How to Make an Acting Resume

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Richard Rifkin, and we're here at the Merlin Theater, in Budapest, Hungary, and today, we're going to talk about how to make an acting resume. Let's say you've become an actor. Now, you need to show people in the business, what have you done? That's an acting resume. I've got a sample here of one of mine, and the way you go about it, obviously, you have to know your credits. What films, TV work, what you've done, theater, and you can start of course, by putting your name, whether you're in the unions, such as a screen actor's guild, a telephone contact number, either with an agent if you have one, or your own, and possibly an email, where people can get in touch with you. Then, you have a list, of say the films you have made. I've got say, Hellboy II here, and Eragon. You have to put the name of the film, the character you played, and the director that's directed the film, because a lot of people, casting directors, will look at that and say, Ah, well you've worked with Guillermo del Toro, or any of the famous directors, and they know, well, you've probably got some experience, because you've worked with some of the big names. Then, you go to TV commercials. If you've done some, you put the same things, name of the spot that you've done, who you've worked with, what it might be about. I do voice over work. I also do dubbing for films and things, so you have a section for that. If you've done any radio, you put that. Dialects and accents, and here I've got a bunch of things, and you might also be able to do different dialects, and accents, such as British, or German, or Yiddish, or French, different American accents, like if you're like from the South somewhere, you might say, Well, I can do sort of a southern accent, or something like from Texas, or you might just be from New York or New Jersey, like the gangsters, and you might be able to do that kind of voice, so you put that down. It's all important for casting directors. They want to know what you can do, and then of course, it's very important, other skills, other things you can do, and that could be, I happen to speak Polish fluently, I happen to speak another language. If you speak another language, put that down. It's very important. You don't know when the next movie is coming, that's going to need the language that you speak in, so also, ride motorcycles, I happen to do that, or horseback riding, snow skiing, snorkeling, or skin diving, any sports you do, play racquetball, softball, tennis. All these things are important when you're doing your resume, because the casting people, they want to know how versatile you are. What can you do? so when you're putting together a resume, as I've done here, try to include all these things, and all the best of luck, for you to get an acting job."