It pays an actor to keep them up (11)
I believe the answer is:
appearances
'actor to keep them up' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'it pays an' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'it' could be 'e' ('e' can mean 'electronic' which is similar to 'IT') and 'e' is present in the answer.
'an' could be 'a' and 'a' is located in the answer.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for appearances that I've seen is " Arrivals; impressions".)