Arts CV templates

The portfolio decides whether you get a call; the CV decides what the call is for and how much you are paid. So the links to your portfolio and showreel must sit right next to your phone number, clickable in the PDF and as a QR code on the printed copy. Each profession has its own set of evidence that recruiters look for:

The order should be: contact details and links to your work; a two-line summary of your style and genre; five to eight representative works or projects; experience; skills, equipment and software; education and awards. Education comes later because your work speaks for your qualifications, unless you are applying to a theatre, an orchestra or a school, where a degree is an entry requirement.

For each work, give four things: its title or type, your role in the team, where it was performed, exhibited or released, and a measurable result such as the number of performances, views, publications or revenue. Here the formula action, number, result becomes: what you made, for whom, and where it was used.

List software by profession: Lightroom, Capture One and Photoshop for photography; Premiere and DaVinci Resolve for editing; Ableton Live, Logic Pro and Pro Tools for music; Procreate and Illustrator for illustration. For equipment, give the camera bodies, lenses, lights and instruments you own, because many clients hire people who bring their own kit. Performers should be specific: dance styles, voice type, martial arts, whether you can sing or act in English, and measurements if the casting asks for them. Add a line saying you are willing to travel to other provinces, tour, and work nights and weekends.

• A portfolio link that is broken, set to private or full of personal photos.
• A four-colour CV in a hard-to-read font; the creativity belongs in your work.
• Not stating your role in group projects.
• Squeezing twenty thumbnails into the CV.
• Writing about feelings and passion instead of what you have done and where you have performed.

Before sending, open the links in your CV on another device without being signed in.

Production companies, foreign agencies and international castings need an English CV; domestic theatres, schools and event companies accept Vietnamese. Keep the CV to one page, with the portfolio and showreel as separate files. Actors and models should also send headshots and a short showreel.

This group has 7 templates. Performers should choose a template with a large photo, because their face is part of the application; photographers and fine artists should choose a minimal template with little colour and let the portfolio speak for itself. Each template offers 36 backgrounds, 69 fonts and 10 layouts; keep to one main colour and a readable font. Fill it in once and download a PDF.