How to Start an Acting Career From Scratch: 7 Proven Steps
So you want to act, but you’re staring at a blank slate: no agent, no credits, just a burning urge to perform. Here’s how to start an acting career from scratch in 7 steps, in the order that actually works, from your first stage to your first agent meeting. Every filmmaker knows the cast starts somewhere, and it might as well be you.
I’ve seen too many talented people stall out waiting for the “right time.” The industry doesn’t care about fancy resumes. It cares about people who decide to show up. When you’re ready to go deeper, our complete beginner’s guide to acting maps the whole road.
Huge thanks to Wendy Alane Wright and her Talent Managers for Actors Facebook group for the inspiration for this article.
TL;DR: Your First Year, Step by Step
To start an acting career, get on a stage, take classes, get a headshot and a one-page resume, and set up casting profiles. Then audition for everything, cut the footage into a reel, and only then chase an agent. Legitimate agents take a commission of 10% and never charge you upfront.
1) Get on a Stage: Local Theater and Improv
The fastest way to start an acting career is to act, in front of real people, this month.
I dragged myself into my first local theater audition terrified and clueless, and fumbled through it. Good news: no one booed. Bad news: I was cast as “Tree #2.” Humility is part of the deal.
Improv groups are even better if you want a crash course in panic control. You learn to think fast, roll with the punches and trust your gut. Live audiences don’t let you fake it. You know right away if a joke lands or a line dies.
These early shows won’t make you famous, but they’ll toughen you up. Getting over stage fright in a musty community center is great prep for casting calls and indie shoots. Plus, you meet hungry, weirdly passionate people who sometimes become lifelong collaborators.
2) Take Acting Classes That Put You on Camera
Classes build the voice, movement and on-camera skills that make an audience believe you.
- Voice: you need to be heard on set, not mumble into a pillow. A strong voice also survives a 12-hour shoot.
- Movement: learn how your body reads on camera. Physical theater and stage combat help even if you never play an action hero. Our guide to physicality in acting for film goes deeper.
- On-camera: in front of a lens, every tiny eye twitch betrays you or sells the story. Take a class that films you and lets you watch it back.
- Technique: pick one approach and stick with it for a while. Our acting techniques every actor must know and Meisner technique for beginners are good places to start.
Classes cost money. Think of them like a gym membership for your acting. I found my most useful tricks inside small, gritty classes packed with hopeful weirdos and legends in disguise. Show up, mess up, own it and keep coming back.
3) Get a Headshot and a One-Page Resume
A casting director decides whether to call you in from one photo and one page, so both need to be ready before you apply for anything.
Your headshot should look like you on a good day, not like a glamour shot. Casting wants the person who walks through the door. Our headshot tips cover lighting, framing and what to wear.
Your resume can be short. List your theater and improv shows, your classes and your teachers, and any special skills you can do on camera, like a language, an accent, stage combat or horse riding. Our guide to formatting an acting resume with no experience shows you how to fill one page honestly.
4) Set Up Casting Profiles and Learn to Self-Tape
For most new actors, the first auditions start online, with a casting profile and a self-tape recorded at home.
Set up profiles on the main casting sites, upload your headshot and resume, and check them every day. Our list of the best websites for actors compares the options.
Then build a simple self-tape setup: a plain wall, a window or a soft light in front of you, your phone at eye level and a reader off camera. Casting directors see hundreds of tapes, and a clean one tells them you’re easy to work with. Our self-tape audition guide walks you through it, and our monologues for auditions give you something to practice with.
5) Audition for Everything, and Say Yes to Background Work
Student films, indie shorts, web series and background work all count, because every day on set earns you footage and experience.
When I started out, I said yes to almost every audition I could find: student films, indie web series, local commercials you’d never believe existed. If it shot with a camera, I wanted in. Every audition is a workout. You’ll bomb, and you’ll also surprise yourself.
Don’t turn down a project just because it’s passion-driven and pizza-supplied. And when you land a spot, act like you’re starring in a Spielberg blockbuster, even if you’re sprinting from a fake zombie in someone’s backyard.
Background work counts too. Brad Pitt’s early days included working as a waiter extra in No Man’s Land (1987). On the Armchair Expert podcast, he admitted he ad-libbed a line he wasn’t supposed to say, and the assistant director warned him he’d be thrown off set if he did it again. He was going for a speaking role, the one thing that would get him a union card. Our guide to how to be a movie extra covers how to book those days.
Background work gets sneered at. It shouldn’t.
A day as an extra teaches you where the camera is, what “back to one” means and how long a real shoot day lasts.
The crew notices the actors who already know. They don’t waste anyone’s time, and they get asked back.
6) Cut Your Footage Into a Demo Reel
A demo reel is one to two minutes of your best on-screen moments, and it’s what gets you from open calls to real auditions.
Casting directors want to see you on screen. Even a few seconds of good footage speaks louder than a long resume with nothing behind it. That’s why step 5 matters: you can’t edit a reel from stuff you never shot.
Put your strongest scene first, keep the focus on your face, and cut anything where you’re barely in frame. If you only have one or two good clips, a short reel is better than a long one padded with weak moments. Update it every time you book something better.
7) Find an Agent, Then Think About the Union
Once you have a headshot, a resume and a short reel, you’re ready to look for an agent, and a real one will never ask you for money upfront.
- How agents get paid: a legitimate agent takes a commission of no more than 10% of what you earn, according to Backstage. Anyone who asks for a fee before you work is a red flag.
- How to reach them: research licensed agencies near you, follow each one’s submission rules, and send your headshot, resume and reel with a short, personal note.
- Agents vs managers: managers can take 10% to 15% and aren’t licensed the way agents are. You don’t need both to start.
- The union: you can join SAG-AFTRA after one day in a principal or speaking role on a union job, or three days as a background actor, according to SAG-AFTRA. There’s a joining fee, so check the amount with your local before you celebrate.
Don’t rush into the union. Non-union student films and indie shorts are where most new actors get their first footage, and SAG-AFTRA’s Global Rule One bars members from taking non-union acting work.
How to Start an Acting Career Without Burning Out
Rejection is the only guarantee in acting, so the actors who last are the ones who plan for it.
The numbers are tough. There were about 67,500 acting jobs in the US in 2025, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects little or no growth through 2035. The median actor made $29.05 an hour in May 2025, and most jobs last anywhere from one day to a few months, according to the BLS. That’s why most working actors keep a second job.
You’ll get told “no” so many times you’ll wish you had a punch card for free coffee. Here’s what I keep in mind:
- Every audition is practice, not a final exam.
- Feedback, even when it stings, is data I can use.
- The people casting aren’t judging my worth. They’re looking for a type.
Your timeline is yours. I’ve met actors who booked a lead on their first audition and others who spent years doing background work before catching a break. Set small goals you control: book a student film, nail a self-tape, land a callback.
Networking When You Don’t Know Anyone
When you start an acting career with no contacts, the fastest way to meet the people who cast you is to be useful on their sets.
I started with zero contacts and a flip phone. I made most of my contacts by hanging around indie sets, local theater and film screenings. Volunteer on student projects, even if it’s running for coffee or holding a boom mic. People remember the person who saved a shoot, not the one who bragged at the wrap party.
Have something to offer besides your headshot. Can you edit? Run lights? Organize a script read? Lean into that. Follow up with a short, genuine thank-you, and let your work do the talking.
Want to stand out at an audition? Know the crew’s names.
Say thank you to the camera assistant. Hit your mark twice in a row. Be ready when the AD calls you.
Directors hear about the actor who made the day easier, and those are the actors who get the next call.
FAQs About Starting an Acting Career
Is It Too Late to Start an Acting Career in Your 20s or 30s?
No. Casting needs every age, and plenty of actors start after a first career. Our guide to whether you’re too old to become an actor covers late starters in more detail.
Do You Need a Degree to Start an Acting Career?
No. The BLS lists the typical entry level as some college with no degree. Training matters more than a diploma, and a class that puts you on camera counts for more than a transcript.
Do You Need to Move to Los Angeles or New York to Start?
Not to start. You can build credits, a reel and your first casting profiles almost anywhere with local theater and a film school or two nearby. Move when your reel and your savings are ready for it.
The Final Cut on How to Start an Acting Career
The way to start an acting career is a set of small steps you can take this month: a stage, a class, a headshot, a profile, an audition.
If you’re starting with no credits at all, our guide to becoming an actor with no experience picks up from here.
Which step are you taking this week?
Jay Neill
Jay Neill is the founder and managing editor of iFILMthings and believes everyone should have access to the film resources they need to plan their filmmaking project, which is why he’s dedicated iFILMthings to helping all filmmakers.