Age shown by a character actor (3)
I believe the answer is:
era
'age' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'by a character actor' is the wordplay.
'by a' indicates the answer is hidden within the clue.
'ERA' is hidden within 'character actor'.
'shown' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. It may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for era that I've seen before include "day" , "quite some time" , "Long period of time" , "Special time" , "Period, age" .)