Cast member facts for kids
A cast member is a special name for someone who performs or works in certain places.
- It can mean an actor who performs in a play, a movie, or a TV show. All these actors together are called the cast.
- It also means anyone who works at a Disney theme park. This includes places like Disneyland in Anaheim, California and the Walt Disney World Resort. Walt Disney himself liked to think of his parks as a big show, so he called his employees "cast members."
- People who work at Chuck E. Cheese's are also called cast members. This idea was inspired by the Disney parks.
Cast Members in TV Shows
Most TV shows have a group of actors called the "regular cast" or "main cast." These are the actors you see almost every week. They are often just called "regulars" or "main characters."
TV shows also need other actors for smaller parts. These are called "guest stars." A guest star might only appear in one episode. Sometimes, they appear in more than one episode if their character's story continues.
There are also "recurring characters." These characters appear many times in a series, but they are not part of the main cast. They might show up in a few episodes, then disappear for a while, and then come back later.
Where the Word "Cast" Comes From
The word "cast" comes from an old English word. This word was ' casten ' or ' kasta ' around the year 1230. In Old English, it meant to throw in, to think about, or to design.
Later, around 1631, the word "cast" started to mean a "group of actors in a play." This is how we use it today when we talk about the cast of a movie or TV show.
