How to make an actor website that gets you seen by casting

TL;DR: How to make an actor website

This guide walks through building an actor website with Yola website builder, using your own name as the domain, starting from a performer-portfolio template, and adding the six pages casting actually looks for, with your reel and headshots front and center and a current resume.

From there you'll list the kinds of work you actually take, add a form so a submission reaches you even when nobody calls, show the training and credits that prove you're ready, and keep a page of upcoming shows and screenings current. Follow all eight steps and you finish with the one link you send the moment someone asks to see your reel.

What to include

Top features of an actor website

How to make an actor
website in 8 steps

Use your own name, or your stage name if you perform under one. That's what people search after they see your reel or hear about you from a casting associate, a scene partner or a director who wants to pass your site along.

A .com still reads as the most professional choice, and skip hyphens or numbers since people drop them when they say the address out loud. Match the exact name you use on Casting Networks, Actors Access, Backstage and your social profiles, so nobody has to wonder if they've found the right person.

Yola website builder lets you search for and register a domain in the same flow, and annual plans include a free domain for the first year.

You don't need to write code or hire a developer to get a site that looks considered. Yola's AI Website Builder asks a few questions about you and your work, then puts together a first draft you can edit by hand from there. The free plan includes basic AI to get you started; the full AI tools open up on a paid plan.

Start from a template already built around a performer's portfolio rather than a generic business layout, so your reel and headshots sit where casting expects them. Hosting is included, so there's nothing extra to set up before you publish.

Start from a template

Actor templates to start from

A handful of pages does almost all of the work on an actor site. Casting isn't browsing, they're checking a short list of things fast: who you are, what you look and sound like, what you've done, and how to reach you.

Build these six first, and leave anything else for later.

Casting isn't checking your rates here, so this isn't a price list. It's a fast way to show the kinds of work you actually book, on-camera, voice-over, theatre, commercial, hosting, whatever genuinely applies, so someone scanning your site can match you to a role before they've watched a single clip.

Keep it to what's true for you now. If you coach or teach on the side, that belongs here too, but only if you actually offer it. A short, honest list reads as more credible than a long one stretched to look busy.

Your reel and headshots are the actual audition here, so give them the same care you'd give a callback. Headshots should be current, shot straight on in good light, and close enough to show your face clearly rather than a full body shot from across a room. Reel stills and stage or set photos should show real work you've done, not a stock photo of someone else acting.

Name your image files for what's in them, like jane-doe-headshot-comedic.jpg rather than IMG_4021.jpg, and add the same description as alt text. It's a small habit that helps your photos turn up when someone searches for you or the type of role you play.

Your reel itself lives off Yola, on a host like Vimeo or YouTube, since video isn't something Yola stores directly. What Yola handles well is the gallery around it: a ready-made Galleries block to hold your headshots and stills, with the reel embedded at the top of the page so it's the first thing casting sees, not something they have to scroll to find.

Not everyone who wants your reel or your availability will call or email cold, especially outside office hours when most casting associates are working through a list. A simple contact form does that job instead: what production or project it's for, what they need from you, a tape, your availability, a rate if it's paid, and how to reach you back.

You choose exactly which fields appear, since Yola's contact form is customizable rather than fixed, and you can see how it's built in the Forms block help article. A submission is a request, not a booking, and Yola sends an automatic confirmation the moment someone submits, so they know it landed before you even reply.

Still list a direct email or your representative's contact plainly on the same page. A form suits someone who wants a considered reply; casting in a hurry will often go straight for the fastest line you give them.

Casting wants to know fast whether you're trained, experienced and easy to work with, so put that proof on the home page or About, not buried three clicks in. For most actors that means years of training or experience, your strongest credits listed the way a resume lists them, and your union status if you hold one, stated plainly rather than implied.

If you're represented, name your agency and make it easy to find. If you're not, that's fine too, just list your direct contact clearly instead so nobody has to guess who to reach.

If you have a play in previews, a short screening at a festival, or anything else where casting or an audience can actually see you perform, put the dates on one page. It answers the question a casting associate or a fan asks right after watching your reel: can I see this person work live, and when.

List each entry with the date, the venue or platform, and a link to buy tickets or watch, since that part happens off your site. This isn't a calendar feature, it's a page you update by hand each time something's confirmed, and it takes minutes once the layout is set.

Leave a past date up for a week or two after it's passed rather than deleting it straight away. A show that just closed is still proof you were working.

Common actor website mistakes to avoid

Most of these cost you a submission before casting ever reaches your reel.

How much does an actor website cost?

Building your own actor website with Yola costs nothing to start. You can build and publish on the free plan, then move to a paid plan when you want a custom domain or the full AI tools: free plan, then $9.95/mo. Annual plans include a free domain for the first year.

Hiring someone to build a comparable site often runs from a few hundred to a couple of thousand dollars, depending on how much design and photography work is included.

Building it yourself means you're not waiting on a developer or paying an hourly rate every time a credit changes. Update your resume, swap a headshot or add a new reel the same day you get the news.