break character

break character (third-person singular simple present breaks character, present participle breaking character, simple past broke character, past participle broken character)

1. (intransitive, acting) To fail to act as a certain character; to be or act out of character.
   • 2014, Bob Zmuda, Lynne Margulies, Andy Kaufman: The Truth, Finally, BenBella Books, →ISBN, page 43:

     Once Lynne and I realized that Jim was going to approach the role of Kaufman in a “method acting,” Kaufmanesque kind of way—i.e., he would become Andy or Tony Clifton for the entire shoot, never breaking character […]

• break cover