In this paper, I investigate the tension that occurs between the goal of accuracy, precision, and authenticity that leads the screenplay-reading actor’s interpretative work and the notions of “scenaristic fiction” and “screen artifice”. With the “reading-actor” figure as a starting point, I shed light on 1) how we rarely consider actors has screenplay readers, but rather focus our attention on the cinematographic and televisual characters’ “larger than life” aspect and the film or TV show’s transparency, and 2) how reflecting on their screenplay perception and usage creates ways, for actors, to develop a critical mind towards both their individual professional path and work environment. In other words, beyond auditions and shooting days, the act of reading screenplays allows screen actors to “read” their socioprofessional milieu.