An actor, or player, was a person who portrayed a character in a performance and who worked in film, television, theater, or radio in that capacity. The term actress would sometimes be used to refer to a female in such a role. A bit player was one who had a small role in the performance. A group of such performers were known collectively as a troupe.
During his studies of the philosophies of acting in the late 2360s – undertaken in order to improve his performance skills – Data found himself attracted to the concepts of method acting and studied the works of several famous method actors in order to improve his acting skills. Specifically, he "studied the philosophies of virtually every known acting master. (TNG: "Devil's Due")
Doctor Beverly Crusher was an accomplished actress and playwright. She formed a theater troupe aboard the USS Enterprise-D. (TNG: "The Nth Degree") At various points, her troupe included Will Riker, (TNG: "A Fistful of Datas", "Frame of Mind") Data, (TNG: "Frame of Mind") Geordi La Forge, (TNG: "Disaster") Reginald Barclay, (TNG: "The Nth Degree") and even Captain Jean-Luc Picard. (TNG: "A Fistful of Datas")
Participants in holodeck programs were also known as players. In The Doctor's program, Photons Be Free, which recreated life as an EMH equipped with a mobile emitter. Unlike his real mobile emitter, he reinterpreted metaphorically, instead as a large unit worn on the back, which he described as "a symbol of the burdens that I live with every day, [..] a constant reminder that you're different from everyone else." As such, he "wanted the player to feel the weight of it. Literally." (VOY: "Author, Author")
Professional actors
- Bud Abbott
- Stella Adler
- Gracie Allen
- Murray Alper
- Fred Astaire
- Ingrid Bergman
- Kenneth Branagh
- George Burns
- Colin Clive
- Gary Cooper
- Lou Costello
- Brandon De Wilde
- John Ford
- Dwight Frye
- Garnav
- Cary Grant
- Laurence Harvey
- Audrey Hepburn
- Bob Hope
- Moe Howard
- Jero
- Glynis Johns
- Anton Karidian
- Lenore Karidian
- Boris Karloff
- Danny Kaye
- Grace Kelly
- Kullnark
- Alan Ladd
- Burt Lancaster
- Layna
- Bela Lugosi
- Ekaterina Monjak
- Mildred Natwick
- Laurence Olivier
- Jack Palance
- Shapiro
- Frank Sinatra
- Alexander Smutkov
- Constantin Stanislavsky
- Tanis
- Sid Tomack
- John Wayne
- Mae West
- Richard Widmark
- Unnamed