Always served firmly affixed back-to-back to your headshot! Since we are involved with on-camera projects, our guidelines are geared to the on-camera resume.
A working actor must maintain both hard copy and digital versions of their resume.
The digital resume comes in the form of the various talent portfolio services and/or casting management systems used in every region.
Big Fish NW Talent can use up to 3 systems for every project we book. Each of the resume entry portals in these services is a little different; for example, if you have a profile in Casting Networks, you must click on the green “+ADD new heading” button to add your experience to your resume. The resume entry in all of these systems also includes checkboxes for special skills … any one of which could be the reason you are selected or not for a project; so, be sure to check off anything you can do well.
Almost every audition you attend will require you to take one or two of your headshot & resume(s). An actor’s hard copy resume (sample links below) should be a single-page document that can be firmly affixed (stapled back-to-back) to the actor’s headshot. If needed, the resume paper should be trimmed to fit to the headshot stock. Those auditioning for both theater and on-camera projects will need to have two different resumes, one for each genre. The on-camera resume should list on-camera experience first. Potential resume listing order: Television, Film, Industrial/Corporate Film, Commercial, Voice-Over, Print, Theater, Training, Special Skills.
Theater roles can be listed by character name; however, when listing experience for an on-camera role you should list your ‘billing’ vs. the character’s name. Entries should list ‘greater’ roles first and use this or similar terminology:
- Star
- Co-Star
- Series Regular
- Guest Star
- Spokesperson/Narrator
- Lead
- Principal
- Photo Double
- Stand-in
- Featured
- Extra
View a sample of what your hard copy resume might look like here.
Download our Resume Template in MS Word.doc