in general, signifies a person who acts or performs something.

Actor, among Civilians, the proctor or advocate in civil courts or causes; as Actor ecclesiae has been sometimes used for the advocate of the church, actor dominicus for the lord's attorney, actor villa for the steward or head bailiff of a village.

Actor, in the Drama, is a person who represents some part or character. See Drama. Actors were highly honoured at Athens: at Rome they were despised, and not only denied all rank among the citizens, but even when any citizen appeared upon the stage, he was expelled his tribe, and deprived of the right of suffrage by censors. The French have in this respect adopted the ideas of the Romans; the English those of the Greeks. Women actors were unknown to the ancients, among whom men always performed the female character; and hence one reason for the use of masks among them. Actresses are by some said not to have been introduced on the English stage till after the restoration of King Charles II. who has been charged with contributing to the corrupting of our manners by importing this usage from abroad. But this can be but partly true, for Prynne, in his Histriomastix, speaks of women actors as prostitutes; which, as the queen of Charles I. sometimes acted in the court dramas, was one occasion of the severe prosecution brought against him for that book. See Bibliography, sect. 6.

Acton, the name of several persons in fabulous history. One Actor among the Aurunci is described by Virgil as a hero of the first rank. (Aen. xii.)