The title role in the performing arts is the performance part that gives the title to the piece, as in Aida, Giselle, Michael Collins or Othello. The actor, singer or dancer who performs that part is also said to have the title role.

The actor playing the title role is not always the lead; the title role may or may not be the protagonist. In the television miniseries Shogun, for example, Toshiro Mifune had the title role, but the lead was played by Richard Chamberlain. In the James Bond film and novel, The Man with the Golden Gun, the title character is the primary antagonist. It can be even more complicated when the title role and the lead are in different genders; for example, in the recent revival of August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Whoopi Goldberg had the title role, but the lead was Charles S. Dutton.

Title character

The title character in fiction is the fictional character whose name is contained in the title, as in Marjorie Morningstar, by Herman Wouk, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling, and Dracula, by Bram Stoker. A more indirect example is Sauron in The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien and Peter Pan by J.M Barrie.