Acting resume template, with a complete example

What each part does

Name and contact

Your name is the largest thing on the page. Under it, an email address and a phone number you answer. A home address is not needed. Once you have an agent, their details replace yours.

Physical description

Height, hair and eyes, and the age range you play: “Plays 18-25”, never your age. The Ohio Northern guidebook is direct about it: “Don’t list your age on your [resume]. You can, however, list your age range.” Ask a teacher what range they see; it may not match your birthday.

Stage credits

Three columns: the show, the role you played, and where, with the director. Show titles go in capitals. Rowan’s list leads with university productions and ends with high school, the strongest work first. Some programs list the most recent first instead (the University of Alaska Fairbanks sample does); pick one order and keep to it.

Film and television

Its own section, in the same three columns. Student films count; say “(short)” so no one assumes a feature. Rowan credits the collective that made them and the director.

Training

Where you studied and with whom, the part directors read closely for a student. Rowan’s degree sits on the institution line, and each discipline names its teachers.

Special skills

Only what you could do in the room today, and how well: “Foil fencing, 4 years”, “Guitar (intermediate)”. Grouped by kind, with a license on its own line at the end. The guidebook again: “Don’t make up special skills or write things down just so to fill in the special skill area.”

Unions and representation (optional)

If you belong to a union (SAG-AFTRA, Actors’ Equity), it goes directly beneath your name. An agent or manager goes with the contact details. Rowan has neither, so the page simply leaves them out, which is normal for a student.

What stays off an acting resume

• Dates. Credits are not a job history, and dates only invite the question of what you did in between.
• An objective or summary paragraph. The credits are the summary.
• Roles you could not play today. Stick to your age range.
• Computer skills, references, reviews or clippings.
• Anything invented. “Never lie about your experience”, says the guidebook: theater is a small world, and the director may have been in that production.

Acting resume or musical theater resume?

The format is the same. A musical theater resume adds your voice type and range to the physical description and gives more room to voice and dance training. If you sing in auditions, use the musical theater template; if you do not, the page above is the one to copy.

Questions people ask

Does it have to be 8x10?

For a resume attached to a headshot, yes: headshots are 8x10, and a resume cut to the same size stays neat when the two are stapled together at the top and bottom center. For an application or an email, send the PDF and follow what that program or office asks for.

What if I only have a few credits?

That is expected of a student, and training carries the page. See an acting resume with no experience.

Can I build this without Word?

Yes. MTResume lays out these columns and sections for you as you type, keeps empty sections off the page, and shows how full the page is. Building one resume and downloading its 8x10 PDF is free, with no account needed to start; create a free account to keep your work across devices. Pro, a paid plan, adds more resumes, a headshot back page, a headshot library and reels; performers 18 and over can also publish a public page.

How do I print it?

Print at actual size (100%, not “fit to page”) on 8x10 paper, or download the Letter file with trim marks and cut along them.