30 Acting Terms You Need to Know

Are you a beginning actor who wants to appear more knowledgeable around other actors? Or maybe you are a seasoned actor who simply wants to brush up on their industry jargon? Either way, you have come to the right place!

I've compiled a short list of 30 film industry terms that all actors need to know. If you read through this glossary and think I should add one or two, or you have a question about them, please let me know! The purpose of providing these terms are for the benefit of all.

Before the Audition

Agent: Your advocate as the actor. They can help to market you, set up auditions, and negotiate your pay rate.

Agency: This is what the agent works for and who you pay your commission to. (Ex. The agent Tom works for Talent Agency). There are normally multiple agents in an agency.

Headshot: An 8 x 10 picture of yourself from the chest up (see my headshot to the right) with your stage name printed clearly. This is given to agents, casting directors, and anyone in the industry who might use this to cast you in their next project.

Resume: A comprehensive list of your acting credits and experience on an 8 x 10 paper attached to the back of your headshot. Also included is your stage name, agency information, and physical stats.

Demo Reel: A kind of montage of some of your best on-camera work. This video is shown to potential agents, as well as casting directors. Many actors are booked directly from their headshot, resume, and/or demo reel.

Breakdown: A list of the types of characters needed to be cast for a project. Agents receive breakdowns and then submit you for an audition if you fit their descriptions. It can include gender, age, ethnicity, personality traits, small character background, and even accents preferred. [You can find tons of actor breakdowns and audition opportunities at Actors Access or Casting Networks].

Type: What kind of characters you can play (villain, princess, jock, etc). [Read about the difference between being typecast and branding here].

Age Range: Which ages you realistically can look like (16-20, 30-40, etc).

Actor Breakdowns

At the Audition

Casting Director: A person in charge of casting a project. They decide whether you get the chance to audition, then decide if you make the cut or not. They also act as the liaison between the agent/actor and the director/producer of the project.

Reader: A secondary person in the audition room meant to read the other parts of the dialogue opposite the actor.

Audition: A chance to prove you should get the role, typically in front of a casting director and a camera. You might perform sides, do a monologue, or just plain improvisation.

Callback: A follow-up audition for the casting director. In some cases, the director, producer, and/or writer are also present. You could have one or more callbacks before the final role has been chosen, but you should have your sides completely memorized for a callback.

Monologue: A chunk of text that one character is saying aloud (aka not dialogue). Casting directors might want to see you perform a one minute monologue to gauge your acting ability.

Dialogue: Part of a script that has more than one person speaking, typically in conversational form.

Script: The complete dialogue and direction for a certain film or television show.

Sides: A small portion of the script used when auditioning. It can range from one line to multiple pages of text.

Cold Read: Auditioning with sides that were just handed to you within the last 24 hours.

Mark: The place on the floor where you need to stand. In auditions, it will regularly be a T-shaped piece of tape on the ground to stand on. While filming, it might be seen with tape, but if it is not clearly "marked," you just need to memorize exactly where to stand each time.

Slate: To state your name and agency, if applicable, before you begin your audition. This is said directly to the camera as an introduction to who you are as a person, not your character. Children under the age of 18 also state their age.

Cheat: To turn your body or face slightly towards the audience or camera for better visibility. You can spot this often in scenes with two people conversing because they will not be standing directly toward each other.

After the Audition

Call Sheet for Squatty Potty Commercial

Booking: You are "booked" when your agent tells you that you got the job.

Call Sheet: A document given to you before filming that shows when and where each cast and crew member needs to be on set for that day. [Read about my day on set of a Squatty Potty commercial here].

Principal: An actor whose face is shown clearly on screen and has lines to speak.

Extra: A background actor, not necessarily seen. (Ex. The other guests at a restaurant).

Craft Services: A table on set with snacks and drinks for everyone to partake of. It can also be catered.

Union: SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists). American labor union that serves to represent artists. If you are booked on a union project, you might get paid more.

Non-Union: An actor or project that is not associated with an actor's union.

Residuals: Being paid every time your project is broadcast.

Buy-Out: Being paid a flat fee rather than residuals.

Wrap: "That's a wrap!" Signifying the end of the day's work or the end of filming an entire project.

Acting Terminology:
Terms & Definitions for Working Actors

Like any profession, Acting has its own vocabulary, including modernized definitions of long-standing terms, as well as, it's own unique set of modern actor slang.

What's the best way to learn the most important acting terms and definitions? We believe the best way is to ALWAYS be involved in the tradecraft of acting. One old definition of a Working Actor says that if an actor is not working in a show or film, they're working in an acting class. That's true now, as well. Learn the lingo by doing, not just memorizing a list.

A Strong Acting Vocabulary gives you much more confidence, whether you're in class, out on an audition, or working onstage or on-set.

Build your acting vocabulary by getting experience wherever you can: in community theatre, by volunteering at your local TV station, by taking classes not only in acting, but also voice, dance, tv/film acting, commercial acting, and much more

To get you started, here's a brief list of acting terms with brief definitions. We will be covering terms used by both stage and camera actors, and will be expanding and organizing this list FREQUENTLY so check back often for more entries.

Part I: Just a Few Basic Acting Terms - most of which are used in both stage and tv/film acting...

Working Actor: An actor who when not working in a show, is working in a class.

Blocking: Where the actor is told to move in the acting area (stage) by the director. So, a Blocking Rehearsal is mostly about giving the actors their movements, and is less focused on characterization and acting. A Camera Blocking rehearsal in TV is about giving the camera operators their movement and framing instructions.

Cross: When an actor moves (walks) across the acting area: left, right, up or down.

Upstage: In blocking, it's that part of the acting area (stage) that is away from the audience. In the old days of raked stages (tilted higher toward the back so the audience could see better) it was literally UP. In acting slang, it also means taking away the audience's attention from another actor.

Above: Toward upstage.

Going Up: Don't get either of the terms just above confused with "Going Up", which means forgetting your lines. When an actor forgets their next line during a rehearsal, it's common for them to say, "Sorry, I'm up." In the same scenario, an actor could also just simply say, "Line," and the stage/script manager will read them their next line. In NO case, should an on-camera actor say "Cut" if they forget their line or blocking -- that term is exclusively reserved for the director.

Downstage: The opposite of upstage, the acting area toward the audience.

Below: Toward downstage.

Whenever a show or shoot ends, you should not wait more than a week or so to get back into your workshops or classes.

Stage Right/Left: That part of the acting area that would be to the actor's right side when he is facing the audience. Stage Left, would obviously then be to the actor's left side. So, in blocking rehearsals, if an actor is instructed to "cross downstage left" it means to move across the stage in the direction of the audience and toward the left.

Camera Right/Left: For on-camera actors, it's the direction on the screen that the director/cinematographer sees, from the point of view of the camera that is shooting the scene. So, essentially it might be the opposite of the terms Stage Right and Left. Generally speaking, a tv/film director might speak in stage directions while they are blocking, and camera directions when they step behind the camera, or watch the recording monitors. Best practice if the actor is confused as to which left or right the director means, is just ask "Stage right, or camera right?"

In One: This is a stage acting blocking term, but is sometimes also used by film directors if they have some stage experience. It's the acting area just above (upstage) of the curtain line, and below (downstage)the first vertical side curtain (leg). Many star entrances in the theater occur down right, in one.

Backstage: Strictly speaking, it's the area behind the stage. In the theater, this is usually where the actors' dressing rooms are located. In most theaters there is a passageway backstage so that the actors can make entrances either from the left of right.

Offstage: Again, strictly speaking, it's the areas the audience can't see to the left and right of the acting area, usually masked from the audience's view by tall black curtains, called legs or torms. Most of the stage crew and tech related items such as props and set pieces are located Off Left or Off Right.

In the Wings: Basically this means the same as immediately Off Left or Off Right between the side curtains and just out of view of the audience. It is a more actor centered term. Usually an actor who is in the wings is waiting for their entrance, or has just made their exit from the stage. If you are asked to "Hold in the wings" it means to wait quietly just offstage.

Flats: A scenic element that is made up of a wood or metal frame and usually covered with stretched and painted cloth so that it appears to the audience to be a solid wall or surface. Flats are the most basic element of stage and film scenery.

Legs/Tormentors (Torms): These are the tall vertical curtains (or black flats) that hide (mask) the offstage areas left and right.

Borders/Teasers: These are the wide horizontal curtains or flats over the acting area that conceal the lights and other technical stuff overhead.

Open: Turn toward the audience or camera.

Close: Turn away from the audience or camera.

Cheat (Cheat Open): Open your body/face in the direction of the camera or audience while maintaining visual and emotional contact with another character who is usually upstage of you.

VOICE & VOCAL PERFORMANCE RELATED TERMS:

Lines: The dialogue. "Memorize your lines" means to memorize what your character has to say.

Cue: Something that motivates an actor's action or verbal response. For example, it could be another actor's line that cues your line, or a sound effect that cues your blocking, or the director yelling the cue "Action."

Rate: How fast or slow you say or do something.

Pacing: The time between spoken lines. A slow pacing means there's more time between the lines. Fast pacing means your line comes immediately after your cue line. Pacing can even overlap, meaning you don't even wait for the previous line to complete before you "break in" to say yours.

Breaking In: Not waiting for the end of your cue before you say or do something.

Projection: Primarily used in the theater, it means to produce your voice with enough volume and clarity so that it can be understood in the back of the hall.

Diction: The clarity and understandability of your spoken words .Many inexperienced actors drop the ending consonants of their words, making what they are saying difficult to understand.