First of all, I will mention that your resume is very important to your career, so you should make sure it's on good quality, white paper and is typed neatly with no mistakes. Also, it's a good idea to keep it to only a page long. Casting directors don't want to take the time to look over a novel-length resume.

Your name should be the most prominent thing at the top of your resume. It wouldn't be a good thing if someone wanted to use you, but couldn't because your name wasn't on your resume!

Under your name comes your contact information, which should include your agent's address and phone number. If you don't have an agent yet, write your own phone number beside the word "Messages". Don't indicate if it's your home phone number, since you don't know whose hands it could fall into.

After you've listed your contact information, you list your vital stats. This includes your height, weight, hair color, eye color, and which unions you belong to, if any. Some people will tell you to put your age or an age range on your resume, but I will advise you not to. According to my manager and other people I've worked with, putting an age on your resume just limits you. Let the casting director decide how old or young you could be. Other things you shouldn't put on your resume are your SIN number and your measurements (although, if you are only applying for extra work, your measurments should be included).

Following your stats comes your experience. You can list this in whatever order you want, but I tend to put film first, then television and theater. You can do whatever you like, though - film work is usually more prestigious, but television work shows you can learn lines and work fast. The best thing to do is go by the "BCF Rule" - Best Credits First. If you've had a great TV role, and not much film work, you might want to put television first.

Under the heading "Film", divided into three columns, put the name of the production, followed by the size of your role, then the production company (for example, Warner Bros.), with the director's name either under or right beside the production company. When judging the size of your role, the criteria is usually as follows:
Note: These guidelines are according to the current ACTRA handbook
Principle - You were important to the story, and spoke or mimed at least 6 lines.
Featured or Actor - You were not crucial to the plot, and said 5 lines or less.

Extra work is not usually put on a resume, but if you're just starting out and that's all you've got, it's okay to put it on. You can take them off as you gain more experience.

Under the heading "Television", list any experience you've had on TV. First comes the name of the show, followed by the size of your role, which, in this case, would also include the category of "Guest Star", meaning you appeared in one episode, were central to the plot, and said 6 lines or more, "Recurring", which is basically a Guest Star in several episodes, and "Series Regular", meaning you were one of the main characters that appeared in every (or almost every) episode. After that comes the production company and the director.

Following television comes "Theater", under which you list any stage experience you've had. For this, list the title of the play, followed by your character's name (note that this is different from film and television), then the theater you performed at. You can list the director if you wish to.

If theater is the only experience you have, that's just fine. You can include school plays, church plays, or any other type of theater experience when you're first starting out.

Any training you've had can be listed under "Training" following the "Theater" category. Not all actors include this section, but it's a good idea to put it on there, especially if you're just starting out. List the name of the class you took, what was taught (ie. acting for film, musical theater, audition skills etc.), and your instructor's name. Always make sure you know who your instuctor was!

Last, but not least, comes your special skills. This can include sports, accents, musical instruments, and basically any other skill that you might be called on to use if you were cast in a TV show or film. Just don't get ridiculous - playing "Chopsticks" on the piano does not make you a pianist. And, don't lie. You wouldn't want to be asked to do something at an audition when you actually can't! And, don't bother including things like "memorization" or "acting" - they assume you know how to do these things. Also, make sure the skills are relevant to acting. The fact that you're a published poet probably won't get you a role.

A few tips about resumes - first of all, never lie. Eventually, you will be found out, so it's not worth it. Be patient - your experience will grow. Also, don't mention commercials on your resume for a couple of reasons - 1) people in film and television unfortunately just don't care, and 2) you may be considered "too big" for film acting, since you're often asked to almost exaggerate for commercials and that doesn't work for film. Of course, if you are interested in doing more commercials, by all means include them. It's common for actors to put the sentence "Commercials on request" on their resumes just in case someone's interested. Dates are another thing you shouldn't include because if you've had a period of time where you weren't working much, it'll become very prominent.

One last piece of advice: cut your resume to fit your 8x10 picture. It's just a little thing, but it makes filing your information so much easier and you'll make the casting directors very happy people.