Constellation of Stars

Constellation of Stars

Rain

Before we begin with our discussion on Asian stars, it is imperative indeed for us to set a clear distinction on the categories on film acting. Giannetti (2008) gives us the four categories on which the art of film acting can be categorized:

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• Extras - actors who are used to provide a sense of crowd (i.e. cast of thousands).
• Nonprofessional performers- amateur players chosen because of their authentic appearance -they look right for a given part.
• Trained professionals- stage and screen performers capable of playing variety of roles (majority of actors fall in this category).
• Stars - famous performers and are widely recognized by the public.

Song Seung Heon 송승헌

But what then is the difference between an actor and a star, they don' t necessarily mean the same.  Actors (and for this discussion, Asian Actors), as argued by Biggin (2009)  are performers who have the talent to portray a range of characters and roles.  These are individuals with a back catalogue of wide-ranging film roles.

Kolker (2002) defines Movie stars (Asian stars) as a combination of personality constructed by their films and their publicity.  Moreover, Big Stars become part of the culture,recognized, identified with, gossiped about  in the tabloids, their "private lives" becoming public business( Ibid.). 

Piolo Pascual

Takeshi Kaneshiro

Furthermore, aside from them drawing audiences, for Harris (2009), A movie star is someone whose past work enriches your experience of, and deepens your pleasure in, his or her present work.

Sam Milby

If we are to provide a list for the stars in Asia, it will be a long list, thus we only have some of these to illustrate.

On the other side, is it proper to refer to an actor gaining popularity a budding star? Probably not at all, since a star is a person who has already established enough publicity and through films he has created.

Your thoughts and comments?

References

Biggin, M. (2009).  The actor and the film star. Retrieved from http://www.suite101.com/content/the-actor-and-the-film-star-a97565. 

Giannetti, L.D. (2008).  Understanding movies. Pearson Education, Inc.: Upper Saddle, NJ

Harris, M. (2009).  What stars are for. Retrieved from http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20250042,00.html

Kolker, R.P. (2001).  Film, form, and culture.  McGraw Hill: New York, NY.

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