In most professions the way you format a resume is the same.

You generally have your education on there, where you went to high school, college, how many years of college, your major, your years of experinence in the field you're working in, all the jobs you had(even if they weren't related to the profession that you're in), your goals, &etc. Well in acting it's quite different in some ways, but in others it's the same. An actors resume is generally only about your experience in this field, they're not interested in what high school you went to or that you worked at pizza hut for two years. It lists all of the training you have in acting, special skills, any plays you have done, commercials, film, television, music video, industrial film, voice over work, extra work, and modeling work. Also an actors resume does not have goals you have either. Generally an actors resume is stapled at the back of your headshot, so when a casting director flips your headshot over, they can see your resume. It will have your name,your stats, and your contact info at the top. Also you will have any unions you are a part of for example SAG or AFTRA, if not then you will have non-union on your resume, unless you are eligible to join SAG or AFTRA, then you would have for example: SAG eligible on your resume. If you have an agent or manager then that information will be listed at the top and you will not have your personal contact information on there. However if you're unrepresented, then you will have your email address or you will have your cellphone number or both at the top. Remember that you NEVER put your home phone number on your resume or ever give it out. The only people that you ever give that information out is your agent or manager. At the top of your credentials is any film or television work you have done. Some agencies require these two categories to be seperate on your resume, some require it to be together. Film work includes independent films, major studio movies, and sometimes people will put a webseries or music video under this category that's okay. Under television should be any national television shows, public access television shows, and any cable television shows you have done. Sometimes people list television commercials and music videos they have done under this category, that's okay too, but remember if you have not done any of this kind of work don't even list the categorie(s) on your resume. When listing any film or television work you want to make three columns. In the left hand column you want to list the title of the project, in the middle column you want to list the name of the the role you played or the type of role you played. For example: Lead, Supporting, Featured, Day Player, Under 5, Featured, Featured Extra, Stand-In, or Background Extra: these are ususally used in film work. For television work it's either: Starring, Co-Starring, Series Regular, Recurring, Recurring Guest Star, Guest Star, Under 5, Day Player, Featured, Featured Extra, Background Extra, Stand-In. Generally the same rule applies to webseries work for television. And then in the far right hand column you will put the production company or studio or television network the project was produced by and/or the producer or director of the project, for example: Dir:John Doe or Prod:John Doe. Now under this category next comes your commercial category, like I said above some people put their commercials under television, that's okay as long as you are following the requirements under your agent or manager if they have any or under your state. Under Commercials sometimes you list the commercials that you have been in, but if you have been in hundreds of commercials you can't list every one of

them. You would list about 5 of your most prominent credits and then say that the rest is available upon request. Sometimes under commercials actors don't even list any of their commercial credits, they put "List Available Upon Request" or they will put "Conflicts Available Upon Request". Conflicts in the commercial world basically mean let's say you did a commercial for HEB and it's still running on television, you can't do a commercial for Kroger or let's say you did a commercial for Addidas and it's still on National Television, then you can't do a commercial for Nike. Basically if you do do this then Addidas has the right to sue Nike or HEB has the right to sue Kroger, so you definantely DON'T want to do this, always remember your commercial conflicts. If you do list your commercial credits,you will format it into three columns. On the far left will be the commercial, sometimes you can put regional, national, or local in parenthesis, but remember to always to check what the rules are in your state and if your agency or agencies has any guidelines regarding this. In the mddle column will be either the name of the role you played or either Principal, Principal-OC, Principal-VOC, or featured. OC means "on camera" meaning your the main part in the commercial but you're not speaking. VOC means "voice on camera", this means that either we hear your voice in the background or we see you, but you're thinking, so we hear your voice, but you're not actually talking in the shot. In the far right category you will list the production company that produced the commercial and/or the diector or producer. Ex: Dir: John Doe, or Prod: John Doe. After commercials comes your industrial section. Basically an industrial film is anything educational or a corporate video like for Exxon for example. This work would go under this section of your resume and the formatting for industrials is exactly the same of the way you format for commercials except you don't have conflicts like in commercials. Now generally most people put any webseries work or music video work under film work, but you can make seperate categories for this. Generally the same rules apply with the three columns for music videos or webseries, but for music videos when listing the role you played you want to follow the general rule of thumb for commercials and for webseries when listing the roles you played you want to follow the same general rule of thumb you do for television work. And if you have done any voice over work it would go right above theatre and below everything else. You would format it just the same as everything else with three columns with the project title on the far left, the role you played or either principal or featured in the middle category and the production company on the far right hand column. Now the next category: For any modeling work you generally want to specify the category like High Fashion, Promo Modeling, Print, Editorial, Etc. and you want to follow the same 3 column rule like above. The project on the far left, the role in then middle usually the categories are not as broad for role, and then the photographer, designer, or show on the far right. Also with print work be sure that you know your conflicts, it works the same way as commercials do. Now we're moving down to theatre work. Under this goes your high school theatre credits, community theatre credits, and your professional theatre credits. On the far left column you will list the show, in the middle you will list the name of your character(don't list lead, supporting, featured, etc.), and in the far right goes the company behind the show. Now we are finally close to the bottom. Next you will list

your training credits, now sometimes you can go with two columns or three. For two columns you will list the type of class that you took or you are taking at the moment and then in the right hand column goes the instructor or institution behind the class. Some people use three columns, they put the type of class at the very left, the instructor in the middle, and then the institution at the very right. Remember that an actors resume in NO MORE than one page long. To adjust this if all your credits don't fit on one page, only list your most prominent credits if you have to, adjust the font, and/or only list your most prominent training credits and usually on each category that has been modified it will say for example: Television-Partial List. Some seasoned professionals don't even list their training credits because they have so many credits, they don't need to show who they trained with, but this is VERY IMPORTANT, if you're just starting out you need all of your training credits on your resume! And then last but not least you list your special skills: activities that you could do well on a moments notice. You list those one by one at the very bottom. If you have any awards you would list those between training and special skills. So now that we have gone over everything I'm going to show you some examples of an actor resume properly formatted: http://resumes.actorsaccess.com/111352-736379 http://resumes.actorsaccess.com/109053-575925 http://resumes.actorsaccess.com/172802-416656 To properly format a resume, you can go to www.actorsaccess.com, get a free account, and make a resume using all of the guidelines that we have talked about.