Acting Resumes For Actors With No Experience
Writing an acting resume with no experience can be every bit as difficult as it sounds, but it is doable with a little time and effort. In order to write a resume of any kind, be it an actors resume, actress resume, fashion models resume, or whatever, is all about compiling your experience into a single document that can show you off at a glance, right? But what if you haven’t got any experience and still want to get some acting work?
I hate to tell you this, but you’re going to have to get some experience. The good news is that you do not need to have a resume (and hence acting experience) in order to get acting jobs (for which to put on your resume.) You will have to do some work for free, but if you literally have no experience at all then trust me, it’ll do you good. Here are some ideas on how to get acting experience when you’re just starting out as an actor:
- High school or college theatre
- If you’re still in high school, then now is absolutely the time to get started! High school drama departments often get some of the best budgets for quality theatre productions. Audition for some plays and you will not only get real world experience in high school theater, you will also get experience backstage, possible working with technical aspects of shows, stage managing, etc.
- The same can be done if you have already graduated from high school. If you want to go full tilt boogie you can audition for a full college acting program, but for that you’ll really need to have some acting experience under your belt already. Your best bet is to enroll in an acting class at your local community college. You will learn some acting, get to do some scene study, and also get to try out for the school’s plays. Do this!
- You can also enroll in private acting training for more experience with scene study and to hone your skills. Some of this can be included on your resume but don’t lean on it too heavily as casting directors will be more impressed by experience in full theatre productions.
- Apply for local performance jobs, such as dinner theater, theme park characters, etc. This type of job can be a good foot in the door, help you meet some people, and show that you are willing to pay your dues. There will be a lot of that in this field, so you may as well get used to it. These jobs can also be more fun than other dayjobs, because you get to incorporate at least a little of what you love to do.
Good luck! And be sure to let us know what other methods you have used to beef up the experience you have to include on your acting resume!