Table of Contents
- What to Include in an Acting Resume: The Essentials
- Contact Information and Headshot Placement
- How to List Acting Credits by Category
- What a Strong Acting Resume Example Looks Like
- Choosing an Acting Resume Template and Format
- How to Write an Acting Resume With No Experience
- How Long Should an Acting Resume Be?
- Training, Special Skills, and What to Leave Off
- Frequently Asked Questions
Last Updated: October 9, 2026
What to Include in an Acting Resume: The Essentials
An acting resume is a one-page document that lists your contact information, physical details, credits by category, and training, formatted so a casting director can scan it in seconds. At Ventura Actors Studio, we train actors for on-camera work, and the resume questions we hear most often are the ones this guide answers.
Every resume needs the same core sections: name and contact details, a headshot reference, credits grouped by medium, training, and special skills. What changes is how you weight them.
Here is the part most guides get wrong: your resume is not a history of everything you have done. It is a marketing document for the role you want next.
A strong acting resume is organized by category, not chronology. Casting directors scan for medium (film, television, theatre) first, then role, then production.
Contact Information and Headshot Placement
Contact information goes at the top of the page, centered under your name, and your headshot should be stapled to the back of a printed resume or attached as a separate file for digital submissions.
If you have an agent or manager, list their contact details instead of your own, or alongside them. The Federal Trade Commission’s guidance on protecting personal information is a useful reminder that your resume may be shared widely, so keep sensitive details off it.
Headshot placement rules are simple:
- Printed submissions: staple the headshot to the back of the resume, facing the reader
- Digital submissions: attach the headshot as a separate file named with your full name
- Never print your headshot directly onto the resume page
How to List Acting Credits by Category
Credits are grouped by medium, with the most prestigious or most recent work first within each category. The standard order is film, television, theatre, then commercial and voiceover. Each credit lists the role, the production, and the director or production company.
Keep the format consistent across every entry so the page reads cleanly. But the standard order is a starting point, not a rule.
Film and Television Credits
Film and television credits lead the resume for on-camera auditions because they carry the most weight there. List the role, the production title, and the director. If the project is a student film or a short, say so; casting directors value honesty over inflation. Separate film from television so the reader can find each quickly.
For a television audition, put television above film. For a feature film audition, put film above television.
Theatre, Commercial, and Voiceover Credits
Theatre credits list the role, the play, and the theatre or director. Commercial credits list the product or brand and the role, and voiceover credits follow the same pattern. Community theatre and school productions belong here too, especially for newer actors.
For a theatre audition, move theatre to the top of the credits block and lead with the role type you are reading for, a lead in a contemporary play above a supporting role in a musical if the audition is for a contemporary play.
| Category | What to List | Example Format |
|---|---|---|
| Film | Role, title, director | Supporting, Short Film, Dir. Name |
| Television | Role, show, network | Guest Star, Series, Network |
| Theatre | Role, play, theatre | Lead, Play, Theatre Name |
| Commercial | Role, product | Principal, Brand Name |
| Voiceover | Role, project, format | Narrator, Project Name, Audiobook |
How to Reorder Credits for Each Audition Type
Use the same credit block, reordered, for every submission. A practical pattern:
- Film audition: Film, Television, Theatre, Commercial, Voiceover
- Television audition: Television, Film, Theatre, Commercial, Voiceover
- Theatre audition: Theatre, Film, Television, Commercial, Voiceover
- Commercial audition: Commercial, Film, Television, Theatre, Voiceover
- Voiceover audition: Voiceover, Commercial, Film, Television, Theatre
Keep a master resume with every credit, then cut a tailored one-page version for each audition. Save the tailored versions by project name so you are not rebuilding the document every time. This is the step most actors skip, and it is the step that makes a resume read as if it was built for the room.
If you are unsure which credit to lead with, ask which one a casting director for this specific project would recognize or respect most. That credit goes first.
What a Strong Acting Resume Example Looks Like
A strong acting resume example shows a clean one-page layout with the name at the top, contact details beneath it, credits grouped by category, and training and skills at the bottom.
Choosing an Acting Resume Template and Format
Use a single-column acting resume template with a clean, readable font and bold headings for each section. Fancy templates with columns and graphics hurt readability and often break when a casting system converts the file. Stick to a standard format: name and contact at the top, credits in the middle, training and skills at the bottom.
Formatting rules that matter:
- One page, always
- Standard font, 11 to 12 point
- Bold section headings, plain body text
- Consistent spacing between entries
- Save as a PDF for digital submissions
According to guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor on resume writing, clear formatting and easy scanning help any reader find key information fast, and casting directors are no different.
How to Write an Acting Resume With No Experience
You can write an acting resume with no experience by leading with training, special skills, and any background or student work you have done. Everyone starts somewhere, and casting directors know it. Fill the credits section with school productions, community theatre, and background acting, then let your training carry the rest.
The mistake beginners make is padding, inventing a “lead” in a class scene, listing a role they did not have, or burying a thin credits section under unrelated jobs. Casting directors read hundreds of beginner resumes and can spot inflation immediately.
Join our acting classes in Ventura today! →
A Beginner Resume, Section by Section
For beginners, the resume might look like this:
- Name and contact details at the top
- Training: acting classes, workshops, and coaches
- Credits: school productions, community theatre, student films
- Special skills: accents, instruments, sports, dialects
- Physical details: height, hair color, and any relevant attributes
Put training above credits when your credits are thin. A casting director would rather see that you are actively studying than see three padded credits.
How to List School and Workshop Credits Honestly
School and workshop credits belong on the resume, but they need to be labeled so the reader knows what they are. Use the same role/title/director format as professional credits, and add the context in the production line:
- Lead, Our Town, University Name, Dir. Name
- Ensemble, Spring Awakening, High School Name, Dir. Name
- Scene Study, A Streetcar Named Desire (workshop), Studio Name, Instructor Name
Do not call a class scene a “production.” Do not list a role you understudied as a role you played. If you were an understudy who went on, say “Understudy (performed)”, that is accurate and still counts.
Does Background Acting Belong on an Acting Resume?
Yes, with conditions. Background work belongs on a beginner resume when it is recent, when it was on a recognizable production, or when it is the only on-set experience you have.
Drop background credits once you have three or more speaking or principal credits, because they take up space that stronger credits should occupy. Keep one or two if they were on a major production and you were featured or upgraded, since that signals you have been on a professional set.
What to Do When You Have Almost Nothing
If your credits section is nearly empty, do not leave it blank and do not pad it. Instead:
- Lead with training and list the specific classes, instructors, and techniques (Meisner, Stanislavski, on-camera, improv)
- Add a Special Skills section with genuinely usable skills, accents you can actually perform, instruments you play, sports, dialects, stage combat certifications
- Add a short line for any student film, web series, or independent short you have done, even unpaid
- Take a class, do a student film, or do background work, then update the resume, the fastest fix for an empty resume is to go get one credit
If your credits section is thin, put training above it. A casting director would rather see that you are actively studying than see three padded credits.
Never list a credit you cannot back up. Casting directors and their associates talk to each other, and a fabricated credit is a fast way to lose a room you cannot get back.
How Long Should an Acting Resume Be?
An acting resume should be exactly one page, no exceptions for newer actors and rarely for veterans. Casting directors review hundreds of submissions, and a second page usually goes unread. Trim older or less relevant credits to keep everything on a single page.
If you are struggling to fit your credits, cut the least recent or least relevant ones first. For film and television auditions, prioritize screen credits. For theatre auditions, lead with stage work. Tailoring the resume to the audition type is what keeps it to one page and keeps it relevant.
Training, Special Skills, and What to Leave Off
List training with the instructor or program name, and special skills that are genuinely usable on set, such as accents, horseback riding, or musical instruments.
What to leave off:
- Unrelated work experience
- Photos other than your headshot
- Personal social media handles
- Credits you cannot verify
- Anything that pushes the resume past one page
Our instructors at Ventura Actors Studio review student resumes and audition materials as part of our on-camera training.
For more on industry standards, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists publishes resources for working actors on professional materials and auditions.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should be included on an acting resume?
A professional acting resume includes your name, contact information, union status, height, weight, hair and eye color, and a link to your headshot. List acting credits in separate sections for film, television, theatre, commercial, and voiceover work. Each credit should show the role, production title, production company, and director. Add training, education, and special skills at the bottom. Keep everything on one page with bold headings and readable fonts.
How do you write an acting resume with no experience?
Start with training and education. List acting classes, workshops, school productions, and community theatre roles. Include background acting work if you have it. Add special skills like dialects, sports, or musical instruments. Use a clean acting resume template and keep the layout simple. Casting directors understand beginners need to build credits, so lead with what you have and show you are actively training.
How long should an acting resume be?
One page. Always. Casting directors spend seconds on each resume, so a single page forces you to include only your strongest credits. If you have years of experience, select the most recent and most prestigious roles. Remove older or less relevant credits. A focused one-page resume reads faster and makes a stronger impression than a multi-page document.
Should an acting resume include special skills?
Yes, if the skills are real and relevant. List languages, dialects, musical instruments, dance styles, sports, and any specialized training like stage combat or motion capture. Only include skills you can perform confidently on set. Casting directors use this section to match actors with specific role requirements, so accuracy matters more than quantity.
Should an acting resume be attached to a headshot?
Yes. Staple your resume to the back of your headshot so the headshot faces forward. Use one staple in the bottom center or two staples on the sides. Some auditions now accept digital submissions, so save your resume as a PDF and follow the casting director’s instructions. Never submit a resume without a headshot unless the audition notice specifically says otherwise.
What should actors leave off their resumes?
Leave off unrelated jobs unless they demonstrate a transferable skill. Remove high school credits once you have professional work. Do not include your age, marital status, or social security number. Skip photos of yourself on the resume itself since the headshot serves that purpose. Avoid listing every role you have ever played. Keep only credits that show range or prestige.
Building an acting resume that actually gets you seen takes more than a template; it takes feedback from people who work in the industry. Ventura Actors Studio offers small class sizes, instruction from working professionals, and resume and audition review as part of our on-camera training for kids, teens, and adults. Join our acting classes in Ventura today and get the real tools to succeed in TV, film, and commercials.
