Creating the Perfect Acting Résumé
by Sarah Bennett
Creating your acting résumé is the first chance a potential casting director,
talent agent, or indeed director, gets of seeing you and finding out more about
your capabilities and attributes. It will also help them decide whether
or not you are the just the person they should be casting. With this
in mind you need to ensure that both the résumé and the headshot that
you will attach to the front are high quality and professional.
Your Headshot
First, be sure to attach your headshot - a good photograph showing
your features - to the front, with your résumé details attached behind the
photo. Your headshot should be the best that you can afford. Make sure it's
professional and follows the industry standard - ensuring the casting
director or talent agent it seeing a high quality image along with your
professional résumé.
Your Résumé
A casting director can decide in the first few seconds of reading whether
this person should be auditioned or not, so the more time you spend
initially putting together your résumé then the more likely your chances of
being contacted about castings.
An actors résumé should be just one page of your most important acting
experience including stage and theatre roles, training and of course a
background to your education. The résumé is the first point of contact
between you and a potential casting director, so take advice from someone
like your mentor or another person in the industry in order that you get it
right - and have them check it for you in case you have missed some
crucial points or have missed a small error. Some actors pay to have
their résumé printed on the reverse of the headshot, however just by
attaching the headshot and résumé back-to-back is much less expensive and
means it is easier to update.
Firstly, remember that your acting résumé should be tidy, attractive,
and easy to read from top to bottom and free of errors. Add a
description of your physical being and ensure that you add all contact
information so that you can be contacted when required - name, telephone and
mobile numbers, any alternative numbers that you can be contacted on and
perhaps your email address.
It is a good idea to think of your acting résumé as a first audition -
if you don't impress the 'judge' at this point, then you are likely to
be unsuccessful in getting any further with this casting. With this in
mind, it is vital that you get the résumé right and looking good.
Final Word
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 (can be found in stationery stores) as the
copies will be just as good as the original.
Copyright © Sarah Bennett. All rights reserved. Used with permission of the author. Not to be reproduced or distributed.
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