How to Write Your Actor Bio: A Guide With Examples

In a perfect world, acting would be enough. We would just train and perform well and the jobs would just come. We know that is not the case. Half of being a working actor is learning how to sell our skills and experience. The Actor Bio is a subtle tool that, if used well, could make getting work much easier. In this article, we are going to look at why the Actor Bio is structured the way it is and write one as we go. By the end you will not only have a working example for reference, but a better understanding of why certain conventions are used.

The first we have to keep in mind that everything in our business is done in seconds. Casting is done, frustratingly often, in the first moments of seeing an actor or a headshot, or even a bio. Our bio needs to pull attention right out of the gate. Think of the first sentence of your bio as a tagline. More often than not, it will be the only thing that Casting Directors read, so it needs to be good.

Example:  Stephen Scarlato is a classically trained actor with over 20 years of experience.

This lets anyone reading this know, right out of the gate, that Stephen is trained and has lots of experience. There are some other things here that are worth mentioning. Notice I said “Stephen Scarlato” instead of “I”. Everything in your bio needs to be written in the third person. That means we need to keep things to words like, “he, she, him, her, they, etc.”

Next, notice the 20. I used numbers. Generally speaking, you spell out any number up to ten. Anything above ten can be used as a number. This does two things. It makes larger numbers more impressive, and it downplays smaller numbers. If you don’t have a lot of experience then this is going to help you out. It’s also a general rule for writing. Before we move on, notice that I used my full name. It needs to be the first thing they read. After that switch it up.

Writing the First Paragraph

Now we need a solid first paragraph. Remember that time is money, so we only want to include your most recent and your big roles here. If you have lots of experience, keep it to the most common types or roles and the biggest roles. If you don’t have much experience keep it to what you do have, as long as you don’t make anything up. This paragraph doesn’t have to be long. Let’s continue with our example.

Example: Stephen Scarlato is a classically trained actor with over 20 years of experience. Most recently he could be found playing John Proctor in The Crucible by Arthur Miller. He has also entertained audiences as Boo in the Marriage of Bette and Boo by Christopher Durang, Micheal in Two Rooms by Lee Blessing, and Theseus in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Three sentences and out. Short, sweet, and to the point. It communicates my most recent role and the highlights of characters he has played in the past. Also, please include the playwright in your credits. Without their words, we wouldn’t have jobs.

Writing the Second Paragraph

Paragraph two is all about the training you have done. If you don’t have a lot of experience yet, this is your time to shine. Again, keep it short and to the point. The Bio is about the work, not how well you write. State directly, where you got what training. If you have a degree, tell people that. If you worked with private coaches, tell people that. Let’s add this to our example.

Example: Stephen received his B.A. in Theatre from Centenary College of Louisiana. While pursuing his degree he put up 25 shows ranging from Shakespeare, to magic shows, to dance concerts. After graduation, Stephen sought out Adam Philly to further train his voice and Anna Maria Spark-Kelley to focus on his movement and dancing.

Again, three sentences. It also communicates exactly what training I have had.

Writing the Third Paragraph