Aaron Marcus, an actor with 40+ years and 1,300 bookings, shares two resume strategies for actors with no experience. List specific class titles and instructor names instead of generic training. Detail precise special skills like martial arts or languages with parentheses to show your level, so casting directors can match you to roles that need them.
Your resume won't get you an audition, but there are 2 things you can add to your resume even with little to no acting experience that will increase your chances of being requested to audition by a casting director. Hey, I'm going to explain. Hey, I'm Aaron Marcus, and I've been a full-time actor for 40-plus years, and I've booked nearly 1,300 jobs. Look, the very first thing is you want to make sure the casting director can see that you've taken acting classes. Now, don't make the mistake that a lot of actors make, and they will put acting class, intro to acting. That doesn't tell the casting director anything about what you've learned. So the trick is make the title very specific and add the name of the instructor as well. So you could put things like Acting for the camera, auditioning for TV commercials, script analysis— those are very specific explanations, and the casting director is going to see, okay, this person is just getting started, they've got a perfect look for this particular role, and because of the classes you've taken, they're going to take a chance in having you read for the role because they are hoping That, that through the classes you've learned a lot and you've got some skills. And hey, before I forget, if you're finding this helpful, subscribe, click the notification bell so you always know when I upload a new video. And if you like it, give it a thumbs up. That's actually very helpful. The second thing that can be really powerful and helpful to you are your special skills. So think about what casting directors might want to see As far as special skills go that a character might have. So like, for instance, let's say you play guitar. List that, and in parentheses next to it, make it specific. Put classical guitar. Maybe you have a black belt in martial arts, so you can put martial arts, parentheses, black belt, taekwondo. Maybe you are a singer. Or you speak a foreign language, put Spanish and then in parentheses put fluent. Those are the kinds of things that casting directors love to see, and if those characters use those kinds of skills, then of course they're going to try to bring you in if you look right for the part. The other thing too is think outside the box. It might not be an acting skill, but some— maybe it's also a skill that somebody would need for a project. Maybe you're a professional bartender. Maybe you're a boxer. You know, just once again, you can think of things that might even be a little bit unusual. Maybe you can wiggle your ears. I mean, something unusual like that, and because you just never know, and those are the kinds of things that can be incredibly helpful to you. These are the 2 things that can help you get auditions even with little to no experience, and I'd love to hear from you. What unusual special skills do you have? Please share it, uh, in the description and I will read and comment on every single one. And if you haven't done this yet, subscribe, click the notification bell so that way you will know every time I upload a new video. Can't wait to talk with you again soon. See ya.
