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.

Jerry Seinfeld

Jerome Allen "Jerry" Seinfeld (born April 29, 1954) is an American comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He is best known for portraying a semifictional version of himself in the sitcom Seinfeld (1989–1998), which he co-created and co-wrote with Larry David. For its final two seasons, they were also co-executive producers.

Seinfeld also co-wrote and co-produced the 2007 animated film Bee Movie, in which he voiced the protagonist. In 2010 he premiered a reality series called The Marriage Ref. He directed Colin Quinn in the Broadway show Long Story Short at the Helen Hayes Theater, which ran until January 2011. He is also the creator and host of the web series Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.

In his stand-up comedy career, Seinfeld is known for specializing in observational humor, often focusing on personal relationships and uncomfortable social obligations. In 2005 Comedy Central named him the 12th-greatest stand-up comedian of all time.

Early life

Seinfeld was born in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Kalmen Seinfeld (1918–1985), was born to a Jewish immigrant from Kherson Oblast in southern Ukraine. His mother, Betty (née Hosni; born 1914), is of Syrian Jewish descent; her parents Selim and Salha Hosni were from Aleppo. Seinfeld grew up in Massapequa, New York, and attended Massapequa High School on Long Island. At the age of 16, he spent time volunteering in Kibbutz Sa'ar in Israel. He later attended State University of New York at Oswego; after his second year, he transferred to Queens College, City University of New York, graduating with a degree in communications and theater.

Shakespeare in Love

Shakespeare in Love is a 1998 American romantic comedy-drama film directed by John Madden, written by Marc Norman and playwright Tom Stoppard. The film depicts an imaginary love affair involving Viola de Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow) and playwright William Shakespeare (Joseph Fiennes) while he was writing Romeo and Juliet. Several characters are based on historical people, and many of the characters, lines, and plot devices allude to Shakespeare's plays.

Shakespeare in Love won seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actress (Gwyneth Paltrow), and Best Supporting Actress (Judi Dench).

Plot

In 1593 London, William Shakespeare is a sometime player in the Lord Chamberlain's Men and poor playwright for Philip Henslowe, owner of The Rose Theatre. Shakespeare is working on a new comedy, Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter. Suffering from writer's block, he has barely begun the play, but starts auditioning players. Viola de Lesseps, the daughter of a wealthy merchant, who has seen Shakespeare's plays at court, disguises herself as "Thomas Kent" to audition, then runs away. Shakespeare pursues Kent to Viola's house and leaves a note with the nurse, asking Thomas Kent to begin rehearsals at the Rose. He sneaks into the house with the minstrels playing that night at the ball, where her parents are arranging her betrothal to Lord Wessex, an impoverished aristocrat. While dancing with Viola, Shakespeare is struck speechless, and after being forcibly ejected by Wessex, uses Thomas Kent as a go-between to woo her. Wessex also asks Will's name, to which he replies that he is Christopher Marlowe.

Sense and Senility

"Sense and Senility" is the fourth episode of the third series of the BBC sitcom Blackadder.

Plot

The episode opens with Blackadder ruefully preparing to attend the theatre with Prince George, who Blackadder says has no grasp of the concept of fiction; for example, at a performance of Julius Caesar, the Prince shouted, "Look behind you, Mr. Caesar!" during the assassination scene. At the play, an anarchist (played by Ben Elton) makes an attempt on George's life. The Prince is shocked by Blackadder's revelation that he is unpopular and ignorant of the living conditions of the working classes: "Disease and Deprivation stalk our land like two giant stalking things." Following this event, Prince George becomes paranoid about anarchist attacks. Whenever the Prince encounters Baldrick cleaning, he accuses Baldrick of being an anarchist and attempts to strangle him.

Ed Wood

Edward Davis "Ed" Wood, Jr. (October 10, 1924 – December 10, 1978) was an American filmmaker, actor, and author.

In the 1950s, Wood made a number of low-budget films in the science fiction, comedy, and horror genres, intercutting stock footage. In the 1960s and 1970s, he made sexploitation movies and wrote over 80 pulp crime, horror and sex novels. In 1980, he was posthumously awarded a Golden Turkey Award as Worst Director of All Time, renewing public interest in his work. Wood's career and camp approach has earned him and his films a cult following.

Following the publication of Rudolph Grey's 1992 oral biography Nightmare of Ecstasy: The Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Jr., Wood's life and work have undergone a public rehabilitation of sorts, leading up to director Tim Burton's biopic of Wood's life, Ed Wood (1994), a critically acclaimed film starring Johnny Depp as Wood that earned two Academy Awards.

Early years

Wood's father, Edward Sr., worked for the U.S. Postal Service as a custodian, and his family relocated numerous times around the United States. Eventually, they settled in Poughkeepsie, New York, where Ed Wood, Jr. was born in 1924. According to Wood's second wife, Kathy O'Hara, Wood's mother Lillian would dress him in girl's clothing when he was a child because she had always wanted a daughter. For the rest of his life, Wood was a heterosexual crossdresser, infatuated with the feel of angora on his skin.