overactor
Theatrical performance exaggerator
An overactor is a performer who acts with excessive emotion or exaggerated gestures, sacrificing subtlety for theatrical effect.
The term is almost always critical: The film was ruined by overactors chewing the scenery.
The verb overact is more common than the noun.
Performer eclipsing the lead
- hamCured pig thigh
- showboatOstentatious attention-seeker
- campyEntertainingly artificial and overblown
- muggingRobbery with violence
scenery-chewing · grandstanding · flamboyant · ostentatious · clownish · buffoonery · vaudevillian · burlesque
Exaggeratedly emotional in behavior
- emotingExpressing theatrically
- overwroughtExcessively emotional or elaborate
- overblownInflated beyond reasonable proportion
- tearjerkerEmotionally manipulative entertainment
soap-opera · maudlin · schmaltzy · sappy · lachrymose · effusive · gushy · pathos
Rhetorical extreme exaggeration
- embellishmentDecorative addition or exaggeration
- overstatementClaim beyond the facts
- overplayingExcessive dramatic emphasis
- overkillUnnecessary additional effort
overemphasis · bombast · grandiosity · puffery · extravagance · overdramatization · amplification · inflation
scene-stealer
Performer eclipsing the lead
mugging · scenery-chewing · grandstanding · flamboyant · ostentatious · clownish · buffoonery · vaudevillian · burlesque · farcical
histrionic
Exaggeratedly emotional in behavior
- emotingExpressing theatrically
- overwroughtExcessively emotional or elaborate
- overblownInflated beyond reasonable proportion
tearjerker · soap-opera · maudlin · schmaltzy · sappy · lachrymose · effusive · gushy · pathos · bathos
hyperbole
Rhetorical extreme exaggeration
- embellishmentDecorative addition or exaggeration
- overstatementClaim beyond the facts
- overplayingExcessive dramatic emphasis
overkill · overemphasis · bombast · grandiosity · puffery · extravagance · overdramatization · amplification · inflation · magnification
thespian
Theatrical performer
- trouperDependable theatrical veteran
- stageRaised performance platform
- spotlightConcentrated illumination source
audition · monologue · soliloquy · scenery · costume · rehearsal · director · proscenium · drama · upstaging