Extra (acting)

A background actor or extra is a performer in a film, television show, stage, musical, opera or ballet production, who appears in a nonspeaking or nonsinging (silent) capacity, usually in the background (for example, in an audience or busy street scene). War films and epic films often employ background actors in large numbers: some films have featured hundreds or even thousands of paid background actors as cast members (hence the term 'cast of thousands'). Likewise, grand opera can involve many background actors appearing in spectacular productions.

On a film or TV set, background actors are usually referred to as "background talent", "background performers", "background artists", "background cast members" or simply "background" while the term "extra" is rarely used. In a stage production, background actors are commonly referred to as "supernumeraries". In opera and ballet, they are called either "extras" or "supers".

Casting

Casting criteria for background actors depend on the production. It has been said that background cast members often require little or no acting experience. This is not entirely true, as any type of unrealistic portrayal must include some form of imagination and acting. Punctuality, reliability and the ability to take direction also figure prominently for these cast members. Background actors are often selected on short notice, after all other preparations for the shoot have been finalized.

Extra

Extra or Xtra may refer to:

Stage and screen

Computing

Publications

Music

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.

Ryan Reynolds

Ryan Rodney Reynolds (born October 23, 1976) is a Canadian actor and producer. He portrayed Michael Bergen on the ABC sitcom Two Guys and a Girl (1998–2001), Billy Simpson in the YTV Canadian teen soap opera Hillside (1991–93), as well as Marvel Comics characters Hannibal King in Blade: Trinity (2004) and Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) and Deadpool (2016).

Reynolds has starred in films such as National Lampoon's Van Wilder (2002), The Amityville Horror (2005), Definitely, Maybe (2008), The Proposal (2009), Buried (2010), The Change-Up (2011), Safe House (2012), The Voices (2014), Mississippi Grind (2015), and Woman in Gold (2015). He also portrayed the Hal Jordan version of the DC Comics superhero Green Lantern in the film of the same name (2011).

He has made cameos in popular films such as Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004), Ted (2012), and A Million Ways to Die in the West (2014).

Early life

Ryan Rodney Reynolds was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. His father, James Chester "Jim" Reynolds (1941–2015), was a food wholesaler, and his mother, Tammy, is a retail salesperson. He is of Irish ancestry and was raised as a Roman Catholic. The youngest of four brothers, he graduated from Kitsilano Secondary School in Vancouver in 1994. He attended Kwantlen Polytechnic University, also in Vancouver, until dropping out. Two of his elder brothers work as police officers in British Columbia, one of whom is a Royal Canadian Mounted Police member.