Acting Resume Format
The format for an acting resume is very simple and straightforward. There is somewhat less room for creativity in the layout of the acting resume and the individual’s ability to express his or her career goals. There are some things you absolutely must do and plenty of things you will want to do but should [...]
The format for an acting resume is very simple and straightforward. There is somewhat less room for creativity in the layout of the acting resume and the individual’s ability to express his or her career goals. There are some things you absolutely must do and plenty of things you will want to do but should not.
When you’re putting together your acting resume, write no introductions, conclusions, personal statements, or anything of the sort. The acting resume format includes nothing but the facts of your acting career: what did you do, where did you do it. It must be exactly one side of one page.
Let me say that again: The acting resume format that you must use as an actor is one side of one page. And when you’ve put it together you will staple it to the backside of your headshot. You generally will not have any opportunity to write an acting resume cover letter. If someone asks for one, this will be a very rare occurrence and so you will be writing one specially for whatever purpose it is being asked for. In this case you will simply write a cover letter that explains why you are the best for the specific job that is being offered.
Acting Careers And Salesmanship
Life is easier as an artist if you chunk your self-salesmanship into bite-sized nuggets. You don’t ever have to sell your whole self, you just have to sell your ability to do this one particular job, to play this one particular part, to convincingly portray this one particular role. You will find the process of auditioning to be much less nerve-wracking if you can remember this simple thing.
Acting Resume: Things To Include
I should preface this section with a note on readability: your primary goal with selecting a font and font size is to make the resume readable. You can use two fonts at most and both of them should be sized to be read. If you can’t fit everything onto the page at a size that is comfortable and inviting to read, then just don’t. Just leave something out. It’ll be okay. The important thing is that a casting director can read it and feels comfortable enough looking at it that they might.
The sections included in the standard acting resume format are categorized by experience:
- Theatre Acting Experience
- Film Acting Experience
- Television Acting Experience
- Commercial Acting Experience
- Voice-Over Acting Experience
These should be organized in an order that makes sense for the part you are going out for. See, acting resumes are very simple animals. Check out this page for an example: acting example resume. There are no descriptions of the roles, no details about the director or producer or budget or anything else. You’re essentially making an outline of your acting experience.
Special Skills For Careers In Acting
The final section that you should include in an actor’s resume is the Special Skills section. This is again just a bullet-point list of special skills that you have that a casting director might be able to use.
In the near future I’m going to be putting together some actor resume templates that you can use for free. I’ll have some in Word format for printing and some in HTML format for putting up on your web site, so please bookmark this page and come back later to download my free acting resume templates.