A portrait of the artist I : theater-realistic art in Athens, 500-330 BC -- A portrait of the artist II : theater-realistic art in the Greek west, 400-300 BC -- The spread of theater and the rise of the actor -- Kallippides on the floor sweepings : the limits of realism in classical acting -- Cooking with Menander : slices from the ancient home entertainment industry? -- The politics of privatization : a short history of the privatization of drama from classical Athens to early imperial Rome. This work examines actors and their popular reception from the origins of theatre in Classical Greece to the Roman Empire. The book presents a highly original viewpoint into several new and contested fields of study and offers a systematic survey of evidence for the spread of theatre outside Athens.