Character (arts)

A character (or fictional character) is a person in a narrative work of art (such as a novel, play, television series or film). Derived from the ancient Greek word χαρακτήρ, the English word dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of "a part played by an actor" developed. Character, particularly when enacted by an actor in the theatre or cinema, involves "the illusion of being a human person." In literature, characters guide readers through their stories, helping them to understand plots and ponder themes. Since the end of the 18th century, the phrase "in character" has been used to describe an effective impersonation by an actor. Since the 19th century, the art of creating characters, as practiced by actors or writers, has been called characterisation.

A character who stands as a representative of a particular class or group of people is known as a type. Types include both stock characters and those that are more fully individualised. The characters in Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler (1891) and August Strindberg's Miss Julie (1888), for example, are representative of specific positions in the social relations of class and gender, such that the conflicts between the characters reveal ideological conflicts.

Actor

An actor (or actress for female) is one who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre, and/or in modern mediums such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is ὑποκριτής (hypokrites), literally "one who interprets". 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. In modern times, women occasionally played the roles of prepubescent boys.

Terminology

After 1660 in England, when women first started to appear on stage, the terms actor or actress were initially used interchangeably for female performers, but later, influenced by the French actrice, actress became the commonly used term for women in theatre and film. The etymology is a simple derivation from actor with ess added. Within the profession, the re-adoption of the neutral term dates to the 1950–1960s, the post-war period when the contributions of women to cultural life in general were being reviewed.Actress remains the common term used in major acting awards given to female recipients.

The Optimist (DD Smash album)

The Optimist is a 1984 album by the New Zealand band DD Smash led by Dave Dobbyn. The album reached number 6 on the New Zealand music charts and remained in the chart for 26 weeks.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Dave Dobbyn. 

References

External links

Screen Actors Guild Award

The Screen Actors Guild Award (also known as the SAG Award) is an accolade given by the Screen Actors Guild‐American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) to recognize outstanding performances in film and primetime television. The statuette given, a nude male figure holding both a mask of comedy and a mask of tragedy, is called "The Actor". It is 16 inches (41 cm) tall, weighs over 12 pounds (5.4 kg), is cast in solid bronze, and produced by the American Fine Arts Foundry in Burbank, California.

SAG Awards have been one of the major awards events in Hollywood since 1995. Nominations for the awards come from two committees, one for film and one for television, each numbering 2100 members of the union, randomly selected anew each year, with the full membership (165,000 as of 2012) available to vote for the winners. It is considered an indicator of success at the Academy Awards. The awards have been telecast since 1998 on TNT, and since 2007 have been simulcast on TBS.