How to Get Acting Experience as a Beginner

Six ways to get your first projects

1. Student films from film schools and media programs

Film schools and college film or media programs need actors all year round for their class projects and theses. For the student it’s graded work; for you, it’s a scene shot with a crew, direction and a result you can show afterward.

• Follow the film schools and programs in your city, and their student groups, on social media, where cast searches usually get posted.
• Join your city’s casting-call groups on Facebook, WhatsApp or Telegram.
• Reach out to directing students with a short message: your name, your headshots, your resume and your availability.
• Before accepting, ask about dates, schedules, whether they cover transportation and meals, and when they’ll send you the edited scene.

2. Independent and cooperative theater

In independent theater, groups put together casts through open calls or contacts, rehearse for weeks and run a season in small venues or cultural centers. In the cooperative format, what comes in at the box office is split among the cast as agreed at the start, so go in thinking about the experience more than the income.

To find these groups, follow the listings and social media of independent venues, go see plays, chat with the casts on the way out and sign up for the auditions that companies post. If you join a cooperative, put in writing how expenses and box office are split: a message in the group chat is enough.

3. Workshops with a closing showcase

Many acting, production or comedy workshops end the term with a showcase open to the public. If you’re choosing where to study, prioritize the ones with a showcase, or the production workshops, where the group prepares a full play under a director: you gain training and experience in front of an audience at the same time.

Ask for photo or video documentation of the performance and list the showcase on your resume with the name of the play, your character and who directed. Workshops at community centers and city-run spaces tend to be an affordable way to start.

4. Open castings for commercials, film and series

Applying to open castings is already training: you learn how to do an audition, take direction and manage nerves in front of a camera. Commercials, shorts and independent films often open the search to profiles without experience. Background work (extras) counts too: it shows you from the inside how a shoot works.

Apply to what fits your profile, respond within the deadline and send exactly what they ask for. In the Latin America casting directory you’ll find the accounts and sites that post calls by country. In the United States, casting notices are posted on Backstage, Actors Access and Casting Networks, and Central Casting is a well-known name for background work. A legitimate casting call is free for the person applying. A subscription to a casting website is different, because you pay the platform, not whoever is casting. If you’re asked to pay to take part or to get into a database, review these signs of a fake casting call.

5. Your own projects and collaborations

If there are few calls in your city, create them yourself. Team up with classmates from your workshop to shoot scenes with a phone, write a short film of a few minutes with someone who wants to direct, or join creators who make sketches and fiction for social media. Emerging bands also look for people for their music videos. If you present them honestly, these projects count as experience and give you scenes of your own choosing for your reel.

6. Micro-theater, variety shows, staged readings and festivals

Short-play series and micro-theater, variety shows, staged readings, monologue contests and short film festivals ask for less track record and bring together many people from the business. A well-prepared monologue works for these events, for theater auditions and as a scene for your reel.

If you’d rather watch than read, our channel covers how to get experience when you’re just starting out in this video (in Spanish).

How to make every project count

Each experience should be recorded and ready to show:

1. Agree on the footage before shooting. Ask by message for your edited scenes and an approximate delivery date: student shorts sometimes take months to finish and, with an agreed date, it’s easier to follow up.
2. Update your resume as soon as the project ends. Year, title, character, director and the school, venue or production company. If you have doubts about the format, follow this guide to making your acting resume.
3. Keep proof. Flyers, programs, photos from the performances and links to the project’s posts.
4. Pick the best for your reel. With two or three good scenes you can already put together a short one, and this guide to making your acting reel has the step by step.
5. Take care of relationships. Showing up on time, with your lines learned and a good attitude makes people call you back. Whoever directs a college short today may be putting together the cast of their first feature tomorrow.

Working without pay: when it makes sense

Early on, a good part of your experience comes without a fee, and that’s fine if some conditions are met:

• It’s a student, independent or cooperative project: if it’s a commercial for a brand, it’s reasonable to expect to be paid.
• You know what you receive in exchange: edited footage, a credit with your name, performances, meals or transportation.
• You know the dates, the schedules and the number of days in advance.
• Nobody charges you to audition or to give you a role, or asks you for photos that make you uncomfortable. If that happens, it’s a warning sign.

A routine to keep it going

• Every week: check casting calls and apply to the ones that fit your profile.
• Every month: propose a project or join a new one, and go see at least one play or showcase.
• Every time you finish something: update your resume, ask for the footage and save it in the same folder as your headshots.

Frequently asked questions

Can I put unpaid experience on my resume?

Yes. A student short, a cooperative play or a workshop showcase is real artistic experience, paid or not. List them with the year, title, character and director, and call them what they are: if it was a workshop showcase, say so.

Do I need experience to apply to an audition?

It depends on the role. Many open calls for commercials, shorts and background work accept profiles without experience. For roles with a lot of lines in series or movies, they usually ask for a track record, and that’s where your small projects and your training count.

Does background work help you gain experience?

Background work is good for seeing a shoot from the inside and losing your fear of the set. On a resume it weighs less than a role with lines: if you list it, say it was background work and put the projects where you acted first. From background work, the natural next step is a booking: a brief character, with lines, in a professional production.

Do I have to study acting to get experience?

Studying helps a lot, and you can build experience while you do it. A workshop with a showcase gives you training and a stage at the same time, and your classmates are the first people to put together scenes, shorts or plays with.