As an actor or performer it's important to keep your headshots up to date! Whether you're actively looking for a new role, sending your CV to agents, or just looking to give things a re-fresh, you may be wondering how often are updates are actually needed...find out below!
How Often You Should Be Updating Your Headshots As An Actor?
Simply put, the usual recommendation for updating headshots is between every year to year and a half. Our face and complexion (unfortunately) changes as we age so we need to make sure our images still look like we do!
As an actor you'll be applying for many different roles. As you age, or even purposefully change your look, you'll obviously be appropriate for differing jobs so it's important that at least a few of your images look like you do right now. This doesn't mean you need to get 10 new images each year though, one or two images will be more than enough to give casting directors, agents, or whoever else is looking them an idea how how you look right now. The other images in your portfolio can then be used to show how you can look with differing hairstyles, clothing, make-up etc.
There are a few exceptions to the rule though...where updating your headshots should be done prior to that year to year and a half time frame!
Exceptions To The Rule
There's several times you'd update your headshot prior to or more often than the above.
If you change an element of your appearance. Maybe you change your hair colour, style, or get a tattoo somewhere obvious for example. If this is the case, it's important to update things so that you can be sure whoever is looking at your images knows what you look like right now, and how'd you'd look if you walked in to an audition tomorrow for example.
If you're looking to be cast for a specific role. You may need images focussing on expressions/clothing/hairstyles that a certain character you're looking to be cast for would display. These might not be in your current portfolio of images and would therefore mean that having some fresh headshots taken with this casting in mind would be useful!
As you progress as a performer. As your career progresses so will your skills. The nuances of what you can display in front of camera will improve dramatically over time. It's therefore worth potentially updating things more frequently if you feel that your previous headshots don't show the range or emotion you can exhibit now.
One final thing to remember though...
Quality is key! Invest in a professional photographer who specializes in headshots for the performing arts industry (such as myself). A well executed headshot can make a lasting impression and open doors to new opportunities!
Jonny
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