{"id":181967,"date":"2021-02-28T15:26:35","date_gmt":"2021-02-28T13:26:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/?p=99615"},"modified":"2021-02-28T15:26:35","modified_gmt":"2021-02-28T13:26:35","slug":"how-to-write-a-great-actor-biography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/how-to-write-a-great-actor-biography\/","title":{"rendered":"How to write a great Actor Biography"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>We had a chat with a South African Actor and Model Sonwabile Gingqishe about how actors should write their bio and Why do they need a bio? What\u2019s the purpose? How do you format it? These are all common questions actors ask. Below are the tips that Sonwabile Gingqishe shared, hoping they will make a huge difference to aspiring artists who wish to enter the industry.<\/p>\n

What is a Bio? <\/strong>A bio is a summary of the highlights of your career\u2014your training, credits, and something about you personally, i.e. what you do when you are not acting. It tells the industry in sentence form\u2014unlike the columns in your r\u00e9sum\u00e9\u2014what roles you can play and how to cast you.<\/p>\n

Here are some guidelines for writing the best bio possible.<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. Make it short and sweet.<\/p>\n

Being direct in your bio is better than flowery or overly imaginative language.<\/p>\n

2. Write it in the third person.<\/p>\n

This is not an autobiography, it\u2019s a bio. Use subjects like\u2014she, he, your name (Gwyn), your professional address (Mrs. Gilliss), etc.<\/p>\n

3. Avoid the cloying justification.<\/p>\n

For example, \u201cI knew I wanted to be an actor at age 5 when I saw a magical production of \u2018Peter Pan.\u2019 \u201d Tell us what you\u2019ve done not why you do what you do.<\/p>\n

4. Don\u2019t make lists.<\/p>\n

Describe or elaborate your skills, training, and experience in sentence form.<\/p>\n

5. Include personal experiences and special skills.<\/p>\n

Put these in the last paragraph. These skills might help you get a job. For example, you could write, \u201cFluent in Afrikaans and English, Immortal Soso studied cooking at the Cordon Bleu in Marseille, and painting in Florence!\u201d or \u201cAn advanced Yogini, he teaches yoga and meditation.\u201d Or \u201cAs a pop singer, his new CD with original music and lyrics is coming out soon!\u201d<\/p>\n

6. Write in \u201cpyramid\u201d style.<\/p>\n

Put the most important information at the top, working down to the less critical info by the fourth paragraph.<\/p>\n

Here are some examples of potential opening statements. If they read no further, this will be what they remember about you.<\/p>\n

Weak example: A sunny blonde, immortal Soso hails from the Midwest and is happy to be in the Big Apple.<\/p>\n

Strong example: Classically trained, Sonwabile Gingqishe has played roles from Shakespeare to Tennessee Williams, working in major American repertory theaters, On- and Off-Broadway, as well as in dozens of contract and recurring roles for daytime and primetime TV.<\/p>\n

Here is how the four paragraphs in your bio should be structured.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Paragraph 1: Recent roles and strongest credits<\/p>\n

Theater if you\u2019re in New York, and film and TV if you\u2019re in L.A. Try to use recognizable plays and roles, not just \u201cshowcases.\u201d If you\u2019re just starting out, you can include \u201crepresentative\u201d roles. Those parts from Shakespeare or Chekov done at school outweigh showcases of unknown writers Off-Off-Broadway.<\/p>\n

Paragraph 2: Training<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be afraid to name drop master teachers or prestigious drama schools, as well as directors you\u2019ve studied with. If you\u2019ve worked with \u201cgreats,\u201d they will assume you will be great!<\/p>\n

Paragraph 3: Recent work (Switch what you included in paragraph one)<\/p>\n

Include Mzansi Bioskop Movies and appearances on TV Drama Soapie or include all major stage credits from Off-Off-Theatres. Your credits tell them how to cast you and what roles you are consistently hired to play. Don\u2019t include background work\u2014it\u2019s not considered a professional credit if you\u2019re standing in the background.<\/p>\n

Paragraph 4: Personal life<\/p>\n

Here, write about your interests, skills, travel, languages, or musical instruments\u2014anything that makes you memorable. Elaborate don\u2019t just list.<\/p>\n

Here are some examples of closing statements. You want to leave them with a powerful professional memory of you.<\/p>\n

Weak example: \u201cI want to thank my cat, my roommate Diana, and my Mom for believing in me.\u201d (This gives the impression that you\u2019re still a beginner. Save the gratitude for your acceptance speech at the Oscars).<\/p>\n

Strong example: \u201cLooking forward to working in the next Emmy Award USA series or in any feature opposite Johnny Depp!\u201d (Industry professionals will remember you as an actor who knows where you\u2019re going!)<\/p>\n

Sonwabile Gingqishe concluded by saying \u201dLet your bio jumpstart your career even when you\u2019re not there to audition\u201d.<\/p>\n

These are the tips for aspiring artists and established artists.<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE to submit your press release to MyPR.co.za<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pages: Page <\/span>1<\/span> Page <\/span>2<\/a><\/div>\n

Source: MyPR.co.za<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We had a chat with a South African Actor and Model Sonwabile Gingqishe about how actors should write their bio and Why do they need a bio? What\u2019s the purpose? How do you format it? These are all common questions actors ask. Below are the tips that Sonwabile Gingqishe shared, hoping they will make a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":181968,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9021,1],"tags":[3257],"class_list":{"0":"post-181967","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mypr","8":"category-south-africa","9":"tag-mypr","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/how-to-write-a-great-actor-biography.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}