Research formed the crux of establishing my own marketing as an actor. After exploring the different avenues and aspects of self-promotion in Artistic Development, I began by comparing the public-facing online presence of both a 3rd year actor and an established industry professional (fig. 1). Doing so helped me understand the breadth of resources I need to have readily available, and taught me that as a newcomer to the industry, it is beneficial to have a more focused online presence while establishing yourself. For example, Ben Morris’ social media presence was heavily focused on presenting him as an actor (fig. 2a), whereas Diane Morgan’s (fig. 2b) was less specific and less frequently updated, since she is established within the industry.

Fig. 2a

Fig. 2b

Fig. 1

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I began researching agencies and casting directors by looking at professionals associated with actors who work in areas of the industry I am interested in. I am interested in television comedy, so I researched the career of Dylan Llewellyn, who has starred in Channel 4 comedies like Derry Girls and Big Boys. Llewellyn is currently represented by Hamilton Hodell (fig. 3), who, upon further research, represent a range of established and emerging talent, such as Ruth Codd and Vanessa Kirby. Due to their high profile, this is an aspirational agency to sign to, but a good goal to work towards.

Through my conversations with Keeley Forsyth, I learned that casting directors are especially useful connections to have, so focused on this area. I researched the casting director of Big Boys, Rachel Sheridan (British Comedy Guide, 2023) and found she has also cast for shows like One Day and locally-produced comedy Riot Women. As someone interested in British independent cinema, I also researched Lucy Pardee, casting director of films like Aftersun, as her innovative approach of discovering and nurturing new talent (Thiele, 2025) feels more accessible to newcomers. I listed all three of these contacts on our year group “Industry Invites” list, as while they are higher profile they are all contacts I would aspire to work with.

I also wanted to look into more accessible avenues so I have researched four agencies that 2025 LCON grads are signed with and compiled their information – Roberts & Day, Infinity Artists, North Artist MGMT and Minerva Talent (fig. 4). What stood out to me the most was how relatively new a lot of these agencies are, with most being founded in the last 10 years. This made me realise how important it is to look at current work rather than relying on past reputation. As all of these agencies have connections with LCON grads, I intend to contact them via email regarding third year showcase over Summer.

My only experience of CVs has been for part-time jobs, so to get an idea of how an Actors’ CV should look, I searched up examples from Hamilton Hodell (fig. 7), an agency I have previously mentioned as an aspiration. I was struck by how relatively simple and no-nonsense they were, and decided to follow suit with my own. I wanted my CV to be simple and easy to read, but stylistically sound, so I created mine on Canva to ensure my name and headshot would catch a reader’s eye (fig. X).

In terms of credits, I led with my theatre experience (starting with the most recent) as this is my main professional focus, but I also included a section for the site-specific work I have done with LeedsBID. While this is corporate work, it is still paid acting work that benefits my CV. I kept my skills brief and to the point, only listing those I have confidence in, and detailed basic characteristics a casting director might look for. A personal touch was a footer linking to my professional Instagram – having established the importance of an online presence, I want my CV to reflect this.

Fig. 10

Writing my bio for Spotlight proved challenging – trying to provide important information and represent my essence as an actor in 150 words was harder than expected. Looking at examples from the year above (fig. 9), I noted that most began with a brief introduction detailing their background and training, then elaborated on their performance skills and passions, and closed with a mention of recent performances and any upcoming projects. This structure seemed most effective, so I adopted it when writing my biography.

In my earliest drafts, I tested writing in first and third person (fig. 10). I found it easier to write about myself in third person due to the less intimate tone. That being said, I didn’t want my biography to read as disconnected, so I made sure the writing still had an element of warmth and personality. I was unsure what skills to highlight – for example, I consider myself a confident singer, but am not extensively trained. I am an actor who finds voice integral to my process, so reflecting on feedback from Jess Corner, I felt comfortable highlighting my skills in accent work. I believe my final draft (fig. 11) strikes the right balance between being informative and “selling myself” as an actor, without over-embellishing.

At just under 100 words, it is also well below the maximum word-count, leaving space to link to tickets for upcoming projects. While I have highlighted my performances in second year projects, by the time I submit my bio for spotlight, these will be replaced with my credits in the third year season.

This year has been a time of constant growth for me as an actor. It has often been as challenging as it has been rewarding, with little victories and moments that have exposed personal challenges.

Our American project, Our Town by Thornton Wilder, was a highlight of my training so far. I was cast as George, one of the two young lovers central to the story. This casting surprised me – I have never viewed myself as a “leading man” type of performer, so this challenged my perception of myself and forced me to lean into a different energy. Physicality proved crucial in this, as George was a baseball player-turned-farmer, two highly physical professions. Utilising our Laban training with Jen was key to this. I initially played the role with a “punch” effort (fig. 12) to emphasise his bluntness, but by incorporating effort-duos I found that contrasting this with a “flick” effort allowed for moments that showed his erratic tendencies in my performance, giving another layer to my physical embodiment. This project also provided a unique challenge – dual-rolling a character in a way that seemed consistent. An actioning session with Beth really unlocked this for me, where we used The Actor’s Thesaurus (Caldarone and Lloyd-Williams, 2004) to create a language of actions the character might use that both actors could refer to (fig. 13). Being in a professional rehearsal room environment allowed me to experiment with applying aspects of training (like Laban and actioning) to my process, and for me, this is where those skills really took root.

I was surprised by how challenging our Shakespeare unit was for me. I have always enjoyed Shakespeare’s work, but through my work with Esther I learned that understanding the text was only the first step towards performing Shakespeare. My biggest struggle was in stripping back my performance to find the character’s genuine feelings. Connie and I hit our stride early on with the humour of Beatrice and Benedick, but Esther pushed us to honour the stakes of the scene and not play it for laughs. Not relying on humour was difficult when playing such instinctively performative characters, and it was only the day before our assessment that we found the right balance.

Fig. 12

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Mock auditions proved an interesting barometer of my training so far – implementing the work I have done this year in a simulated audition environment was good practice, as I have very little experience of this outside of drama school auditions. By far the most rewarding was the in-house audition, a mock artists’ callout for Leeds Playhouse (fig. 14). I wanted to put my best foot forward and be off-book, so I revived two monologues I had used in drama school auditions years before that I felt aligned with the Playhouse’s current work. I felt far more connected to the text than I had when auditioning before, and I noticed a real change in my training paying off on a technical level. This reflected in my feedback, where it was noted I made good use of the space, a real achievement as confidence in my physicality in relation to the space was a goal of mine this year. The feedback did note my performance was sometimes one-note, so I now want to work on utilising this technical training to create a truly varied performance. However, my presence in the room and when speaking with the panel was highlighted as excellent, and I ultimately received a “recall”, so I feel this was a positive experience. 

The toughest audition was a mock children’s theatre audition with an industry Casting Director. My feedback called me “nice” but my performance “bland”, and I was not recalled. While this impersonal feedback was disheartening, it made me realise that no matter how good an impression I make as a person, I need to come up with a hook to my performance to keep a panel interested. This experience also helped me learn more about my own boundaries – as my audition partner and I were leaving, the director made a comment I found hurtful and unprofessional. This was a real moment in realising I won’t see eye-to-eye with everyone I cross paths with as I enter the industry, and sometimes it is worth prioritising my own wellbeing rather than worrying about being “liked” by everyone.