A linear actuator for an active engine mount of a vehicle has a stator with a coil that can be fed with electric current for generating an electromagnetic field and an actuating element that is mounted in axially movable fashion with reference to the stator. The actuating element comprises an armature and a ram extending in axial direction and is so mounted in the stator by means of at least one spring element that it can be moved axially in frictionless fashion when the coil is fed with current. The actuating element comprises a support element of a non-magnetic light-weight construction material extending in radial direction between the armature and the ram. Advantageously, the armature is provided only in such regions where there run magnetically relevant field lines of the electromagnetic field of the coil.