No, Do Not List Callbacks on Your Résumé
by Chris Peterson
On a recent episode of What’s the Rate?, actor Jonathan Cruz suggested that actors should list callbacks on their résumés. No hate to Jonathan. I understand where that comes from.
This business is brutal. Rejection is constant. Sometimes a callback feels like the only proof that you are not just walking around New York in character shoes, questioning every life choice that brought you here.
But actors should not be putting callbacks on their résumés.
I do not know how many people are actually doing this, but the reason feels pretty simple. You would never put jobs you almost got on a regular résumé. No one applies for a marketing position with “final interview for assistant brand manager” listed under experience. That would look strange immediately. Somehow, when actors do the same thing, we try to make it sound like strategy.
A callback means something. It can mean they liked your audition. All of that is real, and actors should let themselves feel good about it.
It still does not belong under credits.
A résumé is supposed to show what you have actually done. Once callbacks start showing up, the whole thing starts to feel less like a professional document and more like a record of near-misses. I get why that is tempting, especially when near-misses are such a huge part of this industry, but they are not the same as work.
It can also make the résumé look weaker. Instead of letting your actual credits, training, and skills speak for themselves, you are filling space with jobs you did not get. That does not make the page look more impressive. It makes it look like you are trying too hard to prove momentum.
And once we open this door, where does it stop? Broadway callbacks? Regional finals? Producer sessions? Self-tapes that got a nice email? Being “pinned”? A casting assistant smiling in a way that felt encouraging?
At some point the résumé becomes an emotional support document.
There are plenty of meaningful things in an actor’s life that do not belong on a résumé. A great class. A casting office remembering you. Getting deep into the process for something big and not booking it because of height, age, type, timing, or whatever other mystery reason the business invents that week.
Those things can matter. They just are not credits.
So again, no hate to Jonathan. I understand the impulse. I just think it confuses progress with proof.
Progress is great. Tell your friends. Tell your coach. Keep it as a reminder that something is moving. But the résumé is for what you booked.