In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that comprises many principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time. [2] [3]
In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that comprises many principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time. [2] [3]
In contrast to the popular model, which gives precedence to a sole protagonist, an ensemble cast leans more towards a sense of "collectivity and community". [4]
Ensemble casts in film were introduced as early as September 1916, with D. W. Griffith's silent epic film Intolerance , featuring four separate though parallel plots. [5] The film follows the lives of several characters over hundreds of years, across different cultures and time periods. [6] The unification of different plot lines and character arcs is a key characteristic of ensemble casting in film; whether it is a location, event, or an overarching theme that ties the film and characters together. [5]
Films that feature ensembles tend to emphasize the interconnectivity of the characters, even when the characters are strangers to one another. [7] The interconnectivity is often shown to the audience through examples of the "six degrees of separation" theory, and allows them to navigate through plot lines using cognitive mapping. [7] Examples of this method, where the six degrees of separation is evident in films with an ensemble cast, are in productions such as Love Actually, Crash , and Babel , which all have strong underlying themes interwoven within the plots that unify each film. [5] Whodunit films also often feature interconnected characters as suspects, such as in Death on the Nile , Clue, and Knives Out . [8]
The Avengers , X-Men , and Justice League are three examples of ensemble casts in the superhero genre. [9] [10] Referential acting is a key factor in executing this balance, as ensemble cast members "play off each other rather than off reality". [4]
Filmmakers known for their use of ensemble casts include Quentin Tarantino, Wes Anderson, and Paul Thomas Anderson among others.
Ensemble casting also became more popular in television series because it allows flexibility for writers to focus on different characters in different episodes. In addition, the departure of players is less disruptive than would be the case with a regularly structured cast. The television series The Golden Girls and Friends are archetypal examples of ensemble casts in American sitcoms. The science-fiction mystery drama Lost features an ensemble cast. Ensemble casts of 20 or more actors are common in soap operas, a genre that relies heavily on the character development of the ensemble. [11] The genre also requires continuous expansion of the cast as the series progresses, with soap operas such as General Hospital , Days of Our Lives , The Young and the Restless , and The Bold and the Beautiful staying on air for decades. [12]
An example of a success for television in ensemble casting is the Emmy Award-winning HBO series Game of Thrones . The fantasy series features one of the largest ensemble casts on the small screen. [13] The series is notorious for major character deaths, resulting in constant changes within the ensemble. [14]
Ensemble casts are common in children's television, with both human and non-human casts. Examples include TheMuppets , Sesame Street, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Rugrats, SpongeBob SquarePants, Total Drama, Animaniacs, Tiny Toon Adventures, and Freakazoid!, Cow and Chicken, Hey Arnold!, The Proud Family and The Replacements .
A soap opera, daytime drama or soap for short, is typically a long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored by soap manufacturers. The term was preceded by "horse opera", a derogatory term for low-budget Westerns.
Bellbird is an Australian soap opera serial broadcast by the ABC created and co-written by Barbara Vernon, it screened for 10 seasons between 1967 and 1977, and spanned 1,697 episodes. The series centered around the residents of the small fictional Victorian rural township of the series title.
Linda Edna Cardellini is an American actress. In television, she is known for her starring roles in the teen drama Freaks and Geeks (1999–2000), the medical drama ER (2003–2009), and the thriller Bloodline (2015–2017), as well as for her guest role as Sylvia Rosen on AMC's Mad Men (2013–2015). Her starring role in the Netflix dark comedy series Dead to Me (2019–2022) earned her a nomination for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress.
Morgan Fairchild is an American actress. She began acting in the early 1970s and has had roles in several television series since then.
Sharon Case is an American actress and former model. At the age of 17, Case began working as a model, relocating briefly to Japan, before pursuing an acting career. She is best known for her roles on daytime television soap operas, scoring parts in the serials General Hospital and As the World Turns during the early stages of her career. In 1994, she stepped into the role of Sharon Newman on the CBS daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless, which she still plays. Case, who is considered a leading actress in the series, won the 1999 Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her performance.
Hollyoaks is a British soap opera which originally began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera Brookside. From 2005 to 2023, episodes have aired on sister channel E4 a day prior to their broadcast on Channel 4. In 2023, Hollyoaks was removed from Channel 4's early evening schedule, but remains on E4 and Channel 4's on demand service with episodes now uploaded to YouTube. At its inception, the soap was targeted towards an adolescent and young adult audience but it has since broadened its appeal to all age groups. Hollyoaks has covered various taboo subjects rarely seen on British television, for which it has received numerous awards. It has won the award for Best British Soap twice, in 2014 and 2019; its first win broke the 15-year tie between rival soap operas EastEnders and Coronation Street. Beginning with a cast of 15 characters, it now has 37 regular cast members. The longest-serving actor is Nick Pickard, who has portrayed Tony Hutchinson since the first episode.
Christopher Hemsworth is an Australian actor. Born and raised in Melbourne, Victoria and Bulman, Northern Territory, he rose to prominence playing Kim Hyde in the Australian television series Home and Away (2004–2007) before beginning a film career in Hollywood. In the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Hemsworth starred as Thor in the 2011 film of the same name and reprised the role in several subsequent installments, which established him among the world's highest-paid actors.
Justin Scott Hartley is an American actor, television producer, and director. He has played Fox Crane on the NBC daytime soap opera Passions (2002–2006), Oliver Queen on the WB/CW television series Smallville (2006–2011), and Adam Newman on the CBS daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless (2014–2016) which earned him a Daytime Emmy nomination. He also had recurring roles in the third season of the television drama series Revenge (2013–2014) and in the final three seasons of the drama series Mistresses (2014–2016).
Alexa Carole Havins is an American actress. She first came to prominence in 2003, when she became the originating actress in the role of Babe Carey Chandler on the soap opera All My Children. Her role as the flawed but good Babe Carey earned her a Daytime Emmy Award nomination in 2005 and recognition as being half of one of the show's most popular soap opera pairings.
Roxanne McKee is a Canadian-born British actress. She is best known for playing Louise Summers in the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks (2005–2008), Lou Foster in the BBC Three drama series Lip Service (2010), Doreah in the HBO fantasy drama series Game of Thrones (2011–2012) and Lady Claire Riesen in the Syfy apocalyptic supernatural series Dominion (2014–2015). She has also starred in films including Wrong Turn 5: Bloodlines (2012), Vendetta (2013) and The Legend of Hercules (2014).
Jenna-Louise Coleman is an English actress. She began her television career by playing Jasmine Thomas in the soap opera Emmerdale from 2005 to 2009, followed by a recurring role in the BBC school-based drama series Waterloo Road (2009). She made her film debut with a small role in the American superhero film Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), and made appearances on diverse British period miniseries, including Titanic (2012), and Death Comes to Pemberley (2013).
Nathalie Joanne Emmanuel is a British actress. Emmanuel began her acting career appearing in theatre in the late 1990s, acquiring roles in various West End productions such as the musical The Lion King. In 2006, she began her on-screen career by starring as Sasha Valentine in soap opera Hollyoaks, after which she appeared in various British television series until her debut film appearance in Twenty8k (2012).
Himesh Jitendra Patel is a British actor. He began his career portraying Tamwar Masood in the BBC soap opera EastEnders (2007–2016). This was followed by roles in the Channel 4 sitcom Damned (2016–2018) and the films Yesterday (2019) and Tenet (2020).
Brianna Lynn Brown is an American actress and producer. She is known for her television roles as Lisa Niles in the ABC soap opera General Hospital, Taylor Stappord in the Lifetime series Devious Maids and as Claudia Blaisdel in The CW reboot series Dynasty.
Nathan Dean Parsons is an American actor known for his work in daytime television on the ABC daytime soap opera General Hospital as the character of Ethan Lovett. He has also had roles on primetime television shows, as vampire James Kent on the seventh and final season of the HBO drama series True Blood, and the role of exiled werewolf Jackson Kenner on the CW drama series The Originals. He has also appeared on Once Upon a Time as Hansel / Jack /Nick Branson and portrayed Max Evans in the CW series Roswell, New Mexico.
Amy-Leigh Hickman is an English actress. Hickman made her television debut as Carmen Howle in the CBBC series Tracy Beaker Returns, a role she reprised in the sequel series The Dumping Ground. She then went onto appear as Linzi Bragg in the BBC soap opera EastEnders, before being cast as Nasreen Paracha in the Channel 4 drama Ackley Bridge, a role for which she won the Actor award for at the RTS Yorkshire Awards. Her other roles include Ester Kamali in Strike Back (2013), Sia Marshall in Safe (2018), Mimi Saunders in Our Girl (2020) and Bethany in Innocent (2021). Hickman also stars in the fourth series of the Netflix drama You (2023).
Days of Our Lives is an American television soap opera that aired on the network NBC from November 8, 1965, to September 9, 2022; the soap has streamed new episodes on Peacock since September 12, 2022. The soap is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday since November 8, 1965. A co-production of Corday Productions and Sony Pictures Television, the series was created by husband-and-wife team Ted Corday and Betty Corday. During Days of Our Lives' early years, Irna Phillips served as a story editor for the program and many of the show's earliest storylines were written by William J. Bell, who would depart the series in 1975 to focus full-time on The Young and the Restless, which he created for CBS in 1973. Following the 2007 cancellation of Passions, Days of Our Lives remained the only soap opera airing on NBC. On August 3, 2022, NBCUniversal announced that it would relocate the series exclusively to its Peacock streaming service beginning September 12, after 57 years on the network, leaving NBC as the only Big Three network without a daytime serial.
Tosin Cole is a British actor. He is known for various roles in British television series and films. He began his on-screen career starring in The Cut and EastEnders: E20, later securing a regular role as Neil Cooper in the soap opera Hollyoaks and Ryan Sinclair in Doctor Who. In 2024, Cole appeared in Netflix's Supacell in a lead role.
Mason Vale Cotton is an American actor known for his roles as M.J. Delfino in the ABC soap opera Desperate Housewives (2008–2012) and as Bobby Draper in the AMC drama series Mad Men (2012–2015), the latter of which earned him a nomination for the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series in 2016. In 2015, he starred as Max in the film Russell Madness, reprising the role in the 2020 series spinoff Russell Maniac. In 2017, he voiced Arnold Shortman in the Emmy-winning animated Nickelodeon film Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie.
Jemma Donovan is a British-Australian actress. She made her on-screen debut in the BBC television film Mr Stink when she was 12 years old. In 2015, Donovan played Maddy Bastière in the French-American series Spotless. After relocating to Australia, Donovan joined the regular cast of Neighbours as Harlow Robinson. Three members of her family had previously starred in the soap opera, including her father Jason Donovan. She made her debut in July 2019 and also appeared in the spin-off series Neighbours: Erinsborough High. She left the serial in July 2022. Shortly after moving back to the United Kingdom, Donovan secured the role of "party girl" Rayne Royce who died from being pushed in her swimming pool by Romeo Nightingale in the Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks.
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