This paper elaborates upon the meaning and nature of the entrepreneur and their special context, involving SMEs in general, and family firms in particular. We review previous literature, based upon a guiding framework around three themes – actor, activity and attitude, developed by Nordquist and Melin (2010). We find that the framework enhances theoretical and empirical understanding of entrepreneurship and family firms. We conclude with reflections on some unexplored themes that have arisen as a result of using this framework and relevant directions for future research on entrepreneurship and family businesses.