Actors
Play parts in stage, television, radio, video, or film productions, or other settings for entertainment, information, or instruction. Interpret serious or comic role by speech, gesture, and body movement to entertain or inform audience. May dance and sing.
A wage reference for United States.
Published wage percentiles describe a distribution within the source occupation group. They provide context for a career decision; employer packages and job offers have their own terms.
This wage group may include multiple detailed occupations. The figures are for the source group, which may be broader than Actors. They are not an exact-title, employer, experience or seniority match.
May 2025 · USD · United States. Annual and hourly figures are shown only when the source publishes them; neither is calculated from the other.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics occupational wage data, distributed through the O*NET® OnLine service.
Hourly wage thresholds
USD per hour
| Percentile | Annual wage (USD/year) | Hourly wage (USD/hour) |
|---|---|---|
| 10th | Not published | $16.50 |
| 25th | Not published | $20.34 |
| 50th · Median | Not published | $29.05 |
| 75th | Not published | $97.95 |
| 90th | Not published | $143.68 |
“≥” means at least the published amount; “≤” means at most that amount. These are bounds, not exact values. “Not published” means the source did not provide that figure. Occupational wages follow the source definition and do not establish an employer’s base salary, equity or total compensation.
Where does your number sit?
Compare an entered wage with the published thresholds for United States. Your entry stays on this page.
This compares wage amounts to published percentile thresholds. It does not estimate your personal percentile, adjust for your experience, or compare total compensation. Match the wage definition and occupation group before using the result.
What this career involves.
Occupation definitions describe common work. Responsibilities and requirements vary by employer and specific job.
Selected title examples
Expand more title examples (19)
Typical tasks
- Attend auditions and casting calls to audition for roles.
- Work closely with directors, other actors, and playwrights to find the interpretation most suited to the role.
- Portray and interpret roles, using speech, gestures, and body movements, to entertain, inform, or instruct radio, film, television, or live audiences.
- Study and rehearse roles from scripts to interpret, learn and memorize lines, stunts, and cues as directed.
- Collaborate with other actors as part of an ensemble.
- Learn about characters in scripts and their relationships to each other to develop role interpretations.
Expand more tasks (12)
- Perform humorous and serious interpretations of emotions, actions, and situations, using body movements, facial expressions, and gestures.
- Read from scripts or books to narrate action or to inform or entertain audiences, utilizing few or no stage props.
- Work with other crew members responsible for lighting, costumes, make-up, and props.
- Promote productions using means such as interviews about plays or movies.
- Tell jokes, perform comic dances, songs and skits, impersonate mannerisms and voices of others, contort face, and use other devices to amuse audiences.
- Write original or adapted material for dramas, comedies, puppet shows, narration, or other performances.
- Sing or dance during dramatic or comedic performances.
- Prepare and perform action stunts for motion picture, television, or stage productions.
- Introduce performances and performers to stimulate excitement and coordinate smooth transition of acts during events.
- Dress in comical clown costumes and makeup, and perform comedy routines to entertain audiences.
- Construct puppets and ventriloquist dummies, and sew accessory clothing, using hand tools and machines.
- Perform original and stock tricks of illusion to entertain and mystify audiences, occasionally including audience members as participants.
Skills used in this work
- Reading Comprehension
- Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.
- Speaking
- Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Active Listening
- Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Social Perceptiveness
- Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Critical Thinking
- Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Coordination
- Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
Expand more skills (29)
- Time Management
- Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Active Learning
- Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
- Judgment and Decision Making
- Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Monitoring
- Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
- Writing
- Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Learning Strategies
- Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
- Persuasion
- Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
- Complex Problem Solving
- Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
- Instructing
- Teaching others how to do something.
- Negotiation
- Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
- Service Orientation
- Actively looking for ways to help people.
- Systems Analysis
- Determining how a system should work and how changes in conditions, operations, and the environment will affect outcomes.
- Systems Evaluation
- Identifying measures or indicators of system performance and the actions needed to improve or correct performance, relative to the goals of the system.
- Management of Personnel Resources
- Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.
- Operations Analysis
- Analyzing needs and product requirements to create a design.
- Technology Design
- Generating or adapting equipment and technology to serve user needs.
- Mathematics
- Using mathematics to solve problems.
- Quality Control Analysis
- Conducting tests and inspections of products, services, or processes to evaluate quality or performance.
- Science
- Using scientific rules and methods to solve problems.
- Equipment Maintenance
- Performing routine maintenance on equipment and determining when and what kind of maintenance is needed.
- Equipment Selection
- Determining the kind of tools and equipment needed to do a job.
- Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or programs to meet specifications.
- Management of Financial Resources
- Determining how money will be spent to get the work done, and accounting for these expenditures.
- Management of Material Resources
- Obtaining and seeing to the appropriate use of equipment, facilities, and materials needed to do certain work.
- Operation and Control
- Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
- Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine is working properly.
- Programming
- Writing computer programs for various purposes.
- Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the needed tools.
- Troubleshooting
- Determining causes of operating errors and deciding what to do about it.
Explore wages by location.
0 retained state and local wage references are available. Start with these selected locations, or search the full market directory for this career.
Local wage references are not retained for this occupation. The national view and employer evidence may still help.
Available links reflect retained source coverage for this career.
Find the next step that fits.
Look at current disclosed job ranges, explore supported employer salary evidence, or build a proposed hiring range with your own assumptions.