Wear simple, solid colours that flatter your skin and eyes, with a clean neckline and nothing that pulls focus from your face: no logos, busy prints, statement jewellery or costumes. Bring a few outfits that hint at the roles you are right for. We read the headshot answers of 17 casting directors, and the rule they kept coming back to was that the photo must look like you on a normal day.
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Nothing should compete with your face. Casting director Risa Bramon Garcia said that if your clothes, background, earrings or makeup distract from looking into your eyes, they get in the way. She is tired of the same choices too: tank tops with leather jackets to look tough, and men in grey suits that say nothing about who they are.
Scot Boland wants a relaxed, natural moment, not someone overly dressed up or made up, and not half a torso of arms and skin. Meg Morman's test is you on an average day, perhaps in better clothes than you would wear to the supermarket.
For your main theatrical shot, Kym Jackson suggests a plain top in a colour that looks great against your skin or is close to your eye colour, a common trick that makes the photo pop off the page. Risa Bramon Garcia gave an example from our interview: a blue-grey T-shirt that worked with the interviewer's eyes.
Save the brightest colours for commercial looks. Kym notes that commercial headshots tend to be peppier and more vibrant, while theatrical shots feel calmer. Lisa Beach dislikes loud orange, green or blue backdrops, so think about how your outfit sits against a simple, softly blurred background.
Skip them. Your headshot is usually first seen as a tiny thumbnail; Risa Bramon Garcia described scrolling page after page of little boxes. Stripes, checks, busy prints and logos compete with your face at that size.
The same rules apply as for auditions: solid colours, no visible brands. Our guide to what to wear to an audition explains why patterns misbehave on camera.
Simple ones that frame your face. Kym's go-to for a main theatrical photo is a V-neck T-shirt or a tank top. Because she crops headshots to just below the armpits, your neckline and shoulders are always in frame, so they matter more than your trousers.
Keep it to what you would actually be cast in. Sunny Boling and Meg Morman both said not to shoot a sexy look if that isn't an energy you are comfortable playing, because casting will call you in for those roles off the photo.
Theatrical looks are about your essence and feel grounded. Commercial looks are brighter, warmer and more approachable, with bigger smiles. Kym's advice is to trust your commercial agent on which shots to use, even when their pick surprises you.
Commercial casting expert Shaan Sharma suggests four commercial looks that match the wardrobe categories casting calls for: casual, upscale casual, business casual and business professional. If you are too young to play a doctor or CEO, drop the last one.
Plan three to five looks. Kym finds fewer than three wastes the shoot, and after five you tire and the photos suffer. Starting out, she suggests five: a plain main theatrical, blue collar, white collar professional, a low-income look and a glamorous one, each a hint of the character, never a costume.
Layers make changes fast: a jacket, shirt or knit over your base top changes the read in seconds. Sunny Boling said you don't need 50 shots in different outfits; keep one strong shot per outfit, and Kym keeps at most two of the same look, only if they are very different characters.
Wear the hair and makeup you can walk into an audition with. Casting director Ronnie Yeskel is frustrated by actors who arrive looking nothing like their heavily made-up photo, and Lou Mitchell warned against the over-lit, airbrushed model look you can't reproduce on a hot LA afternoon. A new cut or colour a week after the shoot makes the photos useless, she added.
If you can wear your hair two ways, Kym suggests choosing by the roles you read for most: straighter for business roles, bigger and curlier for fun, outgoing ones. Gone grey since your last shoot? Either use a rinse-out colour for auditions or retire the old photos.
Men can change looks quickly, casting director Rachel Sutton pointed out: grow some facial hair and throw on a singlet for a tough or troubled character, then shave and put on a suit and tie for a lawyer. Just make the suit mean something; Risa Bramon Garcia's complaint was the generic grey suit with no character behind it.
Choose by the roles you read for, not by what is flattering in a magazine. Rachel Sutton urged women to shoot for the age they are actually seen as, and Gayle Pillsbury asks editors to pull back the retouching. Keep jewellery small, as Risa Bramon Garcia's earring comment suggests, and if your essence is earthy, Kym's example is a floral or flowy look rather than a sharp suit.
Clothes they actually wear, in solid colours, that look their real age. Gayle Pillsbury told us casting gets frustrated when actors who look far older come in for high school roles, so a young actor shouldn't be styled older. Teen acting expert Karen Workman is clear that anything inappropriate for a teen's age hurts their career.
Children's looks change quickly, Karen notes, so they need new photos more often than teens or adults; Jess Orcsik says there is no need to spend thousands while a child is starting out. More in how to become an actor as a teen.
Do a test shoot. Kym's method: put on each outfit, have a friend shoot you on a phone in portrait mode, in shade or even light with no sun behind you, and tap to focus on your eyes. You will learn which colours and necklines work, which angles you like, and whether you can hold each character's energy.
Bring a couple of extra options on the day and ask your photographer before you pack. For choosing one, see headshot photographers and how much headshots cost.
A solid colour that flatters your skin tone, often one close to your eye colour, for your main theatrical shot. Save brighter colours for commercial looks.
No. Stripes, checks, busy prints and logos compete with your face, especially when casting sees your photo as a small thumbnail.
A simple neckline that frames your face, such as a V-neck or crew neck T-shirt. Avoid anything so low or revealing that it changes how casting reads you.
Plan three to five looks, each hinting at a type of role you are right for, plus a couple of spares. Layers such as a jacket or shirt make quick changes easy.
Wear the makeup you would wear to an audition. Casting directors told us heavy or airbrushed looks backfire when you walk in looking different from your photo.
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