A supporting actor or supporting actress is an

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

who performs a role in a play or film below that of the

leading actor A leading actor, leading actress, or leading man or lady or simply lead (), plays a main role in a film, television show or play. The word ''lead'' may also refer to the largest role in the piece, and ''leading actor'' may refer to a person w ...

(s), and above that of a

bit part In acting, a bit part is a role in which there is direct interaction with the principal actors and no more than five lines of dialogue, often referred to as a five-or-less or under-five in the United States, or under sixes in British televisio ...

. In recognition of important nature of this work, the theater and film industries give separate awards to the best supporting actors and actresses. These range from minor roles to principal players and are often pivotal or vital to the story as in a best friend, love interest,

sidekick A sidekick is a close companion or colleague who is, or is generally regarded as, subordinate to those whom they accompany. Origins The first recorded use of the term dates from 1896. It is believed to have originated in pickpocket slang of ...

(such as

Robin Robin most commonly refers to several species of passerine birds. Robin may also refer to: Animals * Australasian robins, red-breasted songbirds of the family Petroicidae * Many members of the subfamily Saxicolinae (Old World chats), inclu ...

in the

Batman Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...

series), or

antagonist An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the main enemy or rival of the protagonist and is often depicted as a villain.character roles A character actor is an actor known for playing unusual, eccentric, or interesting characters in supporting roles, rather than leading ones.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrieved 7 August 2014, ...

. In earlier times, these could often be

ethnic stereotype An ethnic stereotype or racial stereotype involves part of a system of beliefs about typical characteristics of members of a given ethnic group, their status, societal and cultural norms. A national stereotype does the same for a given nation ...

s. In television, the term day player is used to refer to most performers with supporting

speaking role Speech is the use of the human voice as a medium for language. Spoken language combines vowel and consonant sounds to form units of meaning like words, which belong to a language's lexicon. There are many different intentional speech acts, suc ...

s hired daily without long-term contracts. In

Academy Awards The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence in ...

, an annual award is given for the Best Performance by an actor/ actress in a supporting role. There is currently no specific criteria for the difference between nominations for supporting or lead actor/actress roles, so long as the actor's dialogue has not been dubbed. Determination of supporting and lead roles are determined by the members of the academy. Critics have pointed out that the leading/supporting roles have "no set rules, no general rational, just vibes" that may stem from racial, social, or gender identity bias.

References

External links

FilmReference.com on "Supporting Actors"SupportingActors.com
Acting Television terminology {{job-stub

See also

References

External links