figurante

There stood I for whole mornings, with a long staff, and stretched my legs; but notwithstanding all my good- will, it was Dahlen's opinion that I should never get beyond a figurante.

From True Story of My Life by Mary (Mary Botham) Howitt

She was a bookbinder's accountant all the day, and in the evening she was a figurante at one of the theatres.

From My First Book: the experiences of Walter Besant, James Payn, W. Clark Russell, Grant Allen, Hall Caine, George R. Sims, Rudyard Kipling, A. Conan Doyle, M.E. Braddon, F.W. Robinson, H. Rider Haggard, R.M. Ballantyne, I. Zangwill, Morley Roberts, David Christie Murray, Marie Corelli, Jerome K. Jerome, John Strange Winter, Bret Harte, "Q.", Robert Buchanan, Robert Louis Stevenson, with an introduction by Jerome K. Jerome. by Various

Well, I can be a nursery-governess, or I can sing in a chorus; I should make a very decent figurante, or I could go round with baskets.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 13, No. 79, May, 1864 by Various

Mademoiselle Prévost, alarmed at such a triumph, intrigued with such success that Mademoiselle de Camargo was soon forced to fall back to the position of a mere figurante.

From The International Monthly Magazine - Volume V - No II by Various

The poor figurante must devote years of incessant toil to her profitless task before she can shine in it. 

From Self help; with illustrations of conduct and perseverance by Samuel Smiles