How to Write an Acting Résumé: Layout, Credits and What to Leave Off

Reads & auditions · By the Sides & Space editorial team · Published 2026-11-08

A man drafting notes by hand in a notebook at a wooden desk, beside an open laptop and a camera — Drafting by hand before the final layout. A résumé is read in seconds, so most of the work is deciding what to cut. Photo: Brad Neathery, Unsplash, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0.

The headshot gets you looked at. The résumé decides whether anyone looks again. A casting assistant going through a pile of submissions, or a director flipping your page over at an open call, wants to know a few things quickly: who you are, how to reach you, what kind of work you have done and where you trained. Everything on the page should help answer those questions. Everything else gets in the way.

This guide covers the conventional American acting résumé, with notes on how the British CV and online casting profiles differ. Conventions vary between markets and between theatre and screen, so treat this as a sensible default, then follow any instructions in a specific casting notice, which always win.

The basic shape

An acting résumé is not an office résumé. There is no career objective, no paragraph about your passion for storytelling and no list of past day jobs. It is a one-page table of credits under a clear header.

One page, no more. When you have more credits than fit, cut the oldest and smallest. A full page of selected credits reads better than two pages of everything.
Matched to your headshot. In the US the printed résumé is traditionally trimmed to the size of an 8 by 10 inch headshot and attached to its back, so it should never hang over the edges. Stapling at the corners or printing directly on the back of the photo are both common.
Readable at a glance. One clean font, your name larger than everything else, generous spacing, and credits set out in aligned columns. Avoid decorative typefaces and coloured backgrounds; many résumés are photocopied or read on a phone.
A PDF for email. Name the file with your name, not "resume final v3", so it can be found again.

The header

The top of the page carries your name exactly as you want to be billed, then your contact line: a phone number and email address, or your agent's or manager's details if you have representation. Leave off your home address; nobody needs it to call you in, and the résumé will pass through many hands.

Your union status goes under your name, written as the union writes it: SAG-AFTRA, AEA (Actors' Equity Association) or, in the UK, Equity. List only memberships you actually hold. Saying you are a member when you are not is easy to check and can end a relationship with a casting office. If you are not in a union, simply leave the line out. Each union explains its own routes to membership; Actors' Equity, for example, sets out its joining options, including working under an Equity contract and its Open Access program for performers with professional experience.

Many American résumés add height, and sometimes hair and eye colour, because those details matter for casting and costume. Do not put your age or date of birth. Casting thinks in terms of the range you can play, and your headshot shows that better than a number.

Credits: how to list them

Credits are grouped by medium, usually under headings such as Theatre, Film, Television, New Media or Commercials. Put first the category that matters most for the job you are submitting to: theatre first for a stage audition, film and television first for a screen agent.

Theatre credits are traditionally set in three columns:

Production title, in the left column.
Your role, in the middle, using the character's name.
The company or venue, and often the director, on the right.

Screen credits use the same three columns, but the middle column describes the size of the part rather than the character's name: lead, supporting, series regular, recurring, guest star, co-star and similar terms. In both cases, order credits by importance or relevance rather than strictly by date.

A few rules keep this section honest and useful:

Never invent or inflate. Theatre is a small world, and the director you listed may know the person reading your résumé. An ensemble track is an ensemble track.
Readings and workshops count. A role in a staged reading of a new play, the kind of evening described in our guide to running a reading series, is a legitimate credit. Mark it as a reading or workshop so it is not mistaken for a full production.
Festival work is real work. A fringe run, including one taken to Edinburgh with the help of our Fringe primer, belongs under Theatre with the festival named in the right-hand column.
Student and community credits are fine early on. Drop them gradually as professional credits replace them, keeping any that involved a well-known director or a role you could play again tomorrow.
Background or extra work on screen usually does not go on an acting résumé. Listing it rarely helps and can make the rest look thinner.

Training

Under Training, list degree programmes and conservatories first, then ongoing classes and workshops, with the teacher's name where it means something: "Scene study, with [teacher], [studio]". Specific beats vague. If you are early in your career, training may be the strongest section on the page, so give it room. Private coaching in voice, dialect, movement or stage combat belongs here too.

Special skills, and the risk of overselling

The last section lists skills that might get you cast or help a production: accents and dialects, languages, musical instruments, singing voice type and range, dance styles, sports, stage combat certifications, a driving licence or the ability to drive a manual car, juggling, sign language. Keep it to what you can do today, on request, in the room.

Directors do ask. If you list "fluent French", expect to be greeted in French. If you list a Scottish accent, expect a line in it, and be ready to say which part of Scotland. Name accents precisely rather than claiming a "good ear". A short list of skills you can perform beats a long list of hopes.

Some actors add a single light line at the end, an unusual skill that gives the reader something to ask about. It can work, but it is decoration, not a substitute for the rest.

Tailoring and keeping it current

Keep a master version with every credit, then cut a submission version for each audition. A musical theatre audition wants vocal range and dance training near the top; a screen submission wants on-camera work and perhaps your self-tape capability, which our guide to setting up for self-tapes helps you build. Update the master the week a show closes, while the details are fresh, and check that every phone number and link still works.

When you hand over a printed résumé at an in-person audition, bring spares. The panel that asked for one copy often wants two, and the reader running the room may want one as well. Preparation that starts with the page also helps with what follows, whether that is choosing a monologue or getting sides ten minutes before you go in.

US résumé, UK CV and casting profiles

In the UK, the same document is usually called an acting CV, and much of the market works through online casting profiles rather than paper. A profile carries the same information, credits, training and skills, in fields set by the platform, alongside photos and showreels. The principles are unchanged: be accurate, keep credits current, choose a headshot that looks like you now, and make the skills list something you can back up. British CVs more often include playing age, a description of your voice and your accents graded by fluency, and sometimes a short line on where you are based, since being a local hire can matter for regional work.

A quick check before you send

Your name is the largest thing on the page and matches your headshot and your union registration.
Phone and email are correct, and there is no home address.
Every credit is true and labelled accurately: reading, workshop, production, festival.
The most relevant category comes first for this job.
Every special skill is one you could demonstrate now.
It fits on one page and, when printed, inside the edges of the photo.

Sources and further reading

Actors' Equity Association, How to join Equity: routes to membership, including Equity contracts and the Open Access program.
Guidance published by performers' unions (SAG-AFTRA, Actors' Equity, UK Equity) and by drama schools on presenting credits and union status.