How to Write an Actor’s Resume

How to Write an Actor’s Resume

Your resume speaks volumes about you as an individual and how much you can contribute as an actor. There is no business like show business. Let’s check to How to Write an Actor’s Resume.

Just like other professions, showbiz has set ways of conducting business and doing things. Like other industries, in order to be hired and get jobs in the movie business, you will need to submit a resume.

As an aspiring actor, you need to know how to create a properly formatted actor's resume which may very well include nearly every acting role or experience that you have had. Your resume speaks volumes about you as an individual and how much experience and training you may have. It’s important that you take the time to craft your resume because it will be your ticket to an audition and of course, can lead to stardom.

If you are already in the business you may have seen actors resumes that are fancy and over-the-top. You may also have seen the most basic of actors resume. All you really need is for your resume to appear professional and informative – not too fussy and not too far away from the point you are trying to make, which is that you are worth casting.

An actor’s resume, along with an outstanding headshot, is the single most important and essential tool an actor can use to get acting jobs. Your resume is going to be your way to get your foot in the door with the people who can hire you for your next big acting role. Therefore, it is essential that you put together an outstanding acting resume that will stand out from the rest.

Your acting resume is the first chance a potential casting director, talent agent, or indeed a director gets of seeing you and learning more about your past work history, capabilities and attributes. These industry executives will all want to see a high quality, top of the range resume, just as any employer would, and will expect just one page of good, tidy information about you and your job experience.

It will help them decide whether or not you are just the person they should be casting. With this in mind, you need to ensure that both the resume and headshot that you will attach to the front are high quality and professional.

A casting director can decide in the first few seconds of reading a resume whether the actor should be auditioned or not, so the more time you spend initially putting together your resume then the more likely your chances of being contacted about castings.

Since your resume is the first point of contact between you and a potential casting director, find someone like a friend, acting coach or mentor and have them proofread it and check it over for mistakes or missing crucial points. Take time to put together a superb resume whose goal is to profile you as a professional and detail all of your acting attributes, experience, education and physical description.

Basics of an Acting Resume

Firstly, remember that your resume should be of a standard format. Most actors will put together a resume of a certain size. If yours is different and you may jeopardize your chances before a casting director or talent agent has even read through it. Even this is not a strict rule as such, try to use this as a guide:

One page containing your details 8″ x 10″ (or 21.5cms x 25.5cms)

One headshot of the same size, or slightly smaller

An actor’s resume should be just one page of your most important acting experience including stage and theatre roles, training and of course background to your education.

Start by listing your name and professional or union affiliations (leave this blank if this does not apply to you) to the top. Then add a detailed description of yourself which may include your height, weight, hair colour, eye colour.

Include your singing ability or vocal range, too. If you are not suitable for this role, you may be remembered for an alternative role so these parts are crucial. For a person that does not sing, you may add either ‘alto’ or ‘baritone’, which explains that you simply are not a singer.

Do not forget that you need to add your contact information. You’ll want to list all telephone and mobile numbers that you can be contacted on, with voicemail if possible. Add your email address and web site address if you have one. It’s a good idea to avoid using your personal home address, instead, list your post office box or perhaps just add the area (e.g.Bandra, Mumbai-400051). If you have an agent or manager, you’d use their business address instead of your own.

Then, add in your work history in a list grouped together in categories by type. Start with roles you had in the film, followed by television, then theatrical or stage roles that you’ve taken part in. You’ll list the name of the product first, followed by your role, and then either the name of the production company or the director if he or she is known.

Directly following your film, TV, and theatre credits is the commercial category. This area is where you would list any credits you may have for working on a television commercial. However, in most cases, you won’t list the commercials you’ve been in.

Because of conflicts between advertisers, it’s actually better not to list your commercial credits and instead use the phrase, ‘List available upon request.’ This simple phrase tells the casting directors that you’ve appeared in commercials and if they want additional details that they should contact you directly and discuss them with you.

After you’ve listed your past work history, follow this by detailing any training and education you have had or are currently involved in. List things like schools, classes, and popular acting coaches. Including this relevant detail lets the casting directors know you’ve taken the time to study the acting craft.

This is even more critical if you lack any prior acting roles to list above and it will be looked upon positively, giving you a greater chance of success and more chance of being remembered for future roles.

Finally, a good piece of advice is to ensure that when you are ready, the final print out is completed on a good grade of paper using a high quality printer, if you don’t have one then ask for a friend to print it out for you. Keep a copy yourself and have it copied as many times as you need at a printing store as the copies will be just as good as the original.