by Eric Goudie

Created on: August 13, 2009

Every actor who's serious about auditioning for roles on stage or screen must have a polished, professional acting resume, regardless of their age, skills or previous experience. A resume, along with a polished, professional headshot, is what will speak for you both before and after you complete your audition.

An acting resume should contain all the relevant information you can neatly pack onto a single page. Your full name and contact information should appear at the very top. You might also want to place a thumbnail-sized copy of your headshot at the top of the resume as well - now that the technology to do so is readily available why risk a director getting a huge stack of photos mixed up and thinking you are actually someone else (it happens)?

Below that you should have your essential information: name, age, date of birth, union affiliation (if any), height, weight, eye/hair colour and any other relevant physical information. If you sing you should include your vocal range, and the styles of music in which you know how sing well (ie few hip-hop artists would want to audition for a country musical). Dancers should list the forms of dance in which they have been trained.

Below that should be a list of every previous project you've worked on, starting with the most recent and working backwards, using just one line per project. List the date, the show, the role you played, the name of the company and the name of the director. Unless you've only done a few things, make a separate list for each genre: stage, film, radio, television, internet, industrials, etc.

List your training underneath your experience. Again, start with your most recent and work backwards, and include any classes, workshops, seminars or other acting-related training you may have received in addition to formal post-secondary studies.

If you're lucky enough to have received some awards or recognition for your work you should list them as well. It's okay to include both awards you've won and those you've simply been nominated for.

Below that list any other special skills or talents you may have - juggling, baking, photography, etc - anything special that you can do that might be of value to a director. Many screen actors will put "can drive a manual transmission" on their resumes, as there plenty of roles (bus driver, race car driver, soccer mom) where being able to drive whatever vehicle has been chosen for the scene is an essential skill.

Usually there aren't references on an acting resume, but if you're currently in something that is coming up you might want to include the show info at the bottom (again, thanks to technology it should be easy to keep your resume constantly fresh and up-to-date).

A good resume won't help you land a job if you're late, lazy or clearly haven't prepared for the audition. But even if you have done everything right a bad resume can still be reason enough for a producer, director or casting director to give your coveted role to someone else.

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