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Overacting (or hamming) is the exaggeration of gestures and speech when acting. It may be unintentional, particularly in the case of a bad actor, or be part of the role. For the latter, it is commonly used in comical situations. Since the perception of acting quality differs between people the extent of overacting can be subjective.

Overacting can be excessively dramatic to the point where the performance becomes awkward or unintentionally amusing to the audience.

Overacting is sometimes known as "chewing the scenery".^[1]

William Shatner has been called an overactor for his role in Star Trek.

Unintentional overacting is caused by poor acting, either a good actor performing badly in one scene or a generally poor actor. However, it is not always the fault of the actor as the director has the ultimate role of assessing and influencing the acting.

The portrayal of an emotion is a common time for overacting, as is a death scene. Theater actors often have to project their voices more than film actors and enunciation can lead to exaggeration. It should be noted however that unlike film actors, stage actors do not have the benefit of a boom mic or other sound equipment and it therefore takes more skill to allow the audience to hear every word while not shouting or overemphasising.

Some unintentional overacting can find itself the subject of parody. William Shatner's performance in the original Star Trek series has been frequently parodied across numerous comedy television shows.^[2]

Some roles require overly-exaggerated character acting, particularly those in comedy films. For example, the breakthrough roles for Jim Carrey (in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and The Mask) saw him portray the lead characters in a very flamboyant fashion, as the script demanded. This has led to him being classed as an "overactor",^[3] even though he has played several "straight" roles since.^[4]

Overacting may be used to stress the evil characteristics of a villain. It is certainly not always seen as a bad thing, as Tom Hulce's Academy Award nomination for his deliberately exaggerated role in Amadeus shows.

• B-movie
• Melodrama

1. ^ Chew the scenery worldwidewords.org
2. ^ NNDB "William Shatner". Accessed 29 July 2006.
3. ^ See, for example, the closing credits of 'Liar Liar: Internet Movie Database. "Memorable Quotes from Liar Liar" Accessed 29 July 2006.
4. ^ Gilliver, David. 1998. "Film Review: The Truman Show". Accessed 29 July 2006.

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