Key difference: An actor is a person that acts. Acting is essentially the portrayal of another person or character. An actor basically acts in a dramatic or comic production, whether it be in film, television, theatre, or radio. A hero is a person who has the courage to do and face dire situations, in order to do the right thing, without care for himself. In fiction, a hero is the main protagonist of the story, who must usually fight the bad guy, save the damsel in distress and generally do the right thing for his people.

 An actor is a person that acts. Acting is essentially the portrayal of another person or character. An actor basically acts in a dramatic or comic production, whether it be in film, television, theatre, or radio.

Dictionary.com defines an actor as:

• A person who acts in stage plays, motion pictures, television broadcasts, etc.
• A person who does something; participant.

It is believed that one of the first actors of the western world was Thespis of Icaria in Ancient Greece. As the story goes, Thespis walked out of the chorus line and spoke to the audience as the character or Dionysus. Before that the chorus used to narrate the play, including the dialogues, for example: Dionysus went there… Dionysus said … It was the actors’ job to move around on stage and behave as the chorus dictated. However, Thespis broke that norm and spoke directly to the audience as Dionysus. I am Dionysus. I went there… I said… Of course, that is not how modern actors act; they just do or say, rather than narrate what is happening. However, Thespis set the stage for modern actors.

Acting requires a wide range of skills, including vocal projection, clarity of speech, physical expressivity, emotional facility, a well-developed imagination, and the ability to interpret drama. At times, actors may also be called upon to employ dialects, accents and body language, improvisation, observation and emulation, mime, and stage combat. In order to develop these skills, many actors train in special programs or colleges.

The term ‘heroes’, on the other hand, technically relates to something completely different. A hero is a person who has the courage to do and face dire situations, in order to do the right thing, without care for himself.

Dictionary.com defines a hero as:

• A man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.
• A person who, in the opinion of others, has heroic qualities or has performed a heroic act and is regarded as a model or ideal: He was a local hero when he saved the drowning child.
• The principal male character in a story, play, film, etc.

The term hero comes from the Greek ‘hḗrōs’, which basically referred to a demigod in Greek mythology and folklore. A demigod is basically an offspring of a god and a human. He was destined to do great things in face of grave dangers. Many did, we have all heard the stories of Hercules, Perseus, Theseus, Achilles, etc.

In the modern word, hero refers to someone who has done a great deed, despite danger to himself; a firefighter who rescues people while putting himself in danger, a cop, or even a pilot who crash landed a plane and save the lives of the passengers.

In fiction, a hero is the main protagonist of the story, who must usually fight the bad guy, save the damsel in distress and generally do the right thing for his people. There are numerous films, TV shows, theatre plays, or radio shows highlighting these stories, because these are feel good stories, where the good guy wins, the bad guy looses and everyone has a happy ending at the end. An actor will usually be called upon to play such a hero in some production or another.

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