Nearly all actors who are currently employed didn’t start out with an agent, a degree from a drama school, or a lot of professional acting credits. They just decided to be actors.
And the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in 2023 that less than 15% of all actors with a job actually have a formal college qualification in theater or the performing arts. The rest of them got where they are by taking classes, going to lots of auditions, being incredibly persistent, and showing up, even if they hadn’t been invited.
I talked with an acting coach who previously spent twelve years being a casting director and director for a local theater, and then switching to acting coaching. He said, I’ve been most impressed not by actors with the longest lists of things they’ve done. I was most surprised by those who turned up to auditions having done their homework, were happy to be taught, and weren’t embarrassed to look a little foolish in front of others. Being genuinely okay with being a beginner is, if I’m honest, the ability in acting that people undervalue the most.
If you’ve never done this before, you’re not too late to the game, you’re simply just beginning. I really would have loved someone to tell me this before my very first audition! What follows is how to locate your initial class and build a regular audition routine. It’s all built on what I think of as the Foundation Five Framework: training, practicing, documenting, auditioning, and connecting. They all depend on each other; miss out on one step and the entire system will be wobbly.
Find Training That Fits Your Life (Not Someone Else’s Timeline)
If you want to get good fast, a well-organized class is the way to go, but “well-organized” doesn’t need to mean expensive or taking all of your time. I’ve watched people get much better because of a $150 course at a community college. Conversely, I’ve met people with Master of Fine Arts degrees who weren’t able to change their performance based on what a director asked for during an audition. What matters now is the class gives you opportunities to act in front of people and give real feedback. That’s the goal at this point in your development.
For some courses you might want to look at, scene study classes will help you work with a partner and decide what to do in a scene (lots of cities have evening classes at studios).
Improvisation classes (Second City, UCB, and many smaller groups offer them for beginners) help you think on your feet and really pay attention. Meisner technique workshops are all about being incredibly truthful in your acting when you’re pretending, and while the drills seem odd to begin with, they will fundamentally alter your reactions to the other performers.
Then there are on-camera classes, and they’ll show you how to perform for film specifically: where to be in the frame, changing how you act to be right for the camera, and how scenes fit together.
In Asheville, North Carolina, a short film was being cast, and the woman who landed the lead role had only been going to classes at the community theater for three months. She did much better than actors with loads of experience because she could be told what to do and do it. She altered her acting as needed, and truly inhabited the scene, rather than just performing in front of the camera.
This was all down to her training. Don’t wait to begin until you can manage the ‘best’ course. Start with what you can get and then do better ones as you get better.
Practice Like It’s Your Role (Because Eventually It Might Be)
Being confident of yourself as an actor isn’t about simply believing that you’re great or fantastic or picturing how good you’ll be, one day. This confidence is built with lots of doing. You will invariably have to stick with it, even the boring bits, and crucially, with doing it when there is nobody else around to encourage or inspire you to take action.
In my first two years of substitute teaching theater in public schools, the thing that I quickly noticed of all the students who got noticeably better, they were the ones that showed up and were present everyday. They had this in common, that they all did something useful or tried something every day. A brief fifteen or twenty minutes of work, and the regular effort was far more effective than cramming right before a big class.
That said, as a teacher, I also noticed that you will never, or at least I couldn’t, determine just who will be a success in the long run.
It’s a pretty reliable guide, really, though. I’ve given this everyday habit a name, ‘The 20-Minute Actor’s Warm-Up’, if you don’t like that try, ‘The 15-Minute Everyday Actor’s Exercise.’
This works like this: spend five minutes on your voice, on things like breathing exercises, tongue twisters, or anything to make your sound better. You will really need to take care of your voice; it’s how you create your work.
Then, spend five minutes getting your body ready: stretch, get rid of muscle tightness, and move around a bit. If your body is stiff, your performance will be too. Sometimes I will do the body before the voice, particularly after work so that I can loosen up and be in the right mindset.
Other times, I will do breathing exercises, body, and then voice exercises. This is a really great one!
Finally, give the words of your piece ten minutes. Don’t just memorize a speech or a scene, think about how to deliver the lines. What would have led this character to choose this specific word over all others? What was happening right before this point in the story? Film yourself with your phone once a week. You probably won’t be thrilled with the result, but you should do it regardless. The gap between how you believe you’re performing and how the recording reveals you actually is where you’ll improve.
A client of the professional acting coach that I talked to was a thirty-something paramedic with no acting background. He said that his client did these similar types of things every single day for half a year before his first audition. He was in the audition room and the director asked him how long he’d been in training. Six months, he said. She had a hard time believing that. Lots of careful practice absolutely does make a difference.
Build Your Actor’s Toolkit (Resume, Headshot, Reel)
To be considered for professional auditions, you’ll need a resume, a headshot, and eventually a demo reel. Fortunately, you don’t need a list of professional jobs to get these things going.
The Beginner’s Resume
For your first resume, keep it short, and be truthful, and neat. Put your training first. That’s what you have that’s most impressive at this point. Include any workshops, classes, or intensive courses you’ve done, and then any performing that you have done: school plays, community theater, student films, readings from scripts, even something you did in a friend’s YouTube video.
Be sure to include a “Special Skills” section! Lots of people starting out don’t realize how much they can do. For example, are you able to speak another language, play an instrument, use sign language, or do you have experience with stage fighting, horseback riding, skateboarding? Casting directors specifically read this part looking for what they’re after. An actress was actually hired for an advert just because her resume stated she was good at riding a unicycle! You truly have no idea what could be valuable.
Most people in the industry present their resumes in a pretty standard way. Put your name at the top, centered, and then your contact information (or your agent’s details when you get an agent). Below that, divide your experience into Film, Television, Theater, Commercials, and New Media. Correctly formatting it, even if most of these sections are currently quite brief, will show you understand how the industry is organized.
The Headshot
You’ll find a good professional headshot can set you back anywhere from $150 to $800. I don’t think someone just starting out, who is really serious about getting into acting, would avoid this one. This is essentially how people ‘meet’ you. Before you even have had a chance to say a word or to walk into an interview, people will see this headshot picture.
When you’re looking for a photographer, find someone who specializes in actors, rather than families or weddings. As you review their portfolio, consider if the images are of real people, or if they are more like something for an advertisement? You’re aiming for the former. Ideally, your headshot should represent how you typically look on a good day, with natural lighting and without tons of retouching. If a casting director brings you into an audition based on your photo, and then you look entirely different in person, you will have wasted a lot of time.
For photos, choose simple clothing in one block of color. Steer clear of clothing with logos, intricate patterns, or a white shirt. Have three or four different sets of clothes for your pictures. However, your face is even more important than your wardrobe. Your eyes are the key to a good photograph.
The Demo Reel
As for a demo reel, most likely you haven’t got anything for it yet and that’s fine. Don’t make one until you have something worthwhile. In fact, a poorly made reel is more damaging than not including one. Once you’ve been in a handful of student films or filmed a few scenes yourself, you can create a 60-90 second compilation of your best moments, and begin with the most impressive.
Start Auditioning Before You Feel Ready
Something almost all acting books leave out is that you won’t ever feel totally ready for your first audition. Do it regardless.
At the auditions for a community theater version of Our Town in 2016, roughly a third of those people hadn’t auditioned before. Loads of them were clearly anxious. In fact, one woman had written her lines on small index cards because she was shaking so much she couldn’t manage a full page. She was invited back for a second audition and she got the role! She is still performing today.
At the start, auditions aren’t about landing the job. They are for discovering the process of auditioning. How do you register to be seen, where in the room should you be, and what is meant by ‘saying your name’? Plus, how do you respond to direction, to being asked to do things in another way, and do so without losing your composure? You can only get better at all of this by actually being in the room with the casting people.
For someone starting out and looking for auditions, here’s where you can look. Most of the professional industry uses Backstage.com and with a basic account, you can view lots of jobs, categorized by your location, experience level, and the kind of job. Casting Networks is extremely popular on the West Coast and is being used more and more in other regions. Theater groups in your town will advertise auditions on their websites, so just type “[your town] community theater auditions” into a search engine and then bookmark those pages. Facebook groups for actors and film people nearby frequently list casting calls that you won’t find on the larger sites. Plus, film students at colleges and universities around you almost always need actors and they generally don’t ask for much in the way of prior experience.
Apply for anything you could possibly fit, for example student films, short independent films, plays at the local theater, corporate videos, or script readings. How many auditions you do is what matters at this point. I advise my students to try for at least two a month for their first year. The students who do that consistently are the ones who eventually begin to get booked.
Create Your Own Opportunities
Almost all actors who are successful and reach a point in their careers quickly share a trait: they’re proactive and make opportunities instead of just hoping for someone to pick them. An actor in Atlanta was annoyed by how few auditions came her way for someone looking like her.
So she wrote a short film lasting five minutes, persuaded two of her friends to be in it, and filmed the entire thing on her iPhone in her apartment over the weekend. It doesn’t have to be a high-budget production, but the acting should feel real. After uploading her video online onto her various profiles, she got a paying job from a director about two months later. She credited this as a result of that little film.
When you create your own acting projects, a lot of good things happen at the same time. You will eventually have clips to use in your showreel, and casting directors and agents may see you’re someone who takes initiative. You’ll learn how a film is made, which will make you a better person to work with on any set, plus you’ll get to use your imagination when you have those longer gaps between auditions. You don’t need to spend a fortune either: a phone with a fairly good camera, a peaceful location with daylight, and something to be in is all you really need. You can either write something yourself, or locate and use monologues and scenes online which are free to use, film them, do some editing (even something really basic using iMovie or DaVinci Resolve is great), and then show them to people.
How much of a gap there is between an actor hoping for a job and one who actually has one is far less than what people in the business will tell you. Getting started on a recording is likely what you need.
Study the Craft
People usually go to movies or television for fun, but actors are there to study. If a performance really gets to you, view it on three occasions. Experience it at first, then with the sound off, to observe the actor’s physicality, their posture, gestures, and eye direction. Finally, with your eyes closed, only listen to the vocal delivery, the speed of their speech, and how they breathe.
Also, read plays, all kinds, not only the very well known ones. Explore work by newer, up-and-coming playwrights, and pay attention to the stage directions for the actors. Consider how you’d play the part in a way that isn’t quite what the words on the page are saying. Working on your interpretation skills is exactly what casting directors are evaluating when they ask you to read a script.
Build Relationships (Not Just a Network)
Lots of artists feel awkward about “networking”, and it’s no surprise. It sounds like you are using people to advance your own aims. But in the world of film and theater, it is actually both easier and harder than that: it’s about making actual friendships and bonds with people as time goes by.
Each class, audition, and job on a set means you’re with others at a comparable point in their careers. A number of these people will be directors, writers, producers, and casting directors’ assistants. The best contacts for an actor are made more easily when you show up often and are a good person to be around.
When I was assisting a casting director, this happened to me repeatedly. An actor who had auditioned for us three or four times would be right for a part, and I already trusted their dedication and how they operate as a professional, even before they opened their mouth. Being sure about a person is a big deal. A lot of casting is about evaluating how good someone is, and also about trying to avoid issues during the production. If you know an actor, you’re less likely to have problems with them.
Here are some things that you might be able to do right now: Do some volunteer work at the local theater in your town. You could assist others with their work. There is work offstage, being a reader for or with other actors, or managing the props or the lights. These aren’t the most exciting parts of theater, but it will get you involved in the industry.
Reach out to people you’ve met, although don’t do it to request a job. Find people that you can simply be truly interested in and that you find are interested in similar things with you. A comment like, “I saw your play last weekend, and I thought the second act was really interesting,” can be far more effective than sending over your headshot and CV.
Learn the Acting Business
You’ll want to at least understand the business of acting, because it will help and you don’t want your ignorance of this business to catch you off guard later.
To start, you need to know a few things. Casting websites like Backstage, Casting Networks, Actors Access, and (depending on where you are) some local and regional ones are where directors post details of roles. This is like your shop window. I believe that you should have at least two profiles out there. Take your pick as to which websites you want to pay attention to.
Make sure your headshot is up to date, your resume is current, your skills are accurate, and reply to requests as quickly and professionally as you can. You won’t need an agent or manager.
Actually, good agents won’t sign you until you’ve already done work and had some training. So build a strong foundation first. Then, you might look into agents in your area, go to events, and workshops where agents look for talent, and get recommendations from actors who are already working. IMPORTANT NOTE: never pay an agent up front. Proper agents take a percentage (usually 10%) after you get a paying job.
For your career, do consider the actors’ unions, SAG-AFTRA, which is the Screen Actors Guild and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists in the States. I’d suggest not joining at this moment. And you might well find later that it’s not something you want to do. In fact, signing up too early might make it harder to get roles. Union regulations mean you can’t do non-union work once you’re a member. Most acting coaches advise getting a bit of non-union experience first, and only joining the union when a union job requires it, or when all the benefits of membership outweigh the disadvantages.
Regarding contracts and payment: get a lawyer. And, in particular, get a business and/or entertainment lawyer. The least you should do is read every single word before you sign. And, if you don’t want to do that, then get a lawyer.
If you’re unsure about something, ask. Many early projects won’t pay, or will be a ‘deferred’ payment (you get paid later) and that’s quite typical to begin with, but be sure you can understand the terms. As you get paid work, you’ll need to understand the differences between different industry terms like: day rates, buyouts, usage fees, and residuals.
Develop Your Plan to Deal With Rejection
Now, another hard thing, prepare for rejection. It’s something everyone avoids talking about, but you’ll hear ‘no’ a lot more than you will hear ‘yes’. Professionals get a role from roughly one in twenty or one in thirty auditions, and when you’re starting out, it can be even worse.
I don’t tell clients to actually love being rejected, that’s not a useful idea. Instead, I recommend my ‘24-Hour Rule’. You can be down, frustrated, confused, hopeful… pretty much anything you need to be, for twenty-four hours after an audition. After that? You have to let it go. Don’t keep going over it in your mind, or what you should have said, or endlessly refresh your inbox. Forget about it and prepare for the next one.
This isn’t about denying your feelings at all, it’s about being able to keep going. Successful actors aren’t those who don’t get hurt by no, but those who recover fast and are always at more auditions. Lots of my clients have found it really helpful to have an audition diary. After each audition, jot down three things: what was good, how you would approach it differently in the future, and one thing you noticed about the audition room itself (the person reading with you, the lighting, the other people waiting). This transforms each audition into useful data, rather than a verdict on you.
Be Flexible
Also, be open to the journey of acting. The actor you will be in five years might be totally different from the one you imagine being today, and that isn’t a bad thing, it’s just how you learn and grow.
One client of mine was preparing for big movie parts, yet she ended up having a career as a voice artist for advertisements. Someone else went to learn about Shakespeare and found she had a talent for improvisational comedy, and that’s how she became a series regular in a show on the internet. And a third hadn’t enjoyed theatrical work at all, but a friend convinced him to audition for a production at the community hall and he’s now been in fourteen plays across two different states.
The performance world is a lot broader than most people starting out think. You have film, television, theater, ads, voice-overs, motion capture, podcasts, audio books, performing in theme parks, corporate training videos, and immersive theater with audience participation. Each of these areas has its own audition process, the skills you’ll need for success, and a path to getting going. Being open to all of these gives you a lot more choice.
So don’t be too quick to decide what sort of actor you are. Even if you consider yourself a ‘serious’ actor, go to the improv course. Audition for the advert, even if you feel it’s beneath you. And if you are used to being the nice guy, play the villain. You’ll develop a much broader skill set by having a go at different things, rather than by deciding what you are.
Build a Daily Routine that Compounds over Time
Being skilled might get you an audition, but a regular routine is what will allow you to keep succeeding. All of the actors I’ve worked with who steadily improved had this in common: they practiced every day, and didn’t need anyone else to tell them to. They weren’t only preparing for important auditions; they practiced because it was a part of who they are.
A good acting routine doesn’t have to rule your life. For those of us with jobs, families and not much free time, this is a good way to structure it:
In the morning, for ten minutes do vocal warmups and a set of tongue twisters as quickly as possible. Then stretch your jaw, neck, shoulders, and hips (actors generally get a lot of tension in those areas).
At midday, spend five minutes reading a single page of a play or screenplay you haven’ and haven’t seen. The idea isn’t to do lots of reading, but to get used to new things.
In the evening, for fifteen to twenty minutes, do the monologue or scene you are currently working on. Do it three times: how it’s written, as though you feel the opposite of what’s on the page, and then twice as fast. This will help you to be adaptable.
And each week, watch a movie or a play and really think about it. Then, write down two sentences on one acting decision that particularly impressed you.
If you spend half an hour a day doing this, in six months you’ll have improved your skills far more than if you’d had four hour practice binges at the weekend. In this profession, doing something consistently is much more valuable than doing it with a lot of force. It has always been that way.
Recognize Your Progress Along the Way
Because acting doesn’t have raises or regular check-ins on how you’re doing, you’re going to need to start noticing how you are getting better. If you don’t, then any long periods of time between successes will generally, really wear you out.
That first time you read a script out of the blue and weren’t utterly mortified was a big step forward. And it’s something you can be pleased about if you get a direction in an audition and actually change what you’re doing, you adapt, rather than being unable to move. Or, if you watch a recording of yourself and think “yes, in that moment, I was being real.” That deserves a little acknowledgement!
I have a little book and I write in it. I will write down little events of what I’m calling “craft moments,” which are those little times when something suddenly makes sense and your work feels better to you. You won’t have one of those during every session, but that’s okay.
When you do, writing it down gives you proof of your progress that your worrying mind will find it difficult to disagree with later.
This business will regularly challenge how much you can take, how much you believe in yourself, and even who you are. Those who last a long time as actors aren’t necessarily the most gifted in any room, but are the ones who found ways to keep going, to make progress, when it wasn’t getting much praise.
You don’t have to wait for anyone to say it’s okay to begin. A perfect list of jobs, a well-known coach, or living in the right area aren’t required. You need the Foundation Five: Training, practicing, documenting your journey, auditioning, and building connections. If you do those five things regularly with authenticity, then your experience will build. It will.
FAQ
Do I need a college degree to become an actor?
You don’t require a university degree to be an actor. Though a BFA or MFA will give you very focused learning and connections to the business, most actors actually working in the United States don’t have degrees in theatre. Much more important is steady practice, and you can get that from university courses, private schools, workshops in the community, or any combination of those. In fact, some incredibly successful actors started with absolutely no formal arts education!
How much does it cost to start acting?
It’s not expensive to begin acting. A short course in acting, could last several weeks, and might cost you from $100 to $300. For a good picture of your face to give to people when you are trying to get a part, it does help to spend a little money here. A professional headshot will usually cost from about $150 to $800. This does vary depending on which location your in. A typical monthly fee for being on a casting site like Backstage is approximately $20. So you can get some training and start applying for jobs for under $500, very easily.
Am I too old to start acting?
You’re absolutely not too old to start acting. In fact the film and television world wants actors of all ages and many auditions specifically request people who are thirty, forty, fifty, or older. Lots of well-known actors started their careers later in life. The most important thing is to start now, at this point in your life, and to really commit to learning, no matter what your age is.
Should I move to Los Angeles or New York to pursue acting?
Hold off on packing for Los Angeles or New York specifically to become an actor. First, become really solid in where you are now. Take acting courses, audition for things at school or around your city, and improve your skills in a place that won’t be as overwhelming. Lots of cities are doing a lot of filming for film and television: Atlanta, Chicago, Austin, Vancouver, Albuquerque, and many more. I have also witnessed filming in East Texas, Louisiana, and Boston. Only move to a major industry hub for work when you’re confident in your abilities, have a good demo reel, and are happy with how you come across. I wouldn’t do it unless I had solid work already lined up.
How do I find an agent as a beginner?
When you’re beginning your acting career, how do you find an agent? I wouldn’t. Well, most agents prefer to represent actors who’ve had at least some lessons, have something going for them that they can do. So at the beginning, try to accumulate a list of your credits. This can be unpaid work, and local or community theater. Once you’re further along, then you can look into agents who are in your local area. Also, go along to workshops and industry gatherings where agents might look for new faces. If you know some actors who are currently represented, then you might get their suggestions. Very importantly, you should never, ever hand over money to an agent to start with. A good agent will only get a percentage of the money you earn from a job once you’ve booked it.
