Build an actor website casting directors can read in a minute

Who reads it, and how

Casting directors, assistants, agents considering you and directors who've heard your name all arrive with the same short checklist. They want to know whether you could play the part, whether you've done this kind of work before and who to call. They usually look on a laptop between other tasks, sometimes on a phone in a rehearsal room. A site that opens on a slow animated intro or a wall of text loses them.

So the first screen should carry your name, your best current headshot, your playing age range if you choose to show one, and a line on representation. Below that, the order rarely needs to change: headshots, credits, reel, training, contact.

Headshots: fewer and current

• Three to six images, all recent. If your hair, weight or age has visibly changed, the old shots come down. A casting director who calls you in on a photo that no longer looks like you won't do it twice.
• Range without costume. A warmer shot and a more serious one say more than a series of characters.
• Credit the photographer under each image; most expect it.
• Describe each one in its alt text ("head and shoulders, dark jacket, neutral expression"). Anticode's design gate won't publish images without alt text.

A designed page uses library photos in its own sections, so your headshots and production stills can appear only in a CMS collection whose image field holds each hosted address; if you build the site as an app instead, upload them and the model sees and places them. For a high-resolution download, link to a folder your agent controls rather than relying on the page images, which are sized for the screen.

A credits grid that stays honest

Credits are where actor sites most often go stale or overreach. List them the way a CV does, grouped by medium (stage, film, television, commercials) with columns for production, role, company or director, and year. Don't upgrade a featured extra to a supporting role; credits get checked.

On Anticode, keep credits in a CMS collection with typed fields for title, role, medium, director and year. When you book something, add an entry in the dashboard and the credits page updates without a rebuild. A second collection works the same way for training and skills: accents, instruments, stage combat, licences. Keep the skills list to what you could do on set tomorrow.

The reel

A short reel with your strongest scene first beats a long one. Most actors host it on Vimeo or YouTube and link to it from a clear button. An embedded player from those sites won't run on an Anticode page, and design-engine pages can't play video files either, so make the link prominent: a clear button near the top, labelled with the reel's length. If you have no footage yet, leave the section out rather than filling it with a showreel from drama school you've outgrown.

Contact and representation

If you have an agent, their name, agency, phone and email belong at the top of the contact section; most industry enquiries should go there first. Add your own contact form for everything else, from student film requests to workshop invitations. The form asks for a name, email and a message, saves each one to your dashboard and can email you. Don't publish your home address or a personal mobile number on a public page.

Getting the look right

The design should frame the photos and get out of the way. Anticode's Editorial (Geist) and Swiss (Inter Tight) design systems give plenty of white space and calm type; Luxury (Jost) suits a classical stage career. One action colour, used for the reel and contact buttons, is plenty. If you also work behind the camera or write, the personal website guide covers holding several strands on one site, and the resume website guide covers a CV-led layout.

What Anticode doesn't do here

• No casting-platform sync. Credits you keep on Spotlight, IMDb or Backstage don't import; you enter them in the dashboard.
• No password-protected pages for unreleased work or private audition tapes. Everything published is public.
• No PDF CV hosting. Keep the CV as a page of text, which reads better on a phone, or link to a PDF stored elsewhere.

Questions people ask

Do I need a website if I already have an agent and a casting profile?

It isn't required, but it's the one place you control the order and the photos, and it's what people find when they search your name.

Should I use my full name as the domain?

Usually, yes, matching the name you work under. Connect it on a paid plan, or start on a free anticode.dev address.

How often should I update it?

Whenever you book a job or change your headshots. With credits in a collection, that's a dashboard edit rather than a rebuild.