5 Ways to Accept (and Love) Your Look

Written by Ashleigh Gardner

March 21, 2017

Are you struggling with accepting your personal “look” for acting in theatre or film? Don’t worry! Every actor goes through the same journey in their quest to understand how they should market themselves. We’ve got 5 ways you can feel more comfortable in your own skin. Love and own the look you’ve got!

1. Find out what your “look” is!

Ask your friends, relatives, and strangers what “type” you are. Strangers will give you the most truthful answer because they don’t know you well. Your type is what you look like at first glance. Are you the girl next door, the nerdy kid in science class, the hunk from the football team, or the mean girl from the cheerleading squad?

2. Examine your features.

Pick out one thing about you that stands out the most, then make that your identifying feature. Do you have large, unruly curly locks? Is your nose a little big? Are your eyes a distinctive color? Do you have freckles? Work with what you’ve got! There’s a niche for your look, whether it’s playing the frazzled librarian, the quirky lawyer, or the elven queen.

3. Get a set of good headshots that show your personality and quirks.

A great set of headshots will capture your personality and your identifying features at the same time. A great tip for communicating what you want to your photographer is listing three different looks you’re going for. Make a list of words ahead of time that describe what kind of image you’d like to give off in your photos. Office exec with a slick haircut? Spritely fairy with fiery red hair? Bad girl with defined eyebrows? Comic book nerd with thick glasses?

4. Research roles that meet the criteria of your particular look.

The more plays you read, the more you’ll find roles that fit your type. There are so many advantages to reading and seeing plays, and this is definitely one of them. Every time you pick up a new script, you have the possibility of finding a role that’s perfect for you. Make a chart with the name of the play and each character you could reasonably play in that show, that way, when you see an audition posting, you can jump to sign up!

5. Find auditions in your community that include characters matching your look.

Sometimes you see audition notices that don’t contain roles for your age range or gender. Instead of getting down on yourself, continue the search for roles you can play. Are you a quirky intelligent type or a sassy best friend type? Search for that in audition postings, and if you don’t find it, move on immediately to the next posting. Research is your best friend, and your perseverance will pay off.



Need some advice? We’ve got you covered.

Ashleigh Gardner received her AA in Theatre/Drama/Dramatic Arts from Valencia College and her Bachelors Degree in English Literature and Masters Degree in Literary, Cultural, and Textual Studies from the University of Central Florida. She is a playwright, an actor, and PerformerStuff.com’s Editor.