Earn Your Spotlight with These Acting Resume Samples

An acting resume or actor’s resume is designed to highlight your capabilities in acting, whether for stage, television, or movies. It must inform casting directors about your experience and credits, as well as your educational background, the acting classes you’ve taken, physical statistics, and other special skills.

It differs from a regular resume in format and content because casting directors are more interested in your suitability for particular roles than in job market trends. They hate it when you submit a resume in the wrong format. Regardless of whether you’re a professional or just starting your career in this industry, your resume’s objectiveis to impress casting directors. Here’s how.

You don't need the best resume writing services to create an acting resume; just use this template. Here's a sample resume outline for your acting application:

Unlike a regular resume, an acting resume contains only a few pieces of information that are deemed relevant to the acting application or the casting company.

• Name, phone number, email address, website - A website is not mandatory, but having one gives the impression that you are an established actor.
• Agent or manager's contact information - Get your manager's permission before you include their contact information in your resume.
• Height, weight, hair color, eye color - Make sure to use the correct metric system depending on the casting location or company.
• Headshot - You are expected to have a printed headshot photo attached to your resume, but a digital copy at the top of your document can fill up space, especially if you're new and don't have that many credits.
• Vocal type or range - For actors who sing, it's important to inform the casting director that you can do musicals or singing segments in movies and TV series.
• Union affiliation - If you're part of any actors union, let the casting group know. Newer actors may not have any memberships yet; you may write "non-union."

For seasoned actors, this section will hold the bulk of your credits.

• Categories - Divide your acting experiences into two main categories: theater and movies/TV. If you only have experience in one category, especially for new actors, it's fine. You don't have to create a category if you don't have credits to add to it.
• Layout - Create three columns. In the left column, place the name of the production. If it's a film, identify whether it's a short, feature, documentary, or any other description that can add context to the type of production. In the middle column, state your role or type of role played. In the right column, place the name of the director, production company, school, or theater that staged the production or film.
• Character Names - If you did theater acting, include character names in your credits and write in parentheses where that character falls (cast, ensemble, and others). For film and TV, just state the role descriptions, such as lead actor or supporting actor, and don't include the character names.
• Extra Work - You don't have to include extra work that you did (background actor with no speaking lines) unless you have fewer than three speaking roles in total. If you include too many extra work credits, the casting director might think you specialize in this and will not be fit for a speaking role. When you write down extra work, label it as "background" or"featured background."
• Voiceover Credits - If you do voiceovers, create a separate section or category for that, on top of theater and film/TV. List your voiceover credits in the same way as film/TV credits, with the same content written in three columns.
• Commercial Credits - Commercial credits should not be included in your main acting resume. Create a separate resume for it and email a copy only when people request it, to avoid possible conflicts of interest concerning brands.
• Big Names You Worked With - If you acted with a famous personality, add their names in parentheses beside the role.

This section includes the formal training you received in both acting and non-acting skills. Apart from your undergraduate degree related to acting, include acting workshops, seminars, studio sessions, master classes, acting coaching, voice or singing lessons, and stunt classes. Casting directors would like to see the following in your resume.

• Names of acting teachers, program directors, and educators that the industry recognizes. Check your teacher's or coache's names on Google. If they appear in a lot of entries, they will likely be familiar to casting directors, too.
• Names of schools and workshops you attended, especially the ones casting directors would recognize. Do the same exercise with Google as the teacher's names to determine the program or school's popularity.
• Length of time you studied specific skills and the dates/period you studied them.
• Type of training (i.e. Acting Techniques)

Just because this section is the last in the template, it does not mean you should belittle it. Some casting directors turn to this section for roles that require unique capabilities not every actor possesses. Sometimes, your entrance into the film industry can be triggered by what you write in this portion of your resume. Many people have landed roles because of the uniqueness of their special skills.

And sometimes, when you're new, your document just has too much white space on it. A special skills list will help improve the resume's appearance.

Most actors simply write down their special skills in a paragraph, separated by commas. But you can also make a bulleted list, with each bullet representing a category of special skills. Here are some examples of such skills:

Don't let a highly competitive industry stop you from reaching your spotlight. Let your acting resume lead the way. Now that you know what to include, you might want assistance from our AI resume writer. You may also explore other resume services, such as our federal resume builder below.