figurante

All this was true, except about the French figurante.

From Men's Wives by William Makepeace Thackeray

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

The young figurante frequently extended her arms and threw herself on her knees, as if in invocation of some unseen power.

From Celebrated Women Travellers of the Nineteenth Century by W. H. Davenport Adams

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

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