Ill-fated actors dress badly (4-7)
I believe the answer is:
star-crossed
'ill-fated' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'actors dress badly' is the wordplay.
'badly' indicates anagramming the letters (letters in the wrong order).
'actors'+'dress'='actorsdress'
'actorsdress' with letters rearranged gives 'STAR-CROSSED'.
(Other definitions for star-crossed that I've seen before include "Ill-fated (lovers, usually)" , "Thwarted by bad luck" , "Shakespeare's description of Romeo and Juliet as lovers" , "Like the lovers Romeo and Juliet" .)