How to make an acting resume, step by step

1. Collect everything first

Before any layout, list every show you have been in (with your role, the theater and the director), every class and teacher, and every skill you could demonstrate today. Programs, cast lists and old emails help. You will cut later; it is easier to cut from a full list than to remember under pressure.

2. Put your name and contact at the top

Your name, largest on the page. Then one email and one phone number. Under 18, use a parent or guardian’s name, email and phone, introduced with “Contact:”. No home address. If you have an agent, their contact replaces yours; if you have a website, add it.

3. Add a short physical description

Height, hair color, eye color, and the age range you play, not your age. If you sing, add your voice type and range (for example “Baritone (A2–F4)”). Union membership, if any, goes directly beneath your name.

4. Lay out your credits in three columns

Show, role, and theater with the director. Show titles in capitals. Separate stage from film and television. Leave off dates.

Decision: which order?

Either your strongest credits first, or your most recent first. The Ohio Northern guidebook advises that “if you have a lot of projects it is better to list the best ones”; the University of Alaska Fairbanks sample lists most recent first within each category. Both are accepted. Choose one and use it in every section.

Decision: include the director?

Include it when you know it; a known director or theater adds weight. If a credit was choreographed or music directed by someone you want to name, label it (“Chor.”, “MD”) so nobody reads them as the director.

5. Name your training, and your teachers

For each school, studio or program: what you studied and with whom. Add how long when it was a substantial course of study. A degree in progress goes on the school’s line. For a student, this section often carries as much weight as the credits.

6. Finish with special skills you can prove

Dialects, instruments, sports, stage combat, languages, a driver’s license. Give a level where it helps (“Spanish, conversational”). If you would not want to be asked to do it in the audition, leave it off.

7. Fit it on one page, then print it

One page, never two. If it runs long, cut your weakest credits rather than shrinking the type: “Don’t make the type smaller than 10 point, if you have that much experience, edit it down,” says the guidebook. Then print at actual size (100%, not “fit to page”) and trim to 8x10, the size of your headshot. Staple it to the back of the headshot at the top and bottom center, facing out, so it cannot twist loose from one corner.

Programs and offices that ask for a digital copy want the PDF, not a photo of the page. Follow what each one asks for; some colleges set their own format or length.

8. Keep it current

Every new show is a chance to replace a weaker credit. Save the original file, not just the printout, so an update takes minutes.

Doing it in MTResume

The builder follows these steps: you type your name, vitals, credits, training and skills into separate fields, and it lays out the page in the three-column format, leaves empty sections off, and shows how full the page is as you go. When the page is too long, it suggests spacing and layout changes that save room, and tells you when only cutting a credit will make it fit. The 8x10 PDF is free, and there is also a Letter-size file with trim marks for printing at home or a copy shop.

Questions people ask

Should I use a resume template from Word or Google Docs?

Business templates put the wrong things first (a summary, job dates, bullet points of duties). Start from a theater format like the examples linked below, or a builder that uses one.

How many credits should I list?

As many as fit on one page at a readable size, best first. A student page with five good credits is complete.

Do I need an account to make one?

Not in MTResume: you can start and download without one. Create a free account when you want to come back to it from another device.