LinkedIn for Actors: How to Create Your Profile

Guest Post by Mike Podesto

​Just like creating any other social media profile online, anybody can create a basic LinkedIn profile. 

But what about creating a professional LinkedIn profile as an actor? 

That’s a different ball game altogether.

​There are some intricacies involved with LinkedIn profile writing for a specialty field such as acting.

But no worries…

This article will offer you all the tips and insights you need to create a professional LinkedIn profile.

​Have a Professional Headshot

The first thing that your connections, searchers, and viewers will see on your LinkedIn profile is your profile picture along with your name and headline.

As an actor, you should have a professional headshot featured as your LinkedIn profile picture. 

It would be best if you utilized a photographer experienced in LinkedIn headshots so that your profile picture stands out as professional and attractive.

Here are a few things to keep in mind while setting up your profile photo: 

• Your face should take up to 60% - 70% of the picture.
• Only you should be visible in your photo (no BFFs or pets, please). 
• Wear a smile that shows openness and warmth. 
• Pick a backdrop that exudes your brand and personality. 

Here’s a detailed guide on looking your best while taking your LinkedIn headshot.

​Use an Appealing Profile Background Photo

After getting your profile photo set up properly, it’s time to focus on your LinkedIn banner or background image. 

This background photo can also be an opportunity to showcase your brand and personality. 

Research the LinkedIn profiles of some of your peers to get a sense of what they are doing. 

Many actors use a great shot from a popular scene or act as their banner. 

Some create separate graphics with their photo and contact information on top.

Research and brainstorm to find a style that suits your brand and highlights your personality.

​Write a Striking Headline

Along with your profile photo, your professional headline will also appear in the LinkedIn search results.

So, these two should work together to encourage the searcher to click on your profile and check out your summary and experience. 

As an actor, how should your headline appear? 

Just note that you have 220 characters to showcase your most prominent traits and accomplishments as an actor. 

Once again, you might want to research other established actors to get inspiration. 

Here are a few examples from real-life actor LinkedIn profiles:

​You can easily utilize any of the above examples as a LinkedIn headline template to craft one that suits your particular situation.

​Write a Professional About Section

Now it’s time to provide a bit more in-depth information on your career as a professional actor in your LinkedIn profile “About” or summary section. 

With the LinkedIn summary, you have the opportunity to provide interested parties with an overview of your acting career. 

Think of it as your career story. 

You can adopt different approaches based on your brand and personality.

You might choose to write a few lines as a high-level overview, along with your most recent and prominent accomplishment, like this:

​Or this:

​You can also choose to get into more details, like this one:

For writing a detailed about section, here are a few elements you can include: 

• What are your motivating factors – what drives you as an actor? 
  
• The backstory of you becoming the person you are today. 
  
• Brief overview of your acting experience – years in the profession, number of projects, etc. 
  
• Your most important accomplishments – awards, popular roles, and shows. 
  

You have 2,000 characters to fill in on your LinkedIn About section.

Try to use every last character to showcase your career to the world.

Be conversational and show off your personality.

To help facilitate the reading experience, blend the use of paragraphs, headers, and bullets to break up long blocks of text and make it easy for readers to scan your information.

​Utilize the LinkedIn Featured Section

LinkedIn offers you great tools to showcase your skills on the “Featured” section of your profile as an actor. 

You can add videos, images, and links to news stories or your website(s) in this section.

With a thoughtful selection of items to display in the Featured section, you have plenty of opportunity to impress your viewers. 

Here’s one screenshot of an actor showcasing some of her showreels:

This section can also act as a short portfolio, right there on your LinkedIn profile. 

Make sure to put up only the best materials from your career.

​Add Professional Experience

The LinkedIn experience section can be a bit tricky as an actor. 

You probably have many projects going on with different studios and media houses. You also may have participated in plenty of one-off projects over the course of your career. 

So, how can you showcase all this on your LinkedIn experience section for the most impact? 

The best way is to put all of your credits under one experience entry titled “Actor” or “Professional Actor.” 

Like this:

You can then add other experiences as separate entries in your experience section. 

These might include acting-related involvement with any organization or heavy involvement with a particular studio, firm, or theatre. 

Here are a couple of examples:

​While keeping the details short and sweet, remember the importance of using both paragraphs and bullets to break up the monotony of a uniform style.

​Make Use of All LinkedIn Sections

There are a few more sections on your LinkedIn profile that you might find very useful. 

If you have educational experience with degrees in acting, entertainment, arts, music, and related fields, make sure to add that information to your education section.

Provide an overview of your course work, practical training, and academic accomplishments. 

Similarly, if you have any volunteering experience related to your profession, you will want to list them in your volunteer experience section. 

Also, do not forget to list your hard and soft skills in the skills section. 

Another great feature of LinkedIn is that you can actually add profile sections according to your preferences.

​You can add projects, honors, awards, courses, and other accomplishments as needed.

​Add Connections Strategically

Send out connection requests to your peers, colleagues, previous clients, and employers. 

Also, be on the lookout for talent agents in your industry. 

Make sure to send a personalized message while sending your connection requests. A connection request with a message is far more likely to get accepted than a request without any message. 

Don’t send out too many requests at a time. 

LinkedIn puts up weekly connection request limits to deter spammers. The most recent news suggests that the current limit is around 100 connection requests a week. 

Keep growing your network gradually and get noticed by your industry people with a professional LinkedIn profile. 

Also, do not forget to improve your profile from time to time, updating it with your most recent professional acting experience.

Send out connection requests to your peers, colleagues, previous clients, and employers. 

Also, be on the lookout for talent agents in your industry. 

Make sure to send a personalized message while sending your connection requests. A connection request with a message is far more likely to get accepted than a request without any message. 

Don’t send out too many requests at a time. 

LinkedIn puts up weekly connection request limits to deter spammers. The most recent news suggests that the current limit is around 100 connection requests a week. 

Keep growing your network gradually and get noticed by your industry people with a professional LinkedIn profile. 

Also, do not forget to improve your profile from time to time, updating it with your most recent professional acting experience.

​About the Author

Mike Podesto is a former recruiter and current Founder & CEO of Find My Profession, a leading resume writing and career coaching company. Mike’s career advice has been featured on sites like Inc., Zety, Motherly, Fast Company, and Stage32. You will find him hiking in his free time.