Article by Spain's bad actor (8)
I believe the answer is:
thespian
'actor' is the definition.
(I know that actor can be written as thespian)
'article by spain's bad' is the wordplay.
'article' becomes 'the' (the definite article in English).
'by' says to put letters next to each other.
'bad' is an anagram indicator.
'spain' anagrammed gives 'spian'.
'the'+'spian'='THESPIAN'
(Other definitions for thespian that I've seen before include "Actor; relating to drama" , "Player" , "Dramatic performer" , "Stage actor" , "Dramatic actor" .)