How To Create An Acting Resume

The Top Of Your Resume

• Your professional name
• A thumbnail headshot
• This is one more opportunity to put a face to your name.
• Helpful in case your headshot and resume ever get separated.

• Contact information
• There is no need to include your address on your resume.

• Stats
• Pronouns
• NO NEED to put your hair color or eye color.
• If your headshot is attached and/or you have a thumbnail photo.
• Hair and eye color on resumes goes back to the days of black and white headshots!

• Agent information
• If youre represented by an agent, youll most likely be required to add their logo and contact information to the top of your resume as well.

Select The Resume Type

The first step towards creating your resume is choosing the right resume type. You can choose between the following resumes:

• Chronological resume: Use a chronological resume if you have vast experience in the acting field. It is an ideal resume type for actors who have a consistent work history and have steadily progressed in their careers.

• Functional resume: A functional resume focuses more on your skills and abilities in the acting field rather than the experience. When applying for a skills-based job like acting, you can choose a functional resume over a chronological one.

• Combination resume: A combination resume mixes chronological and functional resume formats that focus on experience and skills. This combination resume emphasises on your skills.

Based on your preference, you can choose the desired resume type.

Related:Resume Format Guide With Examples

Printable Acting Resumes By Canva

If you want to make it as an actor, show them how professional you are. Start by making a great first impression with your acting resume. Dont just make a list of your credentials. Get creative! No design background? No worries. Look through Canvas acting resume samples for ideas. Need more help? Grab acting resume templates from Canva and customize them in time for your next audition.

Find unique acting resume templates for beginners or with pictures or headshots in Canvas gallery of professionally designed resume layouts. Want one that shows your side as a serious actor? A monochromatic design would be perfect for that. Auditioning for a family-oriented show? Weve got sample acting resume templates that are light, bright, and friendly. Want to capitalize on your unique charms? Browse our acting resume examples, and youll find one as quirky as you are. Our acting resume templates are free to download, so grab a couple of different designs for different acting jobs or applications.

Once youre done with your resume, double-check your layout for typos or any missing information. Have a colleague or friend check it for you as well. Save your resume on our dashboard so you can easily update it anytime you add to your credentials. Go paperless and send your resume via email, or print a few to bring on your next audition.

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Skills To Put On An Acting Resume

Casting directors hate to read a list of hobbies as your skills. You do not have to list down a ton of skills thinking you will get an audition based on that.

Only write what you possess and make sure you read the job description and understand the responsibilities that come with the particular acting work.

Your skills section is the one that has the most potential to skyrocket your career. Think about the actors and actresses you see every day on the big screen. They all have one thing in common. Which is that they all have at least one unique skill.

Some actors are really good dancers, some are fighters, some are good looking, fit or talk a couple of languages. When you understand your unique set of skills, you could look for opportunities that allow you to monetize them.

Do a self assessment of yourself to identify the potential skills that you have.

List Your Contact Information

You want to list your name, physical address and phone number. You also want to include your email address. If you dont have one yet, set up an email account where casting directors and other industry professionals can contact you.

Choose a professional sounding username. While kittyinboots.2873 might be OK to share with friends and family, it doesnt brand you as an experienced actor. Instead, go for an email address that uses your name or stage name, so its easy for directors and others to remember.

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Include Your Education And Training

No matter your experience level, you should still include your education and acting training. List the name of your school or university, the date you graduated and your degree. If you have any special certifications related to the field, you can include those also. Additionally, if you have completed any specialized training like stage or theater training, stunt coordination or other professional training, be sure to highlight it within this section.

List Your Special Skills Prominently On Your Resume

Emphasizing your special skills is a great way to stand out and show casting directors what makes you unique. If you have many hard and soft skills, list them in your resume skills section.

Actors and actresses learn hard skills from training, schooling, and practical experience.

For instance, singing and dancing are considered hard skills. Language skills and the ability to speak in other accents are also special skills for actors proving youre versatile and can perform in different scenarios.

Dont forget to include specific details about your hard skills. For instance, listing your vocal range, dance specialization, or level of language proficiency provides casting directors with more context and helps them understand the scope of your skill set.

Here are other hard skills for your resume:

• Ability to play specific sports
• Acrobatic abilities
• Valid drivers license
• Voiceover acting

In our acting resume template below, our applicant mentions that they can sing baritone, speak in several accents, and converse in French and Spanish:

If youre a beginner and dont have many special skills yet, try listing soft skills that are relevant to the part youre auditioning for.

Your soft skills show how you relate to people in a professional setting. Casting directors seek actors or actresses who follow directions easily and work well with others, so list your teamwork skills and your ability to take direction.

Here are some other soft skills for your acting resume:

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Describe Your Professional Experiences On Your Actor Resume

Use reverse chronological order to list down your acting history. This way, you write your latest performances first.

Writing your actor experience would be a little different than writing a resume for any other job.

Here are a few bullet points to consider:

• Do not over explain your characters or the involvement in a particular acting gig
• The industry norm is to list the film title, the role played, the theater company, and the director. You can also use a format with columns to showcase the experience section

Exactly How To Format Your Rsum For A Us Market

Warning: Incorrectly formatted résumés are everywhereand theyre spreading like an infectious disease! Im noticing this from actors coming in to audition for me, from my coaching clients, and in my classes. Lucky for you, Ive got the cheat sheet for formatting your one-sheet like a pro. Correct layouts vary from country to country, but well focus on the correct U.S. structure, top to bottom, for now:

1. Your Name and RepresentativesYour name goes at the top. Make sure its in a font thats large enough to stand out on the page, then list your contact info, agent, and manager on the top or bottom of the page, and use the artwork of your rep company.

2. Film and TV CreditsDont bunch different categories together for your acting credits. Separate film, TV, and new mediain that order. Next, your credits should each be allotted three side-by-side columns. The name of the project goes in Column 1 the size of your role in Column 2 and the name of the projects head honcho in Column 3 . Do not list industrial films, and do not list background workit makes you look like an amateur. This is something you may do as youre starting out to gain set experience, but it should not go on your professional acting résumé.

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What To Put In Your Acting Resume

The header. The top of the resume should tell the casting director who you are. Start with your professional name. What do you want to be professionally known as? That’s the name that should be on your resume. Your contact information, or your agent/manager’s contact details if you have representation, should be next. Phone number and email address, make it easy for those hiring you to reach you. If you’ll be making your resume public, make a version without your personal phone number.

Then add your physical stats: hair colour, eye colour, height, and build. Adding a profile or summary for your experience at the top of the page is an optional but beneficial step, especially if you’ve worked on well known productions. Finally, add your union status. If you’re in a market that has unions but you aren’t in one, simply type “non-union”.

Your experience. Add your film, tv, commercial, and theatre credits under separate headings. List the production title, your role, the production company and/or director, and whether your role was for a lead or supporting character. Here’s an example:

DESTINY Police Officer Grasshopper Productions

Avoid listing amateur roles. It’s often better to highlight supporting roles in larger productions than lead roles in smaller productions. Remember, your resume is meant to highlight your professional work. If your goal is to book principal acting roles, don’t list extras work on your resume.

Section : Personal Information

• Your name, phone number, email address , and website. Note that having a website is not mandatory but can definitely make you appear more established.
• If you have an agent or manager, list their contact information. Some may prefer you to hide your own contact information and only list theirs, but you can speak with them about it.

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How To Write A Theatre Resume

As difficult as it may seem to write an actor resume, it really isn’t.

And if you blend our 10 Step Guide On film actor resume with our Online Resume Builder, you’ll be done with your theatre resume in no time.

We’ve written a ‘KEY TAKEAWAYS’ section for you at the end of this article. Do read it for some film actor resume tricks and hacks to make your actor resume look more professional than ever.

In addition to this, Hiration’s Online Resume Builder offers pre-written resume templates which are ready to use. So, go and make your theatre resume at Hiration’s Online Resume Builder to crack that next job you’re going to apply for. The content templates are professionally made by select industry experts.

Hard to believe?

Make your actor resume on Hiration’s Online Resume Builder and experience the resume making process made easy for you.

Add Social Media Channels

If you have created social media channels that feature images or videos where your ability to perform or transform into another character is evident, include them on your acting resume. However, make sure that these assets are readily available and not buried under more personal or non-relevant posts. Include them only as a means to showcase your acting skills!

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Write A Professional Summary Or Objective

If you’re starting your acting career, a professional objective allows you to describe the role you’re seeking and highlight relevant skills and qualifications that enable you to perform successfully. If you have several years of acting experience, you can use a professional summary to describe your most impressive or relevant qualifications. For example, you might mention the years or type of acting experience you have, valuable skills you offer, or notable accomplishments from your career. Use this section as an opportunity to encourage the employer to continue reading.

Read more:A Guide To Writing a Resume Summary With Samples

Tips For Making An Acting Resume

No matter if you are auditioning in Hollywood or for Broadway, the goal with a resume is to have your acting experience catch the attention of casting directors. As such, keep the below in mind:

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Touch On Your Past Credits

Before you decide that you dont have any relevant experience, think for a moment. Did you perform a bit part in a high school play? Thats considered acting work.

Were you an uncredited extra during a scene on The Walking Dead? Mention that, too. Did you perform in a friends miniseries on YouTube? You could include it on your resume.

Include Details About Your Education And Training

This section highlights your level of formal training as an actor, either through earning a degree or participating in acting classes, workshops or coaching. When applicable, list the degree you earned, educational institution and location. If you’re a recent graduate, you may also list relevant theatre or acting activities and achievements as a student. When listing acting classes, workshops or coaching, you can provide the type of training, name of the program, name of the training organization or instructor.

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Tips For Writing Your Resume

You can also use the following tips to further guide you when you write your resume:

• Under your acting experience and work history, only list the name of the production, your role and the production company. You can leave out your job responsibilities, as these can seem evident in your portrayal of your character roles.

• Create a resume for specific roles. For instance, if you are looking for a role in stage acting, format your resume to highlight your theater experience and skills.

• Keep your resume one page in length, and consider sticking with a professional font like Times New Roman, Arial or Calibri.

Related:

To upload the template into Google Docs, go to File > Open > and select the correct downloaded file.

How To Create An Acting Portfolio

Your acting portfolio consists of your acting resume as well as your headshot and your acting reel. You could also include different versions of your resume, tailored more by specialization. For example, a resume focused on doing commercials would feature a different kind of headshot instead of a single shot, it would likely feature composite headshots in costumes. So your portfolio could include different versions of acting resumes. Each should be one page.

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Current Location Of Residence

Step 5 involves customizing the acting resume title.

The title conveys your capability and expertise in your field to the recruiter.

It is supposed to be the second largest text in your actor resume with the font size between 12-14 point size.

Take a brief look at the below given acting resume example to get greater clarity on how to make the profile title section.

You can also opt for a professional review of your theatre resume done by select industry experts of Hiration to check the accuracy of your actor resume design and content.

Dont Let Your Education Section Turn Them Off

Plenty of great actors dont have much education, right?

Yes, but this is crucial:

Use your acting school achievements to keep directors in their seats.

These professional acting resume examples lay it out:

One of those acting resume samples could get you in the next Star Wars film.

The other proves youre a cool person, but no more.

Whats Additional References? Thats just where you list links to your work they can watch online.

Got a website or online portfolio?

Definitely list that, too.

Expert Hint: Write an acting cover letter. Thats the best way to show your passion. To make it fit the role, list acting achievements that look similar to what they want.

Double your impact with a matching resume and cover letter combo. Use our cover letter builder and make your application documents pop out.

Want to try a different look? Theres 18 more. A single click will give your document a total makeover. Pick a cover letter template here.

For an actor resume that gets auditions:

• Use the actor resume template up top. It connects you to the casting directors needs by showing your best side.
• Put acting achievements in all your resume sections. Thats how to prove you know how to bring the house down.
• List special skills for acting resumes. Pick the ones that fit the production to a tee.
• Write an acting cover letter. Use it to show your passion for the role especially if you lack experience.

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