<P> Thespis (/ ˈθɛspɪs /; Greek: Θέσπις; fl . 6th century BC) of Icaria (present - day Dionysos, Greece), according to certain Ancient Greek sources and especially Aristotle, was the first person ever to appear on stage as an actor playing a character in a play (instead of speaking as him or herself). In other sources, he is said to have introduced the first principal actor in addition to the chorus . </P> <P> Thespis was a singer of dithyrambs (songs about stories from mythology with choric refrains). He is credited with introducing a new style in which one singer or actor performed the words of individual characters in the stories, distinguishing between the characters with the aid of different masks . </P>

Thespian' is used to describe this ancient greek artist who is considered to be the first actor