Why are headshots important for actors?
What is a headshot?
A headshot is a tightly cropped portrait that focuses on your face, traditionally taken from the shoulders upward. These days, you normally only need a digital version of your headshot for websites like Actor’s Access and Casting Networks (and your agency of course), but when printed, headshots are often formatted as an 8 x 10-inch photograph. You can bring this, along with your resume, to in-person auditions (especially in the world of theater acting).
As an actor, headshots are the foundation of your professional brand. Your headshot is sent to casting directors when you’re up for a role and to agents when you’re looking for representation.
Your audition begins the moment you walk into the room—but your headshot may determine if you get the chance to walk into that room in the first place.
Actors need headshots for:
Online casting profiles
Submitting to agents and managers for possible representation
Personal actor websites
Professional social media profiles
Marketing materials (i.e., postcards, business cards)
Your headshot should serve as the cornerstone of your marketing materials.
Headshots can tie together your website, social media, casting profiles, postcards, business cards, and résumé. Just like the Nike swoosh or McDonald’s Golden Arches, your headshot should make you instantly recognizable across channels. As an actor, you are pitching yourself as a product—and a professional headshot should be the image that best represents that product. (For that reason, many actors like to make their headshot the profile image for their Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.)
Establishing your brand is the big-picture reason why actors need quality headshots.
On a more practical level, however, headshots are required to be considered for most roles. These days, most auditions ask for online submissions, so in addition to hard copies (which are still important), you’ll also need digital copies of your headshot to upload onto online casting profiles. Projects will not even allow you to submit unless your profile has a headshot, and the first thing casting directors see with your submission is your headshot.
For theater auditions, it is standard practice to bring a hard copy of your headshot, so you should always come to an EPA (Equity Principal Audition) armed with your headshot.
Many theater casting offices ask actors to mail their headshots and résumés to the office for consideration. For film, commercials, and print auditions, hard copies are less common, but it's never a bad idea to bring one.
When you submit yourself to agencies for possible representation, whether by email or mail, a headshot is the first item on the list of materials required for consideration.
And any time you go to a workshop with a casting director or agent, you should always bring a headshot.