Mime artist

A mimeartist, or simply mime (from Greekμῖμος, mimos, "imitator, actor"), is a kind of performer who uses mime (also called pantomime), by acting or entertaining through the use of body motions without speech, as a theatrical medium or as a performance art. In earlier times, in English, such a performer would typically be referred to as a mummer.

Jacques Copeau, strongly influenced by commedia dell'arte and Japanese Noh theatre, used masks in the training of his actors. His pupil Étienne Decroux was highly influenced by this, started exploring and developing the possibilities of mime, and developed corporeal mime into a highly sculptural form, taking it outside the realms of naturalism. Jacques Lecoq contributed significantly to the development of mime and physical theatre with his training methods. As a result of this, the practice of mime has been included in the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage elements in France since 2017.