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The gender-neutral term ''player'' was common in film in the early days of the ], but is now generally deemed ]. However, it remains in use in the theatre, often incorporated into the name of a theatre group or company (such as the ]). The gender-neutral term ''player'' was common in film in the early days of the ], but is now generally deemed ]. However, it remains in use in the theatre, often incorporated into the name of a theatre group or company (such as the ]).

== Techniques ==
=== Method acting ===
{{Main|Method acting}}
Method acting is a technique developed from the acting ] created in the early ] by ] in his work at the ] and its studios. The ] first popularised the Method in the 1930s; it was subsequently advanced and developed in new directions by ] at the ] in the 1940s and 50s.<ref>
{{cite web
|url=http://www.nytimes.com/1987/05/04/opinion/l-where-the-gurus-of-method-acting-part-811787.html
|title=Where the Gurus of Method Acting Part
|publisher=The New York Times
|date=4 May 1987|accessdate=2009-03-28
|last=Hornby
|first=Richard
}}
</ref>
In Stanislavski's "system" the actor analyses deeply the motivations and emotions of the character in order to personify him or her with psychological realism and emotional authenticity. Using the Method, an actor recalls emotions or reactions from his or her own life and uses them to identify with the character being portrayed.

Method actors are often characterized as immersing themselves so totally in their characters that they continue to portray them even off-stage or off-camera for the duration of the project. However, this is a popular misconception. While some actors do employ this approach, it is generally not taught as part of the Method. ], who was a member of the Group Theatre, along with Strasberg, emphasised a different approach of using creative imagination.<ref name=stel>{{cite web
|url=http://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/22/obituaries/stella-adler-91-an-actress-and-teacher-of-the-method.html
|title=Stella Adler, 91, an Actress And Teacher of the Method
|publisher=The New York Times
|date=22 December 1992|accessdate=2009-03-28
|last=Flint
|first=Peter B.
}}
</ref>

Method acting offered a systematized training that developed internal abilities (sensory, psychological, emotional); it revolutionized ].<ref name=stel />

=== Presentational and representational acting ===
{{Main|Presentational acting and Representational acting}}
Presentational acting refers to a relationship between actor and audience, whether by direct address or indirectly by specific use of language, looks, gestures or other ] indicating that the character or actor is aware of the audience's presence.<ref name=trumbull>
{{cite web
|url=http://novaonline.nv.cc.va.us/eli/spd130et/acting.htm#rep
|title=Introduction to Theatre -- The Actor
|publisher=novaonline.nv.cc.va.us
|accessdate=2009-03-28
|last=Trumbull
|first=Dr. Eric W
}}
</ref> (Shakespeare's use of ]ning and ], for example, often has this function of indirect contact.)

In representational acting, "actors want to make us "believe" they are the character; they pretend."<ref name=trumbull /> The illusion of the fourth wall with the audience as voyeurs is striven for.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://learn.midsouthcc.edu/LearningObjects/Fine%20Arts%20Theatre/rtfs/whatisthetheatre.rtf|title=What is the Theatre?|last=Field|first=Mary|work=Shared Learning Objects|publisher=Mid South Community College|format=rtf|accessdate=2009-03-28}}</ref>

=== As opposite sex ===
In the past, only men could become actors in some societies. In the ancient Greece and Rome<ref> 27 December 2002, BBC</ref> and the ], it was considered disgraceful for a woman to go on the stage, and this belief continued right up until the 17th century, when in ] it was broken. In the time of ], women's roles were generally played by men or boys.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://csmt.uchicago.edu/glossary2004/narrativelyricdrama.htm|title=narrative, lyric, drama|last=Neziroski |first=Lirim|date=2003|work=Theories of Media :: Keywords Glossary :: multimedia|publisher=University of Chicago|accessdate=2009-03-14|quote=For example, until the late 1600s, audiences were opposed to seeing women on stage, because they believed it reduced them to the status of showgirls and prostitutes. Even Shakespeare's plays were performed by boys dressed in drag.}}</ref> The British prohibition was ended in the reign of ] who enjoyed watching actresses on stage.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=980CEED7153FE533A2575BC1A9669D94649FD7CF|title=Women as actresses|date=18 October 1885|work=Notes and Queries|publisher=The New York Times|accessdate=2009-03-14|quote=There seems no doubt that actresses did not perform on the stage till the Restoration, in the earliest years of which Pepys says for the first time he saw an actress upon the stage. Charles II, must have brought the usage from the Continent, where women had long been employed instead of boys or youths in the representation of female characters.}}</ref> When an eighteen year ] prohibition of ] was lifted after the ] of 1660, women began to appear on stage in England. ] is credited by some as the first professional actress on the English stage.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1534673,00.html|title=Smallweed|last=Smallweed|date=23 July 2005|publisher=The Guardian|accessdate=2009-03-14|quote="Whereas women's parts in plays have hitherto been acted by men in the habits of women ... we do permit and give leave for the time to come that all women's parts be acted by women," Charles II ordained in 1662. According to Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, the first actress to exploit this new freedom was Margaret Hughes, as Desdemona in Othello on December 8, 1660.}}</ref> The first occurrence of the term ''actress'' was in 1700 according to the ] and is ascribed to ].<ref name="latimes" />

In ], men (]) took over the female roles in ] theatre when women were banned from performing on stage during the ]. However, some forms of ] drama have women playing all the roles.

In modern times, women sometimes play the roles of ] boys. The stage role of ], for example, is traditionally played by a woman, as are most ]s in British ]. ] has several "]s" traditionally sung by women, usually ]s. Examples are Hansel in '']'', and ] in '']''. This is uncommon in film, however, except in ] films and television programmes, where boys are sometimes voiced by women. For example, in '']'' the voice of ] is provided by ].

Having an actor dress as the opposite sex for comic effect is also a long standing tradition in comic theatre and film. Most of Shakespeare's comedies include instances of overt ], such as ] in '']''. The movie '']'' stars ] dressing as a young bride. ] and ] famously posed as women to escape gangsters in the ] film '']''. Cross-dressing for comic effect was a frequently used device in most of the thirty ]. ] and ] have each appeared in a hit comedy film ('']'' and '']'', respectively) in which they played most scenes dressed as a woman.

Occasionally the issue is further complicated, for example, by a woman playing a woman acting as a man pretending to be a woman, like ] in '']'', or ] in '']''. In '']'', filmwatchers never learn the gender of the androgynous main characters Pat and Chris (played by ] and ]).

A few roles in modern films, plays and musicals are played by a member of the opposite sex (rather than a character cross-dressing), such as the character Edna Turnblad in ''Hairspray''—played by ] in the ], ] in the ], and ] in the ]. ] won an Academy Award for Best Actress for playing Billy Kwan in '']''. ] was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for playing Bree Osbourne (a man in the process of becoming a woman) in '']''.


== Acting awards == == Acting awards ==

Revision as of 18:22, 4 January 2010

For other uses, see Actor (disambiguation).

An actor or actress (see terminology) is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity. The ancient Greek word for an "actor," Template:Polytonic (hypokrites), means literally "one who interprets"; in this sense, an actor is one who interprets a dramatic character.

Terminology

The word actor refers to a person who acts regardless of sex, while actress refers specifically to a female person who acts; therefore a female can be referred to by either term. The Oxford English Dictionary states that originally "'actor" was used for both sexes. The English word actress does not derive from the Latin actrix, probably not even by way of French actrice; according to the Oxford English Dictionary, actress was "probably formed independently" in English. As actress is a specifically feminine word, some feminists assert that the word is sexist. Gender-neutral usage of actor has re-emerged in modern English, especially when referring to male and female performers collectively, but actress remains the common term used in major acting awards given to female recipients and is common in general usage.

The gender-neutral term player was common in film in the early days of the Production Code, but is now generally deemed archaic. However, it remains in use in the theatre, often incorporated into the name of a theatre group or company (such as the East West Players).

Acting awards

See also

References

  1. "Actor: Job description and activities". Prospects UK. Retrieved 2009-02-12.
  2. Hypokrites (related to our word for hypocrite) also means, less often, "to answer" the tragic chorus. See Weimann (1978, 2); see also Csapo and Slater, who offer translations of classical source material that utilises the term hypocrisis (acting) (1994, 257, 265–267).
  3. This is true whether the character than an actor plays is based on a real person or a fictional one, even themselves (when the actor is 'playing themselves,' as in some forms of experimental performance art, or, more commonly, as in John Malkovich's performance in the film Being John Malkovich); to act is to create a character in performance: "The dramatic world can be extended to include the 'author', the 'audience' and even the 'theatre'; but these remain 'possible' surrogates, not the 'actual' referents as such" (Elam 1980, 110).
  4. dictionary.com actor retrieved 13 November 2007
  5. Linden, Sheri (18 January 2009). "From actor to actress and back again". Entertainment. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2009-03-14. It would be several decades before the word "actress" appeared -- 1700, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, more than a century after the word "actor" was first used to denote a theatrical performer, supplanting the less professional-sounding "player."

Sources

  • Csapo, Eric, and William J. Slater. 1994. The Context of Ancient Drama. Ann Arbor: The U of Michigan P. ISBN 0472082752.
  • Elam, Keir. 1980. The Semiotics of Theatre and Drama. New Accents Ser. London and New York: Methuen. ISBN 0416720609.
  • Weimann, Robert. 1978. Shakespeare and the Popular Tradition in the Theater: Studies in the Social Dimension of Dramatic Form and Function. Ed. Robert Schwartz. Baltimore and London: The John Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0801835062.

Further reading

External links

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