Every job requires a resume. The resume is your image in the eyes of your employer regardless of the job type you are applying for. That is why people always spend time and efforts to create a great resume that will help them get the job of their dreams. If you are an actor, the resume is a very special and important thing for your acting career in Hollywood. You need to have a good resume with a professional headshot for auditions in Los Angeles casting agencies. So, do not panic, concentrate, as here you will find everything you need to know for creating an outstanding resume.

First Steps

If you have just graduated from an acting school and these are your first steps for an acting career in LA, you should start looking for auditions in Los Angeles casting agencies. Even if you think that the particular role does not speak to you that much, still go for it. Remember that any kind of acting is right for a start. Even if the work is not paid, you should absolutely apply! After doing a certain amount of auditions in LA, you will become a more established actor. The more auditions you have in your resume, the higher are your chances to start a professional acting career in Hollywood. 

Components

An actor’s resume, just as the one of other professions, has particular musts that should be completed. Some of them may seem logical and even ridiculous, but we assure you that there have been cases when people forgot to include the most essential ones. Down here, you can find the absolute must elements that need to be included in your professional actor’s resume.

Your Name

Yes, the presence of this point up here is really necessary. Some people do forget to put their name in the resume. In LA casting agencies, the casting group comes across wonderful resumes, which lack the name of the actor. You may say, “I am not that dull,” but still, please be attentive.

Contact Information 

Your resume should absolutely contain your email and a working telephone number. These are the means by which Los Angeles casting agencies contact you when they when consider you for the role you applied for. In case you have an agent, his or her contact information should also be listed in your professional resume. Your agent is your representative, and if you have them, the casting group will contact you through him/her. Sometimes actors do not even include their personal email address, but rather write the one of their agents.

Union Partnership 

If you have an affiliation to any union in both the acting sphere and others, it should be mentioned in your resume. You should write about your union affiliations below your name. This information is especially important for the Los Angeles casting agencies, as your membership gives you some kind of recognition. For instance, if you are a member of Screen Actors Guild‐American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), Actor Federal Credit Union (AFCU) or Actors’ Equity Association (AEA), the casting agency may be interested in it and consider you accordingly. 

No Personal Address

Acting is a job that deals with some amount of fame and recognition. At some point of actor’s life, you will begin being identified for your roles, may those be movie, theatre or commercial ones. For that reason, you may want people not to know where you live. Once you put the information about your residence in your resume, it will become public. There are stalkers in every sphere, and acting is not an exception. What is more, actors deal with stalking really much. Your email address and phone number are more than enough for the Los Angeles casting agencies. So, save yourself from stalkers and never ever put your home address in your resume. 

No Age, No Birthdate

There is absolutely no need to state your age or the date of your birth in your resume. That is considered a piece of excessive information for the casting personnel. Do not forget that the people who you send your resume to are the ones to either give or not to give you the part. If they have not seen you yet, they may look at your resume, learn about your age, and decide not to hire you because you are too young or too old. They may assume that your age does not match the one of the offered characters. Yes, it is unfair, but it is also the truth. However, if your age is not written in your resume, you may go to auditions in LA, impress the casting personnel, and they will give you the part regardless of your age. Besides, if you want something to signal about your age, let it be your headshot. 

Headshot

Here we arrived! The headshot is the most essential thing in the actors’ resume. If you are in the process of writing a resume for your acting career in Hollywood, the very first thing you should do is to get a headshot. If you are new in the acting domain, you may want to start by looking for affordable headshots for your first auditions in LA. However, as mentioned, headshots are the most important element of your resume; that is why they should be made by a professional photographer in the Los Angeles area. Your headshot is the first thing casting agencies notice in your portfolio. The reality is that images do talk about people. Images are the things that create the first impression, which, as we know is the most significant one. So, make sure your headshot is a really good one and by all means. You can find some headshot tips here. Besides, take some time to choose the best outfit for your studio headshot. The best suggestions for a headshot wardrobe are listed here. 

Your Acting Credits

The toughest one has come. You are required to mention your actual acting credits in your resume. Are you a newly developing actor? If yes, then list every single part you played throughout your academic life. Start out with secondary roles of plays you made in your acting school. Have you played Benvolio in “Romeo and Juliet” or Cassio in “Othello,” Olivia in “Twelfth Night” or any other Shakespearean staff that any actor plays at school? Do not hesitate to include those. If you had a chance to play a more leading role such as “Hamlet” either professionally or no, it should absolutely be in your resume. The size of your part really does not matter. If you are just starting your acting career in Hollywood, list every single thing you have done so far.

If you are already a little experienced and you have more professional parts left behind, you can be selective in your acting credits. You may want to remove your high school acting experiences as those may seem to be too amateur. After that, when you gain even more qualified, you can also consider removing some of your small parts of college. Even if you have played smaller roles professionally, they may seem unnecessary in your resume. When you are more mature and more acknowledged, your post-graduation part is more relevant. 

How to List Acting Credits?

When listing your acting experience in your resume, it is not only important to know what to list, but also how to list. It is not enough to write the title of your performance. That will tell nothing to the Los Angeles casting agencies who consider you for a particular role. Here you can see what information makes the acting credits section of your resume complete and relevant. 

Role 

Who do you play? If you list a theatre role, you should write where the character you play belongs to. Is the character taken from a famous play? Is it a new personage from a modern play? Include both the title of the play and the author. 

Institution

Where did you play the role? Is it a theatre role? Write the name of the theatre and its location. 

Is it a movie character? In that case, write down the film studio who produced the movie you played in. For your roles in commercials, there is also a lot of information to put in. You should write the name of the company which produces that commercial. If it is an advertisement, you  also have to write the name of the product. Do not forget about the location. 

Production

Who produced the content you played in? This is probably the central thing that defines the quality of your acting experience. You may have played a 5-minute long part that appeared only once on the theater stage. However, if that role had been in Broadway Theater, it would be considered a huge plus in your resume. On the other hand, if you played “Hamlet” but did it in a middle school, it would obviously not seem to be a big thing. 

Director

Director is the person who makes the play or movie or a commercial. Not listing the director means a lack of information and appreciation. You may have made a one-minute appearance in a movie and pronounced one line that did not have much significance in the whole movie; however, that may have been a Tarantino movie. So, if you forget to mention the director’s name, you may not be adequately appreciated and vice versa. Do not forget that the casting agencies in Los Angeles know names very well. They want to know what directors you have had the experience to work with. Listing directors is not only absolutely required, but it can also be beneficial for you.

An acting experience contains a lot of information about its place and the people involved in it. All of these should be listed appropriately in your resume so that your credits are considered countable. 

Special Skills

The special skills section is vital in an actor’s resume. This section should include all the skills you possess that may be useful at any moment of an acting career in Hollywood. As you can understand, these skills refer not only to acting abilities. They can range from singing to biathlon skiing.  

The special skills section is principally important when you apply for commercial roles. You can revise your resume when you are about to audition for commercials and include every single thing you are good at. Literally, anything you do well or are somehow experienced at will be a huge plus in your resume. Here is a list of things you can surely consider for adding to your resume, in case you can do that, of course.

Foreign languages/dialects 

An outstanding skill which can make you compatible not only in Los Angeles acting agencies but in other countries as well.  

Vocal Abilities

Vocal abilities are essential in commercial ads. Companies usually hire special people to do voice acting. If you already have those abilities, you are one step ahead of your competitors. 

Sports, Dancing 

This is especially important. If you are good at any sport, list it in your resume immediately. You will have an advantage over other actors, as no stuntman will be needed. Therefore, hiring you will be beneficial for your employers as well. 

Playing a Musical Instrument

Why not? At least, it will never be worthless. And there are many other skills like this that may seem irrelevant at the moment but are in fact very important and valuable for casting agencies in LA. 

The resume is the identity of an actor. All the information about your acting skills, and most importantly, your experience as an actor is listed there. Your resume is what the casting personnel looks at to consider you for a particular role. A professional resume with all its components and a good headshot is an absolute requirement for auditions in Los Angeles. You now know how to write a resume for your future acting career in Hollywood. You are ready to go and rock at your auditions.