Acting is the work of an actor or actress, which is a person in theatre, television, film, or any other storytelling medium who tells the story by portraying a character and, usually, speaking or singing the written text or play.

Most early sources in the West that examine the art of acting (Greek: ὑπόκρισις, hypokrisis) discuss it as part of rhetoric.

One of the first actors is believed to be an ancient Greek called Thespis of Icaria. An apocryphal story says that Thespis stepped out of the dithyrambic chorus and spoke to them as a separate character. Before Thespis, the chorus narrated (for example, "Dionysus did this, Dionysus said that"). When Thespis stepped out from the chorus, he spoke as if he was the character (for example, "I am Dionysus. I did this"). From Thespis' name derives the word thespian.

Acting requires a wide range of skills, including vocal projection, clarity of speech, physical expressivity, emotional facility, a well-developed imagination, and the ability to interpret drama. Acting also often demands an ability to employ dialects, accents and body language, improvisation, observation and emulation, mime, and stage combat. Many actors train at length in special programs or colleges to develop these skills, and today the vast majority of professional actors have undergone extensive training. Even though one actor may have years of training, they always strive for more lessons; the cinematic and theatrical world is always changing and because of this, the actor must stay as up to date as possible. Actors and actresses will often have many instructors and teachers for a full range of training involving, but not limited to, singing, scene-work, monologue techniques, audition techniques and partner work.

Bradley Charles Cooper (born January 5, 1975) is an American film, theater, and television actor. He is known for his roles in the films The Hangover, The A-Team, Wedding Crashers, and Limitless. In 2011, People magazine named Cooper "Sexiest Man Alive".

Cooper was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and grew up in nearby Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. His mother, Gloria (née Campano), is Italian-American, and his father, Charles J. Cooper, was Irish-American and worked as a stockbroker for Merrill Lynch. He has one sister named Holly. Cooper was raised Catholic. While attending Germantown Academy, Cooper worked at the Philadelphia Daily News. After graduating from Germantown Academy in 1993, he attended Villanova University for his freshman year, then transferred to Georgetown University, from which he graduated with an honors BA in English in 1997. Cooper became fluent in French at Georgetown and spent six months as an exchange student in Aix-en-Provence, France. Later, in 2000, he received an MFA in acting from Actors Studio Drama School at The New School in New York City.

Jeffrey Michael Tambor (born July 8, 1944) is an American actor and voice actor, perhaps best known for his roles as Hank Kingsley on The Larry Sanders Show, and George Bluth Sr. and Oscar Bluth on Arrested Development.

Tambor was born in San Francisco, California, the son of Eileen (née Salzberg), a housewife, and Michael Bernard "Mike" Tambor, a flooring contractor. He grew up in a Conservative Jewish family with roots in Hungary and Russia. Tambor is a graduate of San Francisco State University, where he studied acting and then went on to receive a master's degree from Wayne State University.

Tambor first moved to repertory theater, later making his Broadway debut in the comedy Sly Fox (1976), appearing with George C. Scott and directed by Arthur Penn. He appeared in Measure For Measure in the same year. In 1979 he starred in Norman Jewison's ...And Justice For All, as a lawyer friend of the protagonist, Arthur Kirkland (Al Pacino). In an early TV job, an ad for Avis rent-a-car, he was seen running (huffing and puffing) through an airport, mocking O.J. Simpson's "Go, O.J., go!" ads for Hertz. He has had a significant career in episodic TV, where he made numerous guest appearances on different shows, including Taxi, Kojak, M*A*S*H, The Golden Girls, and Three's Company. In 1979 Tambor got his first role as a main character in television in the short-lived show The Ropers. Throughout the 1980s Tambor had a recurring role on Hill Street Blues. In 1987 and 1988, Tambor appeared as a regular on the prime time ABC series Max Headroom as Murray, Edison's editor. Later, he would have success co-starring in The Larry Sanders Show.

Sir Michael Caine, CBE (born Maurice Joseph Micklewhite; 14 March 1933) is an English actor.

Caine is one of two actors nominated for an Academy Award for acting in every decade from the 1960s to 2000s, the other one being Jack Nicholson. In 2000, Caine was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of his contribution to cinema.

Caine was born in St Olave's Hospital, Rotherhithe, Southwark in South East London, the son of Ellen Frances Marie (née Burchell; 1900-1989), a cook and charwoman, and Maurice Joseph Micklewhite, a fish market porter. His father was of English, Irish, and, reportedly, Irish Traveller ancestry. Caine was brought up in his mother's Protestant religion (his father was Catholic).

Caine grew up in Southwark, South London, and during the Second World War he was evacuated to North Runcton near King's Lynn in Norfolk. After the war, when his father was demobilised, the family was rehoused by the council in Marshall Gardens at the Elephant and Castle in a pre-fabricated house made in Canada, as much of London's housing stock had been damaged during the Blitz in 1940-41.

Robert De Niro (pronounced /dəˈnɪəroʊ/; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor, director and producer. His first major film roles were in Bang the Drum Slowly and Mean Streets, both in 1973. In 1974, he played the young Vito Corleone in The Godfather Part II, a role that won him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

His critically acclaimed, longtime collaborations with Martin Scorsese began with 1973's Mean Streets, and earned De Niro an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Jake LaMotta in the 1980 film Raging Bull. He was also nominated for an Academy Award for his roles in Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976) and Cape Fear (1991). In addition, he received nominations for his acting in Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter (1978) and Penny Marshall's Awakenings (1990). Also in 1990, his portrayal as Jimmy Conway in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas earned him a BAFTA nomination.

He has earned four nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy: New York, New York (1977), Midnight Run (1988), Analyze This (1999) and Meet the Parents (2000). De Niro directed A Bronx Tale (1993) and The Good Shepherd (2006). He has received accolades for his esteemed career, including the AFI Life Achievement Award and the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award.