This paper describes the testing and experimental characterization of a linear permanent magnet actuator, which is designed and developed for active vehicle suspension, under both static and dynamic conditions. Since the active suspension unit operates over a wide force-velocity range with varying duty ratios, it is essential to establish an effective thermal model which can be used for assessing temperature rise of the actuator under various operating conditions. The temperature rise of the actuator is measured and the results are compared with the prediction by the derived transient thermal model. It is shown that the measured actuator parameters and characteristics are closed to their predicted values. The linear actuator is controlled by a dSPACE system via a three phase inverter and its velocity tracking performance is presented.