n.
A synthetic thespian. A simulated character who "acts" in 3-D animations and games (such as Woody and Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story).
Example Citation:
"The synthespian, an artificially-created 'human' actor, is the Hollywood Screen Actors' Guild's nightmare. ... The word — and, yes, it's an awful one — was coined by LA-based digital effects expert Jeff Kleiser when he created the industry's first virtual actor (or 'vactor') for his 1988 short film Nestor Sextone for President."
— Allan Laing, "Not what you think," The Herald, December 26, 2001
Earliest Citation:
"In 1988 Kleiser and Walczak produced a short satirical piece called 'Sextone for President,' which centered on a bid by a 'synthespian' named Nestor Sextone to become president of the Synthetic Actors Guild. The muscle-bound Sextone complains that live actors have been masquerading as synthetics and thus robbing them of jobs (a thinly veiled reference to 'Max Headroom')."
— "Energy signs computer graphics directing team of Kleiser & Walczak," Back Stage, February 16, 1990
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New words. 2013.