Reportedly punish an actor (5)
I believe the answer is:
caine
'reportedly punish an actor' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'reportedly punish an actor' is the wordplay.
'reportedly' indicates a 'sounds like' (homophone) clue.
'punish' becomes 'cane' (hit with cane).
'an actor' becomes 'e' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'cane' is a homophone of 'cain'.
'cain'+'e'='CAINE'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for caine that I've seen before include "Sir Michael - - , actor" , "The - Mutiny, Humphrey Bogart film" .)