Acting

Lore & Background

One of the first known actors was an ancient Greek called Thespis of Icaria in Athens. Writing two centuries after the event, Aristotle in his Poetics (c. Before Thespis, the chorus narrated; when Thespis stepped out, he spoke as if he were the character. From the Greek actor Thespis' name derives the word 'thespian'. Conservatories and drama schools typically offer two- to four-year training on all aspects of acting. Universities mostly offer three- to four-year programs. In North America the most popular method taught derives from the 'system' of Konstantin Stanislavski, developed and popularised in America as method acting by Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, Sanford Meisner, and others. Other approaches may include a more physically based orientation, such as that promoted by Anne Bogart, Jacques Lecoq, Jerzy Grotowski, or Vsevolod Meyerhold. Some classical forms of acting involve a substantial element of improvised performance, most notably by the troupes of the commedia dell'arte. Improvisation as an approach to acting formed an important part of Stanislavski's 'system' of actor training. In the United Kingdom, the use of improvisation was pioneered by Joan Littlewood from the 1930s onwards and, later, by Keith Johnstone and Clive Barker. In the United States, it was promoted by Viola Spolin.

Reader's Guide

Acting's significance lies in its foundational role in storytelling across media, from ancient Greek theatre to modern film and television. The term 'thespian' derives from the first known actor, Thespis, who introduced the practice of speaking as a character rather than narrating. This shift, noted by Aristotle, established the mimetic mode that defines acting. Training has evolved into formal programs at conservatories and universities, with the Stanislavski system and its American offshoots—method acting—dominating North American pedagogy. Improvisation, rooted in commedia dell'arte and later developed by practitioners like Stanislavski and Spolin, remains a key tool for both training and performance creation. Acting also has measurable physiological effects: while all actors experience elevated heart rates during performance, more experienced actors show less heart rate variability, indicating reduced stress. The semiotics of acting involves how performance elements become signs for audiences, with an implicit obligation to accept the false reality of the performance. This legacy of enactment, training, and audience engagement continues to shape the art form.

Did You Know?

• One of the first known actors was Thespis of Icaria in Athens, from whose name derives the word 'thespian'.
• In North America, the most popular acting method derives from Konstantin Stanislavski's 'system', developed as method acting by Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, and Sanford Meisner.
• Improvisation was used by the troupes of the commedia dell'arte and later promoted in the US by Viola Spolin.

The Vast Landscape of Voice Performance

Voice acting encompasses a remarkably wide spectrum of creative and functional contexts. Beyond the familiar world of animated characters, performers lend their voices to off-screen roles in live-action films, dubbed foreign productions, television series, video games, and radio dramas. The craft extends further into audiobooks, documentaries, commercials, amusement park rides, puppet shows, and even theater productions where a character is never physically visible on stage. In the United Kingdom, this discipline holds particular prestige as a recognized dramatic profession, a status largely earned through the BBC Radio's extensive legacy of producing radio dramas. Voice actors may also simultaneously perform motion-capture work, and their roles frequently include singing for fictional characters, though a separate performer is sometimes brought in specifically for vocal performance. Non-fictional voice acting permeates everyday modern life through pre-recorded and automated announcements in stores, elevators, waiting rooms, and public transport. The profession thus spans entertainment, education, and the mundane infrastructure of daily life, making it one of the most versatile performing arts.

Narration and the Architecture of Storytelling

Narration in voice acting refers to the spoken commentary a performer delivers to convey a story to an audience. The narrator functions as either a personal character within the narrative or a non-personal voice crafted by the story's creator to deliver plot information. In traditional literary forms like novels, short stories, and memoirs, narration is a required structural element. In contrast, non-literary narratives such as plays, television shows, video games, and films treat narration as optional. The voice actor performing the narrator is responsible for delivering the scripted lines assigned to them. Meanwhile, in character voice work, producers and agencies actively seek a wide variety of vocal styles—booming voices for dramatic productions, cute and young-sounding voices for trendier markets, or natural everyday-sounding voices—each finding its proper place when used in the correct context. Audio dramas offer particular creative freedom because there is no need to synchronize a dub with an original actor's performance or an animated character's movements.

Commercial Voice-Over and Technical Craft

Commercial advertising represents one of the most common applications of voice acting, with sub-genres spanning television, radio, film, and online platforms, each demanding its own distinct style. Television commercials typically employ a narrow, flat inflection pattern, while radio spots—particularly local ones—tend toward a very wide, almost over-the-top inflection. A notable technical practice in this field is de-breathing, the artificial removal of breaths from recorded audio to prevent the audience from being distracted from the commercial message. While de-breathing was traditionally confined to commercial advertising, it has since become increasingly common across many other types of voice acting. Additionally, automated dialogue replacement—known as looping in the US and post-synchronization in the UK—involves re-recording dialogue after filming to improve audio quality, clarify context, refine diction and timing, or replace an accented vocal performance.

The AI Revolution and Industry Pushback

Since the late 2010s, software capable of modifying and generating human voices has grown increasingly prevalent, posing a direct challenge to voice actors' livelihoods. The following year, video game developer Ubisoft employed speech synthesis to give thousands of characters distinguished voices in Watch Dogs: Legion, and Google announced its own text-to-speech solution. The entertainment industry reacted strongly and negatively to these developments. SAG-AFTRA celebrated its deal with AI company Replica Studios as a breakthrough, citing its supposed ability to give actors greater control over licensing their voice and governing how it may be used.