What To Put On A Beginners Acting Resume
Even though you are a beginner, your acting resume is supposed to show that you are a Professional. As an actor, you may have been trained to stand out, but in making your acting resume, you have to follow the trend.
NOTE:
Follow this guide thoroughly and youll be sure to make the most suitable resume for you, so 13 entities you have to put on a beginners acting resume
Your professional name: It should be written at the top of your A4 paper. Your professional name is your stage name, and your resume should not be without your stage name. It is the first character on your resume.
Union affiliations and Agency: Input the union affiliations or talent agency where you belong, if theres none, move to the next. Dont write none or nill, as that could make casting directors see you as an amateur.
Your Contact and Email address: Your contact, which can be easily accessible, is required and your valid email address. This only applies when you dont belong to an agency yet. Your personal contact wont give you so much credit or advantage, because not belonging to an agency make it evident to the casting director that you are a beginner. It is always better to join an agency or get a talent agent.
Your Agents contact information: Your Agents contact should follow. You should not begin your acting career alone, get an agent because they always have access to more Jobs than you do.
NOTE:
Summary: Key Points For Writing A Perfect Actor Resume
- Start with a clean header with your name and contact details and the physical specifications as relevant. State the contact details of your manager or the agent if any
- Write a professional summary or an objective summary showcasing your acting credits and special achievements
- Work with a professional photographer to get a headshot to attach with the resume
- Use the reverse chronological order to list your acting credits
- Write your education qualifications in a clear format
- Write a mix of soft skills and hard skills. Put more focus on your hard skills that are relevant to the role you apply for
- Make the casting directors notice your resume by providing a pleasant surprise. Use relevant additional sections such as skills certifications, interests, or languages.
Do Not Be Shy About Including Awards
If you have a Drama Desk, Drama League, Obie, Lucille Lortel or even a Golden Globe, that is fantastic. Definitely feature these on any acting resume.
However, do not forget smaller, less well-known awards. They are just as legitimate.
For example, you may have been awarded best actor by a prestigious director on a film or production.
You can also use this section to name-drop people you have worked with.
Perhaps Barry Jenkins highlighted you as the hardest working extra on Moonlight or Ryan Coogler awarded you Toughest Stunt Double on Black Panther.
Awards are important to include as they show others have already appreciated and acknowledged specific sections of your skill set.
You May Like: How To Put Relevant Coursework On Resume
Do: Be Honest About Your Experience
Weve all seen the episode of Friends where Joey lies on his resume that he is a pro dancer and then gets asked to lead a dance audition and epically fails. DONT BE A JOEY! There is nothing worse than being placed in a situation where you cannot do what they are asking you to do in an audition. Be truthful. Be honest! You are enough.
How To Write An Acting Resume With Little Experience
Related
When you are first starting out as an actor, you still need a resume even though you have very little experience to list. Casting directors request a resume whenever you want to be considered for a role. The good news is that an acting resume reveals more than your acting experience. Create a resume that includes other relevant information to let casting directors determine whether you are suitable for a role.
Recommended Reading: What To Write In An Email When Sending A Resume
Example Of A Header / Example Of A Bad Header For Actor
While writing this section, take into account the following:
- Start: The header should start with your name and not with your title
- Email: For an entry level acting resume, it is okay to put a personal email address. However, the best way is to create a professional email address after your name
- Residential Address: Do not include your address unless it is absolutely necessary. You will anyway have to be in close distance to the filming locations if you get acting jobs
- Website: If you have a professional website, list it at the bottom of the header. The casting directors should be able to see more of your photographs in the web gallery
- Physical specifications: Every casting director has a picture in their mind of the perfect actor for a role. That even includes physical description such as height, hair color, eye color, etc. Stating the relevant specifications about you is really important and that would save time for both parties.
Dont Fear The White Space
If youre young or have no experience under your belt, creating your resume can feel intimidating. How do you make yourself look impressive without enough credits to fill up the whole page?
What you dont want to do is pad your resume with irrelevant information or fluff. Casting directors typically glance at any given resume for under ten seconds, so filling it with information they dont want to see will only make it harder for them to read.
Having blank space on an acting resume is normal, and can even be a good thing depending on what the casting director is looking for. Many directors see a sparse resume as an opportunity to introduce a fresh face to their work and debut a potential breakout star.
That said, if youre struggling to find things to put on your resume, dont be afraid to list any experience you have . Putting a role you had in a high school or college play is still better than nothing, and shows casting directors that youre familiar with the industry.
The right resume format can make even the patchiest work history look great. Make sure you consider your options before selecting your template.
Also Check: Functional Resume Examples For Career Change
How To Send Your Resume
Once your acting resume is complete, its ready to send out. But before you send it, you have one more step to take. You need to convert it to a PDF. Why?
Think about it. Part of your job as an actor is to make other people’s job easier. Don’t make an agent or casting office go cross-eyed trying to read your shoddy formatting. That’s being a savvy business professional.
If you send you resume as a Word document, it may end up looking like a mess when opened by the person receiving it. Is that the impression you want to leave with an agent or casting director?
But if you send your resume as a PDF, all the hard work you put into it – the formatting, the font selection, the margins, the character spacing – all that hard work will be perfectly preserved for the person receiving it.
Wondering how to convert to a PDF? Please watch the video below entitled How to Use this Template. Its covered at the end.
Work Experience In The Acting Resume
Your experience section is the most important part of your acting resume. Most casting directors start with this section just after checking your photographs.
Think from the casting directors angle. If you are shortlisting 1,000 resumes for a movie character, which one do you start with?
It is probably the photograph of the actor as you have a picture of the actor you need to have for the role in your mind.
Next?
What this guy has previously done!
Which are the acting credits and theater credits. Your experience in other words.
However, if you do not have much experience as an actor to list in your resume, list your performances in the acting school or your training.
Don’t Miss: Microsoft Word 2010 Resume Template Download
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
Customize Your Resume To The Job Opening
With no experience, your best chance to get an interview is to target your resume to the specific job you want. Check out their listing for the position, and see what skills theyre looking for. From those skills, take the ones you have and place them in your skills section.
You can also reuse some of the language elsewhere in your resume, like in your resume summary or experience section.
Fitting these skills into your resume is important because many companies still use applicant tracking systems to scan for resumes keywords. This helps them filter large quantities of applicants and determine which ones are worth evaluating further.
If you make an ATS friendly resume, you set yourself up for success against candidates who might have more experience than you.
You May Like: How Create Resume In Word
How To Write An Acting Resume With No Experience
People who are new to acting may find writing a resume challenging when they’re pursuing a job in this field. Learning to write an engaging resume that emphasizes your transferable skills can help you overcome this challenge and get an acting job. In this article, we describe the functions of an acting resume, how to write an acting resume with no experience, resume tips for entry-level actors and provide examples of acting resumes.
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.
Don’t Miss: Is My Perfect Resume Legit
Tips For Crafting A Show
Before you start writing, make sure you know how to write a resume in a way that best emphasizes your strengths.
A packed theater, the challenge of a new role, a wave of excitement its no secret that acting is one of the most fulfilling professions out there. For many, a successful career in musical theater, film, or television is a dream come true.
But its no secret that acting can be tough to break into. Even the most talented performers struggle to get a callback.
So how do you stand out and catch the casting directors attention when acting ability alone doesnt cut it? Having a well-written resume that highlights your strengths is a great first step.
Even if youre a beginner with little or no formal experience yet, dont worry. These three expert tips will help you put together a show-stealing acting resume and boost your chances of getting a callback.
Do: Put Time And Effort Into Making It Look Professional
Take the time to make your resume look put-together and professional. Your resume is often the first thing casting looks at when deciding whether or not to bring you in for an audition. Before you even see them in person, you want to make a good impression your resume can help you or hurt you. BIG time.
You May Like: How To Change The Resume In Linkedin
Theatre Resume: Education Section
Step 6 involves writing one of the most important sections of the acting resume, the education section. The information in this section includes the university/school from which you completed your education, their locations, dates of enrollment and graduating from them, degree pursued and CGPA acquired.
Use the format given below to make this section.
| | | &
The recruiter decides on the basis of this section whether you are eligible for the job or not.
The acting resume sample below will provide you with a better idea of how to make this section.
In addition to this, you can go for Hiration’s Online Resume Builder in which these sections come pre-arranged for a smooth resume making experience.
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.
Don’t Miss: Where To List Languages On Resume
Start With Your Name Contact Info And Stats
As in any other resume, your drama school resume should begin with your full name. Use big and bold letters for the name and place it at the topmost part of your resume page.
Follow your name with the information for contacting you which should include your
-
Email address
-
The contact number of your manager or agent, if present, can replace your contact info.
-
And avoid entering your age unless your age is under 18.
-
If you are part of any of unions such as AEA, SAG or AFTRA include them here.
-
If singing is part of your repertoire, add the voice type like for instance, Voice: Tenor
After your contact address state all your statistics including :
- Height
- Weight
- Eye and hair color.
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.
You May Like: Temp Work On Resume
Listing Your Credits General Information
- Always lead with your most well known, recognizable, or impressive credits.
- Theres no need for credits to be listed in chronological order!
- You can choose specifically what you want to share on your resume.
- You can use either a 3 column layout or a 4 column layout to format your resume.
- A 3 column layout combines the name of the theatre/production company and the director.
- A 4 column layout separates the directors name into its own column.
- Make sure youre consistent with whichever format you choose!
The Student Actor’s Resume
As a student , your first instinct will be to fill your resumé with credits, courses, and master classes. But wait…
The same advice from above still applies: Keep it simple. Sure, do a little name dropping if you think it will help. But don’t go overboard.
We’ve seen recent grads list every class they ever took, and the actual skill level.
“Ballet 4, Jazz 3, Tap 2…”
Directors don’t care about that stuff. In fact, they’ll see it as pretentious and try-hard. If you want to market yourself as an actor, don’t try to impress.
Instead, focus on using your type. Tell them how to cast you. What roles have you played that you could play again in the real world? List them at the top.
Also, list professional credits towards the top, and educational credits toward the bottom. In time, you won’t need to list your high school and college credits at all.
You May Like: How To Make A Resume On Ipad
Personalizing Acting Resume Summary Section
Step 10 involves making the summary section.
In this step, you will look all through your actor resume and pick out points that are the highlight of your career. Now, rephrase these sentences and write them in the summary section while also highlighting the requirements of the recruiter.
See the below given acting resume sample to get a clearer idea on how to make this section.
In addition to this, you can opt for Hiration’s Resume Reviewing Service to get a review of your professional summary.
Include Education And Training
You can also add your acting education and training, including classes, to your resume under a heading that says “training.” You can organize this section in chronological order to help make it more readable. You can list acting degrees, such as a bachelor’s degree, in this section, along with acting classes and workshops.
The type of the class or workshop can go in the first column of your acting resume, with the acting teacher in the second column and the location in the third column. For example, if the name of the acting workshop is “Exploring Improvisation Through Movement,” you would simply write “Improv” on your resume.
Related: How to Make an Actor Resume
Recommended Reading: How To Insert A Line In Word For Resume