The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 plus 6 letter word PRUNELLA SCALES
P
R
U
N
E
L
L
A
S
C
A
L
E
S
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Actress" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case actress = prunella scales.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.