Acting Awards on the Actor’s Resume: Remove! / Add!

There are acting awards on an actor’s resume that merit the resume being trashed. There are of course acting awards of merit that matter on an actor’s resume. Which awards are of merit or are trash bin bound?

Recently, there was a heated debate on social media arguing BroadwayWorld awards to be or not to be included on an actor’s resume. Unless you’re a vain, insecure, attention-seeking-at-any-demerit actor: BroadwayWorld awards do not, (repeat) do not belong on an actor’s resume. They hold no merit. Why?

BroadwayWorld awards are beg-for-vote awards driven by actors on social media begging friends and family to vote for performances possibly never seen by the majority of voters. The awards are predominantly for regional theater of which most of the voters haven’t seen the productions. Many of the voters are not industry peers which are vetted for professional related experience. Casting and talent agents know this, as do directors. The inclusion of a beg-for-votes award holds no credibility other than we realize an actor creatively manipulates votes on social media to his or her benefit. And the priority purpose of online voting for actors? Money. The clicks on to BroadwayWorld or similar voting platforms generates review for the website.

If an actor must gain an award via an online poll or an online open voting system that actor devalues their worth as an artist. They’re pandering for votes from the poorly informed—not unlike how Donald Trump disingenuously Tweeted his way to “Hail to the Chief.”

U.S. Acting Awards that Belong (and command respect) on An Actor’s Resume:

Academy Award
Emmy
TONY
Golden Globe
Drama Desk
Drama League
Outer Critics Circle
Obie
Lucille Lortel
Grammy (Only for a spoken, solo recorded performance of a role.)

Regional U.S. Acting Awards that Belong (and command respect) on An Actor’s Resume:

Joseph Jefferson (Chicago)
Ovation (Los Angles)
Carbonell (Florida)
Helen Hayes (Wash, DC.)
Barrymore (Philadelphia)
Elliot Norton (Boston)
IRNE (New England / Boston)
Ivey Awards (Minneapolis – St. Paul)
Kevin Klein (St. Louis)

Awards of merit are ones in which professional peers as voters are screened and/or are accredited by a review panel. As example with the TONY awards: TONY voters are working Broadway professionals chosen through a stringent vetting process. Likewise with the acting awards that are noted here prior to be included on an actor’s resume. That professional peer review is why such award recognitions are respected over the “Vote for me anybody” BroadwayWorld-type awards.

Awards that include, or are predominantly recognizing, community theater companies (hello Ostrander and Perry awards) do not belong on a professional actor’s resume. High school acting awards are just as offending. I’ve been horrified at seeing high school “Best Actor” awards on the resumes of 30-something ‘professional’ actors. Next.

How to Place an Acting Award on an Actor’s Resume:

Using the Industry Standard Actor’s Resume (pg. 86 in ACTING: Make It Your Business – How to Avoid Mistakes & Achieve Success as a Working Actor) place award(s) as follows on these examples:

Which on a resume is this:

(The italicizing of the award—and the director—is for the eye to differentiate that additional information, and attract the eye to that information.)

Placing the award elsewhere on the resume (i.e. Special Skills, or Awards categories) may prompt the viewer of your resume to overlook your achievement. With the award placed directly under the credit the achievement is prominent to the viewer.

Beware of placing an * next to a credit to note there is more information to the credit. When there is an asterisk (especially for an award) the resume viewer

must then search to where that * corresponds to elsewhere on the resume—don’t do this. An actor’s resume is not a game of hide-and-seek.

Just as awards of respectability are handed out judiciously, actors are to be judicious in the level of awards they honor their work with on their resume. Better to viewed as honored by peers than honored by polls.

.Paul Russell’s career as a casting director, director, acting teacher and former actor has spanned over thirty years. He has worked on projects for major film studios, television networks, and Broadway. Paul has taught the business of acting and audition technique at NYU and has taught master classes at dozens of acting programs at universities including Hofstra, Elon, Wright State University, and Rutgers. He is the author of ACTING: Make It Your Business – How to Avoid Mistakes and Achieve Success as a Working Actor. For more information on Paul’s projects, visit www.PaulRussell.net.

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