Actor lost his head with a hen (5)
I believe the answer is:
layer
'a hen' is the definition.
(something which lays - eggs in this case)
'actor lost his head' is the wordplay.
'actor' becomes 'player' (synonyms).
'lost his head' means to remove the first letter.
'player' with its initial letter taken off is 'LAYER'.
'with' is the link.
(Other definitions for layer that I've seen before include "See 22" , "course" , "Film" , "Productive chicken" , "Stratum or thickness" .)