As far as acting résumés go, you may be a highly experienced celebrity film star or you could be someone from the office with no experience in the world of 'luvvies'! Either way, your acting résumé needs to be easy to read, it needs to be informative and most of all it needs to be honest.


Your acting résumé can reflect your personality if you want, but the most important aspect of your résumé is how you are perceived. There is absolutely no requirement whatsoever to tweak your résumé to make it sound better. It is a basic tool that is valued highly by a casting director or talent agent that is used to give them a better idea of you – and of course a good picture when you attach your headshot to it too (don't forget!).

It has been known for people who have no experience, and want to make themselves sound better to employ than the next actor, to add discreet little white lies to the document, in the hope of looking like they have more experience, weigh less than they actually do, or even look different. Bear in mind that when you get your audition, you are going to be face to face with your potential employer and little white lies will almost always be discovered. Come on, you don't want to be the subject of funny jokes and laughed off location now, do you?

In my experience, casting directors are always looking for different actors for varying roles, and all with varying looks. As well as that, there are the people they are waiting to find that are big, small, fat, skinny, and spotty; at the end of the day, if you get bypassed for one role they may remember you for another so don't lie about the way you look. It might be tempting to put down that you are 5lbs lighter, just don't jeopardies your career by doing it.

Another point to take heed of would be that you must not stretch the truth, even just a tiny bit. Casting directors know all about other auditions and jobs, be it film or television, etc. and they will know that the credit that you've put on your résumé about a scene you filmed with Anthony Hopkins in 'All Loved Up' really didn't exist!

Finally, adapt and edit your acting résumé often to reflect any new work you have done or to tailor your résumé for a certain audition. You can update your résumé to list the jobs and credits that you feel are important for a particular role and audition. You may even want to create two or three different résumés when auditioning for different roles. Of course, this isn't going to be possible every time and for ever audition, but it will put you in a better position when it comes to getting your acting résumé noticed by the people that matter. Treat each audition as a potential promotion and you'll have a fantastic chance to end up being the winner.

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Aimee Mitchell is an acting coach, short story author, community theater director and playwright. She has spent the better part of her adult life working with young actors and actresses.

Copyright © Aimee Mitchell. All rights reserved. Used with permission of the author. Not to be reproduced or distributed.

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