, Beginning, London: Chatto & Windus, →ISBN, page 64:

(acting, often "the method") A technique for acting based on the ideas articulated by Konstantin Stanislavski and focusing on authentically experiencing the inner life of the character being portrayed.


corpse

en-verb

corpse (third-person singular simple present corpses, present participle corpsing, simple past and past participle corpsed)

corpses (present singular third-person)
corpsing (participle present)
corpsed (participle past)
corpsed (past)

From Middle English, from earlier corse, from Old French cors, from Latin corpus (“body”).
Displaced native English likam and English lich. The ⟨p⟩ was inserted due to the original Latin spelling. Doublet of corps, corpus, and riff. The verb sense derives from the notion of being unable to control laughter while acting as dead body.

(transitive, slang, of an actor) To cause another actor to do this.


avail

en-noun

avail (countable and uncountable, plural avails)

From Middle English availen (“to be of use”), from Old French a (“to”) + vail from valoir (“to be worth”), from Latin valere (“to be worthy, strong”).

(British, acting) Non-binding notice of availability for work.


extra

(acting) A supernumerary or walk-on in a film or play.


histrionic

en-adj

histrionic (comparative more histrionic, superlative most histrionic)

more histrionic (comparative)
most histrionic (superlative)

Borrowed from Late Latin histriōnicus (“pertaining to acting; scurrilous, shameful; wretched”), from Latin histriōnicus (“pertaining to acting and the theatre”), from histriō (“actor, player”) + -icus (suffix meaning ‘of or pertaining to’). By surface analysis, histrion + -ic.

der

After three years of constant applause, Miss [Elizabeth] O'Neill directed her steps towards the summit of histrionick exertion, being engaged for the season of 1814 at Covent Garden, where she made her first entrée as Juliet, on the 6th of October, being at once recognised as the first Hibernian actress, who had joined transcendant beauty with rare histrionick talent, since the time of Mrs. [Peg] Woffington.

1816 July, “Miss O’Neill. [From an English magazine.]”, in The North American Review and Miscellaneous Journal, volume III, number VIII, Boston, Mass.: Wells and Lilly […], →OCLC, page 164:

On Saturday, Miss F. H. Kelly played Belvidera for the first time, to a crowded House, and for her own benefit;—for her own benefit in every way, for the performance added a wreath to her histrionic laurels, and drew down the warmest testimonies of applause.

1823 June 14, “The Drama, etc.”, in The Literary Gazette; and Journal of the Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences, &c., number 334, London: Printed by B. Bensley, […]; published for the proprietors, at the Literary Gazette office, […], →OCLC, page 381, column 3:

[T]hey might have been figures rehearsing some play of which she herself was the author; they might even, for the happy appearance they continued to present, have been such figures as would by the strong note of character in each fill any author with the certitude of success, especially of their own histrionic.

[…] Miss Phyllis Morgan, as the hapless heroine dressed in the shabbiest of clothes, appears in the midst of a gay and giddy throng; she apostrophises all and sundry there, including the villain, and has a magnificent scene which always brings down the house, and nightly adds to her histrionic laurels.

1905, Baroness Orczy [i.e., Emma Orczy], “The Affair at the Novelty Theatre”, in The Case of Miss Elliott, London: T[homas] Fisher Unwin, →OCLC; republished in The Old Man in the Corner: Twelve Mysteries, Kelly Bray, Cornwall: House of Stratus, 2008, →ISBN, →OL, chapter 2, page 207:


understudy

en-verb

understudy (third-person singular simple present understudies, present participle understudying, simple past and past participle understudied)

understudies (present singular third-person)
understudying (participle present)
understudied (participle past)
understudied (past)

To study or know a role to such an extent as to be able to replace the normal performer when required.

doubler

to study or know a role to such an extent as to be able to replace the normal performer when required

That lean gentleman had apparently understudied Pharaoh of old and hardened his heart.

1935, Owen Conquest, Morny's Master Stroke:

To act in a similar manner to some known person.


understudy

For Wynne-Edwards, the role of the outcasts in the welfare of the group is to wait in the wings as understudies, ready to step into the shoes of any territory holder who dies on the main stage of group reproduction.

1976, Richard Dawkins, The Selfish Gene, Kindle edition, OUP Oxford, published 2016, pages 153–154:

A performer who understudies; a standby for a study (9).


overplay

overplay (third-person singular simple present overplays, present participle overplaying, simple past and past participle overplayed)

overplays (present singular third-person)
overplaying (participle present)
overplayed (participle past)
overplayed (past)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-overplay.wav

When Chris overacted his part again, the director warned that anyone overplaying would be barred from the next production.

Nevertheless, 3 Body Problem does well to pull us onward, as much through the relentless, but never overplayed, suffering and hardening of Ye Wenjie as she endures her effective imprisonment in the project grounds – and the stealing of her work by others – as by the present day mystery.

2024 March 21, Lucy Mangan, “3 Body Problem review – the creators of Game of Thrones have done it again”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

(transitive, intransitive, acting) To overdo or overact one's effect or role.


ham it up

ham it up (third-person singular simple present hams it up, present participle hamming it up, simple past and past participle hammed it up)

hams it up (present singular third-person)
hamming it up (participle present)
hammed it up (participle past)
hammed it up (past)

You can count on him to ham it up for the camera.

(idiomatic, acting) To deliberately exaggerate one's emotions or movements, or to overact or act hammily.

有意誇張 /有意夸张

performing arts: exaggerate one's emotions or movements


bit part

2005, Most of her work, however, consisted of bit parts. She often was cast in movies credited only as "flower vendor," "warden" or "suntan lady," — 'Five Easy Pieces' waitress dead at 85, CNN online.

(acting) A minor role, generally not assigned a name.


spit take

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-spit take.wav

When the wombat-riding chimp jumped onto the bar, Smith, who had been enjoying a beer, did a massive spit take.

(acting) A take (recorded performance), generally expressing surprise or disbelief, in which the actor in the act of drinking spits out the drink.


improv

en-noun

improv (countable and uncountable, plural improvs)

(acting) A form of live entertainment characterized by improvisation and interaction with the audience.


voice actor

Coordinate term: voice actress

An actor who provides voices or voice-overs for radio drama, animations, commercials, dubbed films, games, etc.

bikoizketa-aktore

an actor who provides voices for animations, dubbed films


typecast

en-verb

typecast (third-person singular simple present typecasts, present participle typecasting, simple past and past participle typecast or typecasted)

typecasts (present singular third-person)
typecasting (participle present)
typecast (participle past)
typecast (past)
typecasted (participle past)
typecasted (past)

(acting) To cast an actor in the same kind of role repeatedly.

encasellar

to cast an actor in the same kind of role repeatedly


starlet

There were other flapper-era starlets, of course—Louise Brooks, Greta Garbo—but they were poseurs by comparison.

2012, Christoper Zara, Tortured Artists: From Picasso and Monroe to Warhol and Winehouse, the Twisted Secrets of the World's Most Creative Minds, part 1, chapter 1, 25:

A young actress with a promising career ahead of her.


out of character

I was out of character for most of the first act because those people in the third row wouldn't stop chatting.

(idiomatic, acting) Not in character; not in the zone; not successfully performing within the mindset of a given character in a theatrical performance.

After watching him perform so energetically, it is a bit of a trip to hang out with him when he's out of character. In real life, he's really mellow.

Susan asked the GM, out of character, whether she was able to sense magic in the room.

The comedian stepped out of character to mug directly to the audience.

(idiomatic, acting, roleplaying games) Not acting; not "on"; behaving within one's natural personality rather than that of a character, or taking actions entirely outside the fictional context.


costar

The once famous actor objected to his costar having a bigger dressing room.

(acting) a person who shares star billing

Alas, always a costar but never a star.

(acting) a person who slightly lacks the status to be considered a star


cold read

cold read (third-person singular simple present cold reads, present participle cold reading, simple past and past participle cold read)

cold reads (present singular third-person)
cold reading (participle present)
cold read (participle past)
cold read (past)

At the audition you will be required to cold read a script.

(intransitive, transitive, acting, newsreading, education) To perform (a script) without preparation.


stage right

He enters stage right.

(acting) The area to the right of the stage when looking towards the audience.

näyttämöoikea

area to the right (facing audience) of the stage


stage right

en-adv

stage right (comparative more stage right, superlative most stage right)

more stage right (comparative)
most stage right (superlative)


stage left

(acting) The area to the left of the stage when looking towards the audience.

näyttämövasen

area to the left (facing audience) of the stage


stage left

stage left (comparative more stage left, superlative most stage left)

more stage left (comparative)
most stage left (superlative)


center stage

(acting) The area in the center of the stage, especially one towards the front.


spear carrier

[A]ctors would get annual raises through 2008, when even the lowliest spear carrier will make more than $1,500 a week for being on Broadway.

2004 July 15, Jesse McKinley, “Close Call On Broadway Had Its Roots On the Road”, in New York Times, retrieved 2014-03-19:

(acting) A person in a play or movie with a minimal part; an extra.


chew the scenery

en-verb

chew the scenery (third-person singular simple present chews the scenery, present participle chewing the scenery, simple past and past participle chewed the scenery)

chews the scenery (present singular third-person)
chewing the scenery (participle present)
chewed the scenery (participle past)
chewed the scenery (past)

Its earliest reference is listed in the Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang as being used by Mary Hallock Foote in Coeur D'Alene in 1894.http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20001024

The way the six stars chew the scenery is nothing compared to their abuse of one another.

1989 November 27, David Denby, “A Farewell to Arms [review of Steel Magnolias]”, in New York Magazine:

Starring as a Great White Hope police commissioner sent to clean up Washington, D.C., Nelson displays a set of pipes barely hinted at in his years on "Coach," spending the long pilot hour barking, bloviating, singing(!) and generally chewing the scenery.

2006 October 11, James Poniewozik, “Fall TV Preview”, in Time:

(idiomatic, performing arts) To display excessive emotion or to act in an exaggerated manner while performing; to be melodramatic; to be flamboyant.

cabotiner

To perform in an excessively emotional or exaggerated manner


overact

overact (third-person singular simple present overacts, present participle overacting, simple past and past participle overacted)

overacts (present singular third-person)
overacting (participle present)
overacted (participle past)
overacted (past)

/ˌəʊvəɹˈækt/

He overacted his part.

If governments overact and become oppressive, the terrorists will have won, for their theory is that repression will eventually lead to revolution.

1989, Susheela Bhan, Terrorism: an Annotated Bibliography, page 116:

The scenework proves unsuccessful when Carmichael recalls not the source of her misandry but another episode of overacting, that of castratively biting off the moustache of an amorous man.

2016, Leslie H. Abramson, Hitchcock & the Anxiety of Authorship:

(chiefly acting) To act in an exaggerated manner.


overactor

/ˌoʊvɚˈæktɚ/

/ˌəʊvəɹˈæktə/


character actor

en-noun

character actor (plural character actors)

In an interview with Charlie Rose in November 1999, Johnny Depp stated that he really would like to be known as, and work as, a character actor. Depp cites Lon Chaney as his model and hero, “the greatest character actor of all time."

2007, Michael Blitz, Louise Krasniewicz, Johnny Depp: A Biography, page 91:

One of the great signature traits of the studio years in Hollywood was its wealth of character actors.

2008, John Fawell, The Hidden Art of Hollywood: In Defense of the Studio Era Film, page 141:

The character actor has a much less glamorous effect on their audiences, their impact being made more traditionally over time. Character actors are those who early in their careers discover the chameleon-like ability to play a great variety of roles, each time subsuming themselves into the part until they are almost unrecognisable.

2009, Gill Foreman, A Practical Guide to Working in Theatre, page 48:

But Renner, who’s less of a star and more of a great character actor, remains second fiddle to Hunt, whose future seems secure as the films continue to rake in profits.

2015 July 30, David Sims, “Why Tom Cruise's Personal Life Hasn't Hurt the Mission: Impossible Movies”, in The Atlantic, retrieved 2023-10-02:

Merkel is played by Katharina Thalbach, one of Germany's best-loved character actors.

2024 July 13, Guy Chazan, “Ex-chancellor's imagined career as a sleuth hits Italian TV”, in FT Weekend, page 2:

A supporting actor who specializes in playing eccentric or unusual roles.


reenactor

So we stare instead at a long dining tables with their collections of silver and porcelain and wander through restored kitchens full of re-enactors doing things to whole pigs.

2023 September 23, Tim Hayward, “Not so easy does it”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 19:

One who takes part in a historical reenactment.


hamfat

(US slang, acting) A low-grade actor; a ham or hamfatter.


hambone

HAMBONE — An unconvincing blackface dialectician.

1946, Radio Alphabet: A Glossary of Radio Terms, Hastings House, page 38:

Ferrell is the ubiquitous hambone, an affably oblivious man-child prone to shirtless prancing onscreen.

2009 February 15, Rob Salem, “When comedy geniuses unite”, in Toronto Star:

(US slang, acting) A ham; an eager or inferior performer


bit player

(theater, film) An actor who has a minor role in a production.


hamfatter

US, a. 1880. Possibly from a minstrel show song called The Ham-Fat Man (1863).

(US slang, acting) A low-grade actor; a ham.


actoress

(nonstandard) Alternative form of actress


character actress

character actress (plural character actresses)


acter

(uncommon, nonstandard) An actor, someone who or something which acts.


method acting

(acting) An acting technique in which the actor fully immerses themselves into the character they are playing.


tear a cat

en-verb

tear a cat (third-person singular simple present tears a cat, present participle tearing a cat, simple past tore a cat, past participle torn a cat)

tears a cat (present singular third-person)
tearing a cat (participle present)
tore a cat (past)
torn a cat (participle past)

Yet my chief humour is for a tyrant. I could play / Ercles rarely, or a part to tear a cat in, to make all split.

c. 1595–1596, William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, act 1, scene 2:

Sirha is this you would rend and teare the Cat / Upon a Stage, and now march like drown'd rat?

c. 1599, John Marston, Histriomastix, act 5, scene 1, page [53]:

Till, in his periwig combustion / Will. Shakespeare sounds like Irish fustian, / In which Macready tears a cat, / And Shiel, the patriot, writes so pat;

1835, George Daniel, “The Conversazione”, in The Modern Dunciad, William Pickering, page 224:

From this performance there is no doubt in anyone's mind that Hamlet is an amateur actor having a fling at histrionics, or as Guthrie might say, "tearing a cat."

1970, Alfred Rossi, Minneapolis Rehearsals: Tyrone Guthrie Directs Hamlet, University of California Press, →ISBN, page 21:

(obsolete, idiomatic, acting) To overact; to violently rant and rave on stage.


Oscarworthy

en-adj

Oscarworthy (comparative more Oscarworthy, superlative most Oscarworthy)

more Oscarworthy (comparative)
most Oscarworthy (superlative)


break character

en-verb

break character (third-person singular simple present breaks character, present participle breaking character, simple past broke character, past participle broken character)

breaks character (present singular third-person)
breaking character (participle present)
broke character (past)
broken character (participle past)

Once Lynne and I realized that Jim was going to approach the role of Kaufman in a “method acting,” Kaufmanesque kind of way—i.e., he would become Andy or Tony Clifton for the entire shoot, never breaking character […]

2014, Bob Zmuda, Lynne Margulies, Andy Kaufman: The Truth, Finally, BenBella Books, →ISBN, page 43:

(intransitive, acting) To fail to act as a certain character; to be or act out of character.


tear-cat

Fie upon't, mere fustian; I had rather hear two good bawdy jests then a whole play of such tear-cat thunder-claps.

1606, John Day, The Isle of Gulls, in White, Thomas, editor, The Old English Drama, volume 4, published 1830, Induction, page 15:

I am cal'd by those that have seen my valour, Tear-Cat.

1611, Thomas Middleton, Thomas Dekker, The Roaring Girl, act 5, scene 1:


bold star

(chiefly Philippines, sometimes derogatory) An actor or actress who appear mainly in bold films.


scene-stealing

en-adj

scene-stealing (comparative more scene-stealing, superlative most scene-stealing)

more scene-stealing (comparative)
most scene-stealing (superlative)

The Pied Piper (20th Century-Fox) pipes sumptuous Monty ("The Beard") Woolley out of his wheel chair for the first time since he began playing The Man Who Came to Dinner (TIME, Jan. 26) three years ago. The change is good for him. The belligerent old nanny goat turns into a very human portrait of a crotchety, kindly Englishman caught in France by the Nazi invasion. But kindliness does not prevent elegant Actor Woolley from walking off with the picture against the trying competition of six scene-stealing children.

1942 August 10, “Cinema: New Picture [film review of The Pied Piper]”, in Time, archived from the original on 2013-08-25:

They are also very sympathetic, especially Caesar's orangutan advisor, Maurice (Karin Konoval), who takes a shine to a human moppet (Amiah Miller) he finds hiding in the back of a shack, and the poignant Bad Ape (a scene-stealing Steve Zahn), a mangy chimp who was beaten so often in his zoo-animal days that he came to believe what his handlers were shouting was supposed to be his name.

2017 July 7, Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, “The Ambitious War For The Planet Of The Apes Ends Up Surrendering to Formula”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 2017-11-27:

steals the scene
steal the scene#English

That steals the scene (“dominates a performance through charisma, humour, or powerful acting”).

Academy Award for Best Actress
Katharine Hepburn
Spencer Tracy


tear-mouth

You grow rich, do you, and purchase, you twopenny tear-mouth?

1601, Ben Jonson, Poetaster, act 3, scene 1:

How would you, or how do you think I should, relish being the object of such a letter as Kean wrote t'other day to a poor author, who, though a pedantic blockhead, had at least the right to be treated as a gentleman by a copper-laced two-penny tearmouth, rendered mad by conceit and success?

1819 April 21, Sir Walter Scott, [Letter to Robert Southey]:


makeup call

The director scheduled the makeup call for 30 minutes before the play started.

The model had to rush to get to her 8:30 makeup call.

(acting, modeling) A verbal or written request, or a scheduled time, for actors or models to be available for the application of cosmetics, hairstyling, etc. prior to a performance or photography session.


leading man

The type of conventionally handsome and approachable man who is perceived as being capable of playing male lead roles in movies or other productions.


yes and

en-verb

yes and (third-person singular simple present yes ands, present participle yes anding, simple past and past participle yes anded)

yes ands (present singular third-person)
yes anding (participle present)
yes anded (participle past)
yes anded (past)

From a well-known rule in improv acting, wherein improvised lines must (figuratively) be answered with yes and... in order to continue the scene.

If Lord Buckley made standup courageous, then Lenny Bruce “yes anded” that and ushered in standup for a new age

2011, Margaret Hicks, Chicago Comedy: A Fairly Serious History:

(acting) To go along with what is offered, especially in a performative context, and to accept and expand upon it; to go with the flow; to take it in stride.


aragoto

A style of kabuki acting that uses exaggerated, dynamic movements and utterances.


tread the boards

tread the boards (third-person singular simple present treads the boards, present participle treading the boards, simple past trod the boards or treaded the boards, past participle trodden the boards or trod the boards or treaded the boards)

term-label

(intransitive, idiomatic, dated or humorous)

treads the boards (present singular third-person)
treading the boards (participle present)
trod the boards (past)
treaded the boards (past)
trodden the boards (participle past)
trod the boards (participle past)
treaded the boards (participle past)

/ˌtɹɛd ðə ˈbɔːdz/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-tread the boards.wav

From the fact that theatre stages are often made of wooden boards which are trodden by actors. Compare French monter sur les planches.

He seems to think that he's the greatest actor who's ever trod the boards.

[…] I vvent, on the follovving morning, to the theatre to rehearſe; and my ignorance of ſome ſtage cuſtoms, vvhen I arrived there, vvas eaſily conſtrued into my confuſion, at rehearſing in a ſtrange company, vvhich any one vvho has ever trodden the boards, knovvs to be a much more formidable ordeal, than the actual performance at night; […]

1799, Francis Lathom, “The Second Part of the Same Story”, in Men and Manners, […], volume III, London: […] J. Wright, […]; and H. D. Symonds, […], →OCLC, page 215:

How do I know she would have succeeded? She had never then trod the boards. Besides, what strikes you as so good in a village show, may be poor enough in a metropolitan theatre.

1857, Pisistratus Caxton [pseudonym; Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter VIII, in What will He Do with It? (Collection of British Authors; CCCCVII), Tauchnitz edition, volume I, Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz, →OCLC, book I, page 60:

The sleek bigot of the conventicle is a more superb actor than the applauded mime who treads the boards.

1867, Thomas Lake Harris, chapter II, in Arcana of Christianity: An Unfolding of the Celestial Sense of the Divine Word, […] Part III.—The Apocalypse, volume I, New York, N.Y., London: Brotherhood of the New Life, →OCLC, section 234, page 125:

This actress was an amiable woman; and Madge enacted Celia in "As You Like It" at her benefit without any revival of the dread of Shakspeare [i.e., William Shakespeare] which the tragedian had implanted in her. She was now beginning to tread the boards with familiar ease. At first, the necessity of falling punctually into prearranged positions on the stage, and of making her exits and entrances at prescribed sides, had so preoccupied her that all freedom of attention or identification of herself with the character she represented had been impossible.

1881 (date written), George Bernard Shaw, chapter VIII, in Love among the Artists, Chicago, Ill.: Herbert S. Stone and Company […], published 1900, →OCLC, book I, page 156:

Jack and Stephen, treading the boards together in Dublin, could not be summoned so fast.

1957, Lillian de la Torre, “The Tragic Muse”, in The Actress; being the Story of Sarah Siddons […], Edinburgh, New York, N.Y.: Thomas Nelson & Sons, →OCLC, page 201:

As Mac Wellman's Crowbar so powerfully suggests, every performance, like every theatre building, is haunted by what has come before, by the ghosts of characters and actors who have trod the boards.

1999 May, David Savran, “Introduction: The Haunted Stage”, in The Playwright’s Voice: American Dramatists on Memory, Writing and the Politics of Culture, New York, N.Y.: Theatre Communications Group, →ISBN, page xvii:

He spent eight years before the war treading the boards as a professional actor in repertory theaters in Manchester.

2018, Gordon Corera, Operation Columba: The Secret Pigeon Service: The Untold Story of World War II Resistance in Europe, New York, N.Y.: William Morrow and Company, →ISBN:

Low comedy. Not fit for a thespian like me. If you want burletta, go to a saloon. I, sir, am Sir Theodore Cannon, and have treaded the boards with Booth, and with Bartlett.

2019, William W[allace] Johnstone, with J. A. Johnstone, chapter 36, in The Jackals, New York, N.Y.: Pinnacle Books, Kensington Publishing Corp., →ISBN, page 357:


leading lady

A woman who does or can play the lead role in a movie, play or other production; a woman who frequently plays such roles.

The type of conventionally beautiful and approachable woman who is perceived as being capable of playing female lead roles in movies or other productions.


stage kiss

"There's a stage kiss," she said. "I can't have my make-up ruined."

1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1965, →OCLC, page 178:

A kiss performed by actors on a stage, in a film, etc., thus simulating but lacking genuine romantic or sexual emotion.


actroid

A form of android that can function as an actor / actress


chemistry read

An audition in which a pair of actors attempt to demonstrate mutual "chemistry" (i.e., rapport).


table read

Leseprobe

only for performed arts, i.e. with rehearsals


space work

(acting) The skill of handling imaginary objects and locations as part of a performance, especially in improv acting.


Greek it

en-verb

Greek it (third-person singular simple present Greeks it, present participle Greeking it, simple past and past participle Greeked it)

Greeks it (present singular third-person)
Greeking it (participle present)
Greeked it (participle past)
Greeked it (past)

[Drinking...] sometimes as many together as there were letters contained in the names of their mistresses... Insomuch that those were prouerbially said to greeke it that quaft in that fashion.

1615, George Sandys, “The First Booke”, in The Relation of a Iourney Begun An: Dom: 1610. […], London: […] [Richard Field] for W. Barrett, →OCLC, page 79:

(obsolete) To act like a Greek, especially the Ancient Greeks.

Supper being over, the lawyer took his leave, and the doctor began to ſound the learned clerk reſpecting his proficiency in the dead languages. "As to dead languages," replied the ſchoolmafter, "I was once a vaſt pretty ſcholar indeed, but want of exercise has made me main ſlack—I can't get over my ground as I uſed to do. Then as to the t'other dead fellow, I could never greek it at all, that's flat. And, Lord bleſs you! my Latin is of no more uſe to me here than—than—" Here he ſtuck for want of a ſimile; when Mr. Le Dupe helped him out by ſaying, "that it is to a young man at college, where it is conſidered a pedantic inſult, and an unpardonable bore, to utter a Latin ſentence."

1799, Edward Dubois, A Piece of Family Biography, volume II, page 20:

(obsolete) To study the Ancient Greek language.


run lines

run lines (third-person singular simple present runs lines, present participle running lines, simple past ran lines, past participle run lines)

runs lines (present singular third-person)
running lines (participle present)
ran lines (past)
run lines (participle past)

Reporters: When you're not on stage, get together and run lines. As Sheriff Hartman can tell you, ... That group got together regularly to run lines and had great success. ... Using the Grief Sheet to Improve Community Theatre.

2002, Kenneth Anderson, Good Grief! Using the Grief Sheet to Improve Community Theatre Production: Telling the Story Better Than It Has Ever Been Told, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 274:

In "Barrymore," Mr. Luce imagines that the actor, one month before his death, has taken over a Broadway theater for an evening to run lines from "Richard III," in anticipation of possibly recreating the role that provided him with his[…]

2014 October 13, C. S. Smith, The New York Times Theater Reviews 1997-1998, Routledge, →ISBN, page 51:

(acting) To practice or memorize one's lines from a script outside of rehearsal, usually with another person.


stage presence

en-noun

stage presence (countable and uncountable, plural stage presences)

The ability to command the attention of an audience while performing before them.


voice acting

voice acting (countable and uncountable, plural voice actings)

The art, occupation, or performance of a voice actor.