How to Write
an Acting Cover Letter

If you need help writing your acting cover letter, follow these free acting tips and look at these samples of acting cover letters for acting agents and acting auditions.

There are 2 types of acting resume cover letters: the audition cover letter for when you submit to a casting call and the acting agent cover letter for when you are looking for representation from an acting agent or manager. Let’s look at how to write a letter that works in each of these situations.

Acting Cover Letters for Acting Agents

1. Make sure your letter is typed but signed by hand.

2. Your name and contact information should appear at the top of your acting cover letter, along with the date.
3. Your letter should be addressed to a particular acting agent or acting manager within the agency or management company you’re writing to. Do your research ahead of time and find out the name of the person you should submit to. If you’re looking for acting representation in theater, film and television, ask for the name of the acting agent in charge of the adult theatrical division. If there is more then one, pick one. You don’t have to include the agent’s name in your salutation, but avoid using the impersonal phrase “To Whom It May Concern”.
4. If you were referred by a casting director or a client of the acting agent or manager, mention that right away in your acting cover letter (and note it on the envelope too). If you are submitting your headshot and resume to this particular acting agency or manager because they are looking for your type or a special skill you possess, also mention that right away.
5. Briefly mention that you are looking for representation.
6. Give a quick highlight of your most impressive credits. If you can be seen on stage or on screen in the near future, make sure to mention that (along with an RSVP number for complimentary tickets). If you’re starting an acting career and don’t have any credits yet, give the most impressive recent highlights of your career, whether it’s an important callback, audition, actor showcase you appeared in, or even a workshop you took with a casting director.
7. Wrap up your letter on a positive note, repeating your contact information.

• DO get across who you are in your cover letter. This can be done as an introduction or just achieved by the style in which you write your letter. If you can, also touch on your type and where you see your career going.
• DO use a bold font to highlight the most important parts of your letter – agents may only scan your acting resume cover letter and you want to make sure they don’t miss what makes you unique.
• DO try to come across as a proactive actor who is looking for a partnership.

• DON'T write a long winding letter. Acting agents and managers won’t have the time to read it. This is especially important if you have strong acting credits. The best thing to do is to make your actor resume cover letter brief and let your resume speak for itself.
• DON’T try to get the agent’s attention by all means. If you’re a beginning actor fresh out of acting school, writing an acting cover letter for agents and managers is one of the hardest things you’ll have to do. Since you don’t have many credits on your resume yet, you need to start your cover letter with a catchy sentence that will grab their attention, yet you still need to come across as professional. To strike the right balance, remember to stay true to yourself and strive to have your acting cover letter reflect your personality.

As a beginning actor, your biggest ally is a great headshot, so don’t cover it up with your actor cover letter. Clip or staple your acting cover letter to your resume and make sure your face is the first thing an agent sees when they pull your submission out of the envelope. Better still, get some clear envelopes specially designed for actors’ headshots to show through the envelope. These envelopes are also great when you submit to auditions.

Acting Audition Cover Letters

When you submit your acting picture and resume to a casting call, your audition cover letter doesn’t really need to be a letter at all.

Actually, most casting directors won’t have time to read a long casting cover letter and it can be in the way of your acting picture or resume.

In most cases, the best way to submit for an acting role is to label your headshot and the envelope you send it in with the name of the project and the character you want to audition for. Printing that information on address labels works great, but you can also use a post-it on your headshot and write on the outside of the envelope you submit in.

If you’re applying for a casting call online, you don’t need to do anything because the casting director automatically knows which role and project you’re applying for.

There are some cases though where you will want to have a short acting cover letter to accompany your submission. Here are some things you would want to mention and create an audition cover letter for:

• The acting role requires a special skill or acting strength that you possess (for example, it’s a martial arts movie and you’re a black belt in karate).
• You want to point out a new credit that doesn’t appear on your resume yet.
• Anything else that may give you a better shot at being called in to audition (for example, you recently received a best actor award at a film festival or you’re appearing in an upcoming TV show).

If you decide to add an acting cover letter to your submission, keep it short and to the point. A simple postcard-sized note on cardstock paper stapled to your resume works great. You can also write your acting cover letter lengthwise, on a small piece of paper 2-3 times larger then a bookmark clipped to your resume.

Feel free to click on one of these acting cover letters examples for auditions (you may need to zoom out to see the actual size of the samples):

Audition Sample Actor Cover Letter #1

Audition Sample Actor Cover Letter #2

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