Question Details	Asked By	Asked On
character actor	Camomile_Tea	01/16/08
What does "character" exactly mean when you say, "he's a character actor"? Characteristic? I know what kind of an actor the speaker has in mind but I don't get really the meaning of the word.
Answered By		Answered On
Schoolmarm		01/16/08
If memory serves me correctly, there are two main categories: "method" actors and "character" actors. "Method" actors immerse themselves in the role they are going to play so that they can read into the part the nuances that are not actually written in the script. The "method" part of the name comes from the Russian director Stanislavski, who developed the method and from Lee Strassberg at the Actors' Studio in NYC, who also had a "method" he taught to acting students. The goal was the make the acting seem more real than it had been in the past. "Character" actors are adept at adopting a persona that is very different from their own as opposed to "personality acting", a subset of "character" acting--in which the actor tends to use his own personality and adapt the role to it. Dustin Hoffman is the quintessential character actor--he "becomes" the character, which is often quite a stretch from his normal persona (as in Rain Man and Tootsie)--while Julia Roberts is a top-flight personality actor--she adapts the character to her own personality and maintains her personality throughout the process.

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