ham actor
【英文解释】an unskilled actor who overacts
【中文解释】二流演员
【短语来源】Ham is an abbreviation of the American "hamfatter", an ineffective actor(1887). The idea may have been that hamfat was a poor substitute for good lean ham, so a hamfatter was by definition second-rate. An alternative explanation is that 19th century black-face comedians, generally among the least distinguished of theatrical performers, used hamfat on their faces as a base for their burnt-cork make-up and removal cream, and that this gave them their derogatory name.
补充：A radio-ham, on the other hand,seem to have become so called from being an amateur.
Ham is also used adjectively(a ham actor)and as a verb(often ham it up, meaning overact)from the senses already quoted.
ham是美式英语hamfatter的缩略语，hamfatter是指没水平的演员。一说起ham这个词，大家脑海中的第一印象就是火腿，呵呵，不错，不过它还有一种意思，就是指拙劣演员（尤指表演过火者），而hamfat就是指好演员的替补，也就被定义为二等啦。而另外一种解释呢，就是十九世纪期间，美国一些滑稽演奏团常有白人把脸涂黑，演奏黑人音乐。这些假黑人要用火腿油(hamfat)卸去脸上的妆，所以他们演唱的歌曲之中有一首就叫做The Hamfat Man(《火腿油的人》)。这些“火腿油的人”表演一般都很夸张，人们于是就把这类三流演员叫做ham actors了。
ham还可以做形容词，如a ham factor，一个拙劣的演员。也可作动词，意思是“拙劣或过火地扮演(某角色)”。
【有例有句】He hammed the part of Romeo.
他扮演罗密欧，演得极劣。