What is an actor headshot?

What is an actor headshot? What does an actor headshot do? These are two very simple but very important questions for both the actor and the photographer. A happy accident that came out of my training in both fields was the chance to explore these questions from both perspectives. Ultimately I ended up deciding that the answer should be the same on both ends. Is that to say that all headshot photographers must also be actors? No, of course not! But, both the photographer and the actor are working together in each session to create the same tool - the actor’s headshot. 

That’s precisely what it is - a tool. A headshot is a tool that we use as actors in the same way as we use our acting reels, our dance videos, our voiceover reels, our resumes. They serve the same purpose - they show that we can do and have done the thing that we are setting out to do. They show that we can act. That isn’t to say that a headshot should be done in character, but it should be active. This is what I try to capture in every session. Yes I want my clients to look amazing and feel great, but my goal is to get a headshot that is interesting and I want it to be interesting because of what is happening in the photo. 

Of the contents in our actor’s toolbox, the headshot gives us the shortest amount of time to show what we can do. If the headshot is a well-lit, well-framed photo that shows what you look like, that’s great! But what’s better is when the well-lit, well-framed portrait is capturing a beat change, a decision, a reaction, a flirt, a question, a response. If I were a casting director (and I am not) I would be drawn to the photo that is interesting for a reason that I can’t exactly put my finger on.

That’s the work I do in my NJ studio and that is why I love working with actors. We get to work together to create this mini-production - I get to experience the incredible ranges of emotion from my fellow actors and capture it in a single photo. A headshot is open ended. It asks a question sooner than it provides an answer.