There are a number of paths to a successful acting career. It is a career where luck plays a tremendous role, so you should always be planning for contingencies. At the same time, you need to be sure that you are dedicating enough time and energy to pursuing your dreams. This article will touch on a few of the steps along the way to being a professional film, television, or theatre actor.

Before we get into the details of career development, I want to be upfront with you about one thing: most successful actors got where they are by way of having family members who were already successful in the industry. That is the only sure bet. That’s not to say that you cannot become a professional actor unless you have family connections, but it will be a hard road.

You have to make sure that you are actually good at what you do. Natural talent has a lot to do with it, but there is also a lot of skill development involved. Consider enrolling in a respected undergraduate acting program at a school such as Julliard, New World, or Idaho State. You can learn a lot in these programs, gain valuable experience, and also network with important people. In the acting industry, as in most industries, networking is the all-important ingredient. You have to know people, and that takes time and savviness.

Once you have built up some experience you will need to put together your acting resume and headshot. An acting resume format is as follows: exactly one page, with separate sections for each type of experience. So you should have one section for theatre acting experience, one for film, one for television, one for commercial work, and a final section for special skills. Your headshot should be stapled to the back of the resume, so that each faces outward and the packet can be handled as a single page. In some geographical areas, acting agencies have started asking for modeling zed cards, so ask around to find out if it is something you’ll need in your city.

Once you have that you’ll be able to audition for an acting agent. Call around to the most reputable agencies in your area and ask when their next open audition is. You can also gain notoriety by going on open auditions for any major theatre companies in your area. Working for smaller theatre companies can help you build up your experience so that you have a better chance of getting these auditions, but you will not likely be paid very well or at all.