The invention discloses an actuator for a protective door with the manual and electric dual purposes and a control method of the actuator. The actuator is used for manual or electric control of opening or closing of the protective door, arranged on the protective door, and comprises a driving wheel, a locking device, a manual operating wheel, a motor, a transmission device, a clutch, a sensor andan electric control system, the locking device is arranged on the surface of a door leaf attached to a door frame, and connected with the motor and the manual operating wheel through the transmissiondevice, the driving wheel is arranged on the lower part of the door leaf, and connected with the motor through the transmission device, the clutch is arranged on a branch of the driving wheel controlled by the motorand the locking device, the sensor is used for providing opening and closing signals of the locking device and opening and closing signals of the door leaf, and the electric control system controls opening and closing of the door leaf and opening and closing of the locking device. According to the actuator for the protective door with the both manual and electric functions, manual and electric control are realized, the overall structure is compact, layout is reasonable, the actuator is well combined with the door leaf, does not affect transmission performance, the sensor is arranged for monitoring, thus electric control is accurate, reliable, and has good effect.