Acting Career : Resume format

Theatre or acting is one profession that people praise and write down in the same breath. People who have done theatre are often seen writing down their cinema counterparts as silly and talentless; the latter accuse the theatre persons of elitism. The show business is full of bored people who see every person who calls himself or herself as an actor with suspicion, even try to exploit them in other ways. The field is one of extreme professionalism, which demands strict adherence to time frames and deadlines and where precision is what is prized above everything. In such a milieu, one can easily expect the recruiter to expect similar professionalism from potential recruits, even in the way one writes one’s resume. Since the profession deals with the physical attributes of the person just as much as his or her abilities, interested actors should make their physical appearance clear in the resume, even provide close-up pictures if possible. Here’s the format for an actor’s resume.
Sample Actor Resume
Here’s the format for an actor’s resume that will say everything in very little space:
Vikasit Sehgal
09810285290
sehgalv@gmail.com
1. English Theatre
                        PLAYS                                                                        ROLES
(a) Accidental Death Of An Anarchist                                  Inspector Bertozzo
(b) Macbeth                                                                          Macduff
(c) Much Ado About Nothing                                                Conrad
(d) Rhinoceros (Eugene Ionesco)                                        Berenger
(e) A Doll’s House                                                                Nils Krogstad
2. Indian Theatre

                 PLAYS                                                                    ROLES
(a) Taj Mahal Ka Tender                                                Sharmaji
(b) Pebet (Kanhai Lal)                                                    Cat
(c) Ghashiram Kotwal                                                    Nana Phadnawis
(d) Adhe Adhure                                                            Mahendra
(e) Hayavadana                                                             Hayavadana
(f) Shantata! Court Chalu Aahe                                    Kashikar
(g) Abhijnanashakuntalam                                             Dushyanta
3. Cinema Appearance
          NAME OF FILM                                                                   ROLE
(a) White Noise Sameer Chauhan
(b) Kaafi Nahi…                                                                    Buddhu
Special Skills
(a) Member of Barry John’s Theatre repertory
(b) Skilled in art direction and stage lighting
Education And Training
(a) Trained in Theatre from National School of Drama (batch of 2003)
(b) Learnt Stage lighting under Kamal Nath of Barry John’s Theatre repertory for three years.
(c) Attended Motley Theatre group (Naseeruddin and Ratna Pathak Shah) acting workshop in October 2005
(d) Attended workshop on voice training and modulation by renowned radio speaker, Ameen Sayani in July 2004
Personal Details
Height                                                                                         5’10”
Weight                                                                                        70kgs
Eye Color                                                                                    Brown
Hair Color                                                                                   Black
Age                                                                                             26
Languages/Dialects Known                                              Hindi, Punjabi, Sindhi,
                                                                                                      Haryanvi, Garhwali,
                                                                                                       English

Some Tips

• Never tell tall tales in your resume; remember that the people you are planning to work with have at least ten times as many contacts as you have. In all possibility, your “little white lie” will easily be discovered. Since a lot of fake people enter this profession, hirers are always on guard. They will always be two steps ahead of you, so do not even think of lying to them.
• You can also make an arrangement to supplement your resume with pictures, say on the left corner of the page. Small, passport sized pictures of close-ups of your face, or pictures taken by a professional photographer while you were on stage would be ideal for it. Since you can easily size the pictures to the required dimensions of your need using softwares like PhotoShop, this option will also prove how professional you are.
• If you are new to the field and do not have much experience, you should know that training is equally important in an actor’s career. Having some good training on your résumé is a good thing. It is a chance for you to show to anyone, that even though you might not have the best credits yet, at least you are trying your best to become the best actor you can be.