Breaking character
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Breaking character, "to break character", or "to Jimmy Fallon" is a theatrical term used to describe when an actor, while actively performing in character, slips out of character and behaves as his or her actual self. This is an acceptable occurrence while in the process of rehearsal, but is unheard of and extremely unprofessional while actively performing in front of an audience or camera (other than in comedies when the act is a deliberate breaking of the fourth wall).
For example, an actor and actress may be testing out a scene in front of their director. The actress may break character half-way through to suggest that she try delivering a certain line from a different position on the stage.
Performers of live theater are notorious for never breaking character, even under dire circumstances. An extreme example of this occurred in Washington, D.C. in the year 2000 when Nana Visitor and Vicki Lewis starred in the Broadway tour of "Chicago". Lewis broke her ankle halfway through the third number, and the other dancers completed the number around her while attempting to cover the injury as Lewis was escorted off stage. Then, as the dancers exited, another actress seamlessly pranced onto stage and announced, in character, that a "sexy new fox is gonna be playing Velma Kelley, but don't you cats get confused."
Professional wrestling
Template:Main Breaking character is not solely limited to performances in traditional theater; the phenomenon is not unheard of in professional wrestling, which is normally highly scripted. WWE commentator Jim Ross once famously broke character during a match in which WWE wrestler (and friend of Ross) Mick Foley suffered a very serious fall from atop a high steel cage (the fall was unintentional and had not been planned or scripted beforehand, unlike most "bumps"). Ross exclaimed, "Somebody stop this damn match!" While phrases such as that are often used by professional wrestling commentators to make matches seem more legitimate, Ross later stated that he made the comment out of character, being seriously worried for his friend (who had, indeed, suffered a pretty severe concussion as a result of the fall). Much of the WWF roster broke character in 1999 when Owen Hart fell to his death from the rafters of the Kemper Arena in Kansas City (see also RAW is Owen, the tribute show run by the WWF shortly after his death); much of the onscreen drama of the WWE was similarly shunted aside in 2005 for some weeks after the untimely death of Eddie Guerrero.