chew the scenery

To be exaggeratedly or flamboyantly melodramatic or overly emotional while acting a role, as for television, theater, or film. I hated working with him on that play—every night he'd go out and chew the scenery so much that he was the only one the audience noticed! I love watching hammy actors chew the scenery in bad movies.

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Tinatin	-	Georgian, Literature
Darayavahush	-	Ancient Persian
Ida	IE-də (English), EE-dah (German, Swedish, Danish, Dutch, Italian)	English, German, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Hungarian, Slovene
Columba	ko-LOOM-ba (Late Roman), kə-LUM-bə (English)	Late Roman
Papa	-	Polynesian Mythology
Friederike	free-du-REE-kə	German