Acting Tips: Headshots / Pictures

Your headshots or pictures are the first thing that a casting director will look at. Make sure to make a good first impression.

• Have decent pictures.
• Most people these days have a digital camera. If you don't, you probably have a friend that does. Have someone take a few nice looking pictures of you specifically for your acting. If you are having digital pictures taken, taking more pictures doesn't cost anything, so take a bunch and choose the best ones.
• Make sure the pictures look like you put some effort into them. This doesn't apply to those who get professional headshots because these are certainly going to look good.
• You should be the only one in the pictures (don't use group shots of you with your friends).
• Don't take pictures of yourself in the bathroom mirror.
• Don't use pictures taken with a webcam.
• Don't use pictures where you hold the camera out and take a picture of yourself.


• "a picture is worth a thousand words".
• Your pictures should accurately represent you as an actor.
• If you are looking for comedic roles, you can be making a goofy face in one of your pictures.
• If you are a male body builder, have a picture in a tank top.
• If you are an actress looking to play "sexy" roles, have a picture in a miniskirt.
• Don't be cross eyed in your picture if you're looking to do serious movies.
• Take multiple pictures and spend them based on the project
• For example, you can send the crossed eyed picture to the people making the screwball comedy, but send your serious looking picture to the people making the Holocaust drama.


• Be truthful.
• Your picture is supposed to represent you.
• Having a 2 year old picture isn't so bad if you still look the same, but if you've gained 50 lbs since the picture was taken, get a new one.
• If you use old or deceiving pictures, you are going to be seen as untruthful and dismissed. Casting people are eventually going to see what you look like.


• Electronic pictures
• Have at least a few pictures in electronic form to send. I personally don't care if they're professional headshots or just pictures that were taken with a friend's digital camera.
• Don't send too many pictures. For most people, 1 to 3 pictures will be fine.
• Don't be repetitive. If you have multiple pictures, they shouldn't all look the same. For most people, 2 pictures would be ideal: 1 close up and 1 farther back shot.
• Make sure the picture files are the appropriate sizes. 25k-100k is a good size. Don't send anything over 200k, especially if you're going to send multiple files. Also, don't make them too small. Casting directors can't tell much from a picture that is a square inch on their monitor.
• Give your picture files relevant names and put your full name in each. Don't call pictures "me.jpg", "at_the_park.jpg" or "march-3-2006.jpg". If your name is Joe Smith, give your picture files names like "Joe Smith 1.jpg", "Joe Smith - Headshot 1.jpg", "Joe Smith - in zombie makeup for Zombie Attack 2". This makes it much easier for casting people to know exactly what the pictures are of and keeping track of the files that they get.
• If you aren't too tech savvy, you might need to have a nerdy friend help you with the file resizing and renaming, but it will be worth it.


• Hard Copy (non-electronic) Pictures.
• Make sure your name is on the picture. I think all professional headshots have this. Filmmakers deal with a lot of papers and if you paperclip your picture to your resume or just hand them in together, they have a good chance of being separated and the casting people will not be able to match your resume with your picture.