The film and theater business is, has and always will be about whom you know - but so will the rest of the world. As in any other business, it pays to advertise for actors and actresses; and in an industry where appearance is everything there is no better medium for a professional resume than the Internet.

Established stars with agents, industry connections and scripts coming their way on a weekly basis are beyond the casting call stage. For those privileged few, there likely are fan sites to be found on the web. But for thousands of professionals who have studied the art, who have worked a little or once or not at all beyond acting school, an online resume provides an excellent two-dimensional presentation of the person.

Personal Biography

Online resumes in the acting profession will generally include a brief bio that provides the vital statistics and education. Beyond that, a well done resume moves to a listing of any work the actor/actress has done to date. If they are fortunate enough, the work is broken out by stage, film and television categories. Information is included on the director and production house. The nature of the role is usually included (featured, supporting, guest star, hostess) to provide a sense of versatility.

Dialect Skills

Other features in the resume might include "languages" which is taken to mean accents or dialects: one actress lists Texan, Spanish and New York. A critical area is also the list of study credits. This may include voice coaches; acting classes; voice over training; techniques taught at one acting school or another; any standup comedy or monologue training, and so forth. The teachers and coaches are also listed, as many who teach the craft have widespread reputations of their own.

Photo Stills

Finally there is the photo gallery and any stills from productions that the actor/actress has appeared in. The best of these include both studio and informal photos as well. Some are include downloadable video clips. Contact information is on the site, of course, including an email address and phone number for the agent representing the individual.

The multimedia aspect of an online resume is especially valuable for an actor or actress. It is available on demand and it saves a lot of phone and paper contact in soliciting work, just as it saves casting personnel screening time. If they like the professional history and pictures, they can schedule an interview.

Submit Your Resume Web Site

Another interesting feature that has grown up around acting resumes are the sites that have proliferated as indexes of acting resumes. Utilizing online collections of this type, an actor, actress or agent can spread the resume around much like commercial websites work to develop multiple links and keywords.

Yahoo has a directory of site listings for actors and actresses that runs into the hundreds. They are simply listed alphabetically with a single descriptive sentence: "Official site of the Scottish actor, musician and composer..." It may well be worthwhile to pay for listings in established acting indexes, just as it used to be a reasonable investment to buy an ad in the Hollywood Reporter. The Internet can be a proactive outreach tool for actors and actresses; at least, they can position themselves so that they can't be overlooked.