Imagine you’ve just smashed an audition. You made a great impression on the casting director, delivered your lines winningly, and proved what a good fit you are for the role. What happens next? More than likely, they’ll head to Google and search your name.
That means, as an actor, it’s worth thinking carefully about what potential employers will find when they search for you. A professional digital presence can help you appear put together and polished.
This is where having your own actor website comes in. It isn’t an absolute necessity in the same way a LinkedIn profile may be for someone working in recruitment or finance, but it can be a valuable tool for showing off your work and who you are. It also makes it much easier for people to learn more about you.
A well-designed actor website acts as a central hub for your career. It’s somewhere to display your headshots, showreel, CV, credits, and experience all in one easy-to-access place.
Here’s everything you need to know about building an actor website, including how to do it and whether it’s actually worth your time.
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If you’re an aspiring actor with a handful of credits and a profile on a casting platform, you’re probably wondering whether a personal website is just another expensive box to tick. After all, most website platforms, such as Squarespace and premium versions of WordPress, charge a fee. Having a website isn’t absolutely essential, but it’s a place where you have complete control over what people see about you and what you say about yourself – and that is worth something.
You can certainly curate a professional-looking profile on social media, but a website can make you appear more established – particularly if you’re pursuing representation, networking with directors, approaching production companies, or branching out into writing.
1. Professional headshots
Your homepage should feature at least one high-quality, up-to-date professional headshot.
2. A biography
Introduce yourself with a bit of personality! Mention your training, notable credits, special skills, and the type of work you’re interested in. Link to your agent if you have one.
3. Your showreel
Your showreel should feature sewn-together snippets of your best performance clips. Yet to build credits? It’s fine to include unofficial projects, such as monologues you’ve recorded straight to camera. Embed your showreel from YouTube or Vimeo; visitors may lose interest if they have to download anything or click through multiple pages to access it. Make sure the whole thing is less than five minutes long.
4. Credits and CV
You don’t need to reference every school production you’ve ever appeared in on your website, but make sure it includes a page-long CV that highlights the work that’s most relevant to where your career is now. If you’re working on something current and exciting, make sure to reference it if you’re allowed.
Extras worth including
As your career grows, you may also want to add:
- Production stills from recent shows
- Press coverage (if you’ve given any interviews)
- Reviews (if they’re positive)
The thought of building a website may sound intimidating if you’ve never done it, but modern website builders make the process surprisingly straightforward. Here are all the things you should think about when building your new actor website.
1. Register your domain name
Ideally, buy yourname.com or yourname.co.uk. If your name is already taken, consider adding “actor” or one number. Basically, keep things as simple as possible so you’re easy to find.
2. Choose a website builder
The good news if you’re on a budget is that you don’t need to hire a web designer. Platforms such as Squarespace (£12 to £79 per month) and Wix (£9 to £199 per month) are designed for beginners and offer professional templates that can be customised without touching a line of code. Free options also exist, but spending even a little bit will make the whole website faster and more reliable.
3. Pick a simple template
You want your website to look attractive and be readable, so avoid distracting fonts and annoying autoplay videos. Pick something that reflects your personality and is easy on the eye. You want each page to match the one before, so keep the whole design consistent too.
4. Upload your professional assets
Add your headshots, showreel, bio, and CV – both on the website and in a downloadable form – and personal or agent contact info. Double-check that every image is high resolution (to avoid it appearing grainy) and all the links click through to the right thing.
5. Make sure it looks good on a phone
Many casting professionals will be browsing on their phones. If your website looks brilliant on a laptop but is tricky to navigate on mobile, you may lose visitors before they’ve even watched your showreel.
6. Keep it up to date
If you have a website, it’s important to keep it up to date. Otherwise, what’s the point? Whenever you book a new role, update your credits and add fresh production images. Your headshots should be updated whenever your appearance changes significantly (such as getting a new haircut) or every one to two years otherwise.
Whether or not you build an actor website, every performer needs a professional online presence. Here are some things you should definitely have as an actor.
A profile on a casting platform
Casting platforms are more than just a place to find your next acting job. Sign up and you’ll also have a page that displays your credits, what accents you can do, and any special skills you may have.
IMDb
IMDb lists all your credits in one place. Casting directors often use it as a quick way to verify an actor’s previous work and track their career.
Social media
You don’t need a million followers, but having a professional Instagram or TikTok can help demonstrate personality, showcase behind-the-scenes work, and make it easier for industry professionals to connect with you. Just remember that everything you post should be part of your personal brand.
We’ve all done it, haven’t we? But as an actor it’s good practice to occasionally search your own name. You want your website to show up at the top, so remember to add some key words on the page to get it up there and keep updating it as your career grows.