Under-Five (U5)
Under-Five (U5) is a SAG-AFTRA role category for speaking parts with five lines or fewer — above background but with its own distinct rate, common in daytime television and a stepping stone for emerging performers.
Upgrade
An Upgrade occurs when a performer’s status is elevated during filming — most commonly a background performer given a line and upgraded to principal — triggering a higher SAG-AFTRA pay rate.
Voucher
A Voucher is the payment record submitted by background performers at the end of each working day — with SAG vouchers serving as the pathway to SAG-AFTRA membership eligibility after accumulating three.
Affective Memory
Affective Memory is an acting technique in which a performer draws on personal memories and their sensory details to access genuine emotional states for a scene.
Emotional Memory
Emotional Memory is the actor’s capacity to access emotions from lived experience in service of a performance — a foundational concept in Stanislavski-based acting systems.
Equity Chorus Call (ECC)
An Equity Chorus Call (ECC) is the union-mandated open audition process giving all Actors’ Equity members direct access to audition for ensemble and chorus roles in musical theater productions.
Ethnically Ambiguous
Ethnically Ambiguous is a casting descriptor for performers whose appearance spans multiple ethnic backgrounds, making them castable across a wider range of roles and diverse-audience productions.
Given Circumstances
Given Circumstances is a Stanislavski acting concept referring to the complete set of established facts — period, location, relationships, history — within which a character exists and from which all behavior must arise.
Inner Monologue
Inner Monologue is the continuous stream of a character’s unspoken thoughts and reactions during a scene — keeping the performer genuinely present and responsive rather than simply waiting for their cue.
Laban Movement
Laban Movement is a system of movement analysis and training that gives actors a precise vocabulary for understanding and developing physical expression and character embodiment.