How important is an actor bio? What’s its purpose? What is the best format?
These are valid questions and the answers justify the time you need to put into creating a GREAT Bio.
What is a Bio for an Actor?
Your bio (biography) summarises the best of your career—your training, theatre and screen work, and something about you! It concisely tells the industry what roles you can play and how to cast you and tells your new fans the history of who they are following.
Generally, your bio is a series of 3 to 4 SHORT paragraphs - Even shorter for things like grant applications and playbooks/programs. A good bio tells people about your career. It usually includes your biggest credits, training, and some info about your personality and what you enjoy doing when not acting (careful of this last one, some people tell TOO much).
You'll most definitely be asked for a bio at some point, whether its for a theatre role in a playbook, an agent or casting director who needs your bio for their records, or even a film production building a website or Social Media post to highlight the cast.
One of my pet hates is when an actor or artist sends me their resume and tell me to write their bio. Just don't do it!!! Not having your bio on hand and instantaneously 'send-able' can say to people that you're not being serious about yourself as a professional or, and even worse, that you do not respect your potential employer enough to have a professional bio on hand.
Write it and keep it easily accessible!
Your Bio is an organic document and will change as you get more and more gigs and you are able to trim down the fat by deleting items that may originally have be there just for padding.
The universal rule about writing your bio is... Make it short and sweet!
The other one... DONT LIE!
Paragraph 1 Your biggest credits and/or awards.
Paragraph 2 Your training.
Paragraph 3 Recent work and other noteworthy credits
Paragraph 4 Special skills and personal life, including hobbies or special achievements.
Example of a great opening line to a bio
Classically trained, Puja has played roles from Shakespeare to Tennessee Williams, working with respected theatre companies both main-stage and independent, as well as winning dozens of film and web-series contracts.
Example of a bad opening line to a bio
With a sunny and positive outlook, Puja hails from the North-East and is happy to be in the big smoke to live her dream as an actor.
A few points that I've read and agree with whole heartedly while preparing this blog post are:
Avoid too much focus on hopes & dreams and the "why" behind what you do, and avoid the romantic/sugary justifications. For example, I knew I wanted to be an actor at age 5 when I saw a magical production of Peter Pan. Or, Charles became an actor through his burning desire to tell real stories to an uncaring world. Tell us what you’ve done, not why you do what you do.
Do not mention background/extra work. Background and "extra" roles are not considered "acting" roles since they can hire anyone off the street Also, do not put these roles in your acting resume. They carry no weight with a casting agent/director or director.
Do NOT thank people in your Bio. If someone has benefited you in your career, most likely you have trained under them or you have worked with them. Include them in your credits. This is much more respectful and is 'professional acknowledgement'.
Don't mention the gigs or trainers who didn't benefited you. (Use your judgment on this point.) If you did a training with someone and learnt absolutely nothing from them or you hated the way they teach, don't mention them. Also, if you were in a play, film or series that was universally terrible or you are not proud of your work (through no fault of your own), there is no shame in leaving the credit out of your bio. Don't point your bio reader to the negatives! Conversely, in your paragraph on your training, don’t be afraid to name drop great teachers or prestigious drama schools, as well as directors you’ve studied with. If you’ve worked with respected professionals, people will assume you will be professional and worthy of respect! Side note: Mention any institutions or any personal coaches you've worked with, especially if their name is well-known. Mentioning those not as well known is OK too – just in case the person considering hiring you has heard of them! In general, no name is too small, but always focus on the biggest first. Use Google to research people's notoriety
Never, never, NEVER use the words '...want to be an actor'. If you're writing your professional bio, this means you ARE an actor!
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