How to Find Your ‘Type’ for Acting

Use this easy trick to discover acting roles you can naturally be cast for

If you’re getting into the acting biz you’ve probably heard the term ‘type’ thrown around a lot. An actor’s ‘type’ is essentially the personas they could naturally be categorized under based on their physical traits combined together with their mannerisms and voice. Your ‘type’ is determined by how you look, sound, act, and move. We’ve put together a shortlist of basic physical characteristics that determine what type of roles actors are likely to be cast in. 

Be warned that they may not feel fair, in the acting industry stereotypes abound and appearances are part of the game. Because of this, you need to be aware of how you’re perceived by others so you can be sure to submit yourself for roles that you’re most likely to be cast for. This is especially true when you’re just starting out. On the positive side, in the acting world, there’s room for every type of character so no matter what you look, sound, or act like – there are roles for you! The important thing is to be realistic and honest about what general roles are a good fit for YOU. In other words, know your ‘type’.

The ‘types’ you can play will generally or loosely (there are always exceptions in life) be based on the following criteria: 

• Age Range:  Age plays a major role in acting types. For example, if you’re very young you’re unlikely to be cast as a doctor or a judge and if you’re old you won’t find yourself in roles such as a student or fashion model.
• Body Type: If you’re the skinny type you might be a shoe in for Sick Patient or Computer Geek roles and if you’re buff and ripped you’re a shoe-in for Personal Trainer, Bodyguard, or Bouncer.
• Ethnicity: Stereotypes play into this category perhaps more than any other. This means that you’ll often find specific ethnicities of people being cast into certain roles more often than others. (Let’s hope this continues to diversify both on-camera and in our communities at large!)
• Gender: When you imagine a role such as: the babysitter, most people are going to imagine a younger woman not an older man and the star quarterback as a male over a female. Whether you agree with it personally or not doesn’t matter. All that matters is how the casting directors see the role.
• Physical Mannerisms: If you use large gestures and movements when speaking you may find yourself getting roles as a Lawyer or Salesperson and if you slouch a lot and don’t stand up straight you may be cast more in roles for as a Depressed Person, Nerd, or Drug Addict.
• Voice: If you have an unusually high-pitched voice it’s unlikely that you’ll be cast as a Leading Lady or Man. This is due to the tendency of the masses to not like that quality in a leading character role.

Not sure what types you’re a natural fit for? Here’s a fast and simple trick you can use to help determine your type based on your general appearance.

1. Open up your computer and pull up a recent image of yourself. Try to find something that includes your torso and wear somehting you would on a typical day. If you don’t have a recent photo, take a selfie in a nice window light. Set your phone up on a ledge and use the timer setting on your phone to take a photo of yourself in a neutral pose. Then upload the photo to your computer.
2. Open Google’s Reverse Image Search webpage. Drag & drop or upload your image into their reverse search. Google will pull up lots images of other people that look similar to you and are wearing similar clothing. Now, if google isn’t pulling up people that look like you, try submitting another image with a different background, lighting or posture. It’s a good idea to try doing this with 3-4 different image of yourself to get a good variety of images of people who look similar to you. (Please note that the reverse image search feature may not work well on mobile devices which is why we recommend doing this on a computer.)
3. Choose 4-5 images that come up in the search of people who look similar to you and save them on your computer. (Disregard anyone that obviously doesn’t look like you).
4. Look at our list of actor ‘types’ and compare the images you selected with this list. It’s going to be much easier for you to imagine how the world will perceive you by making those same judgements while looking at people that aren’t you, but look similar to you! Choose  3-4 ‘types’ from the list that you think would be right for the people in the images you selected.  These will be the 3-4 ‘types’ you should focus on for your own audition submissions. Don’t focus on more in the beginning so you won’t get overwhelmed. 
5. Now, use the list below of different role ‘types’ to compare your selected images of people who look similar to you. This is just something to get you started. There’s really no limit as roles mostly reflect life and the people we could encounter on any given day so you can add your own ideas to this list as well.

This exercise can give you an easy and fairly accurate sense of basic roles you’d be cast in without having to ask anyone else’s opinion. Just remember that you don’t need to be boxed into these specific roles forever! If you choose to learn and grow as an actor you can always get deeper into exploring other genres and don’t dismiss a specific ‘type’ you may have identified yourself with just because you don’t like it! It’s a mistake to try forcing yourself into a role that isn’t a good fit for you just because you think it’s “better”. This mistake causes many actors to struggle to get auditions. You’ll get more opportunities if you just embrace your ‘types’ whatever they may be. We hope this exercise helps you identify your ‘types’ and that you have fun doing it!

• Accountant
• Artist
• Athlete
• Best Friend
• Biker
• Big/Little Brother
• Big/Little Sister
• Body Guard/Bouncer
• Bully
• Cab Driver
• CEO
• Construction Worker
• Cool/Popular Kid
• Couch Potato
• Cowboy
• Dancer
• Daughter
• Doctor
• Detective
• Drug Addict
• Executive
• Farmer
• Fashion Designer
• Fashion Model
• Father
• Fire Fighter
• Fitness Instructor
• Gang Member
• Grandfather
• Grandmother
• Hair Stylist
• Hippie
• Hipster
• Jock
• Journalist
• Judge
• Lawyer
• Librarian
• Lifeguard
• Martial Artist
• Mother
• Musician
• Nanny
• Nerd
• Nurse
• Phychiatrist
• Plumber
• Police Officer
• Priest
• Principal
• Professor
• Prostitute
• Psycho Murderer
• Real Estate Agent
• Receptionist
• Redneck
• School Teacher
• Scientist
• Security Guard
• Sick Patient
• Slave
• Social Worker
• Soldier
• Son
• Store Clerk
• Student
• Superhero
• Tattoo Artist
• Terrorist
• Thug
• Troubled Youth
• Victim
• White Supremacist
• Young Professional