George Clooney doesn’t do accents. He told that to a casting director when he was first starting out, and they loved him for his honesty. The “special skills” section is exactly what it sounds like. Special. Skills. It lists the skills that you possess as a human being that you can utilize in the acting world. Know a language? GREAT! Put it on there! Dance? Sing? Play an instrument? Great! Great! And, great! Put those on there. But don’t lie. Don’t say that you are fluent in Spanish when you can barely say, ” ¿cómo está?” And if you can’t carry a tune or tap dance like Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, you simply don’t possess that skill. Lying on your resume will never, never help you. And don’t try to be funny and say, “Good in bed.” That won’t help either. Seriously.
I always have the number of years of experience listed next to my skills, just in case. But if I don’t possess a specific skill set, I simply don’t put it. Here’s a list of things I can’t really do:
The List of Skills I Do Not Possess:
- Juggling (I tried once and failed miserably. I remember my father had bought me a kit after we went to the circus.)
- Ballet dance (don’t even get me started. I just can’t. I have some basic movement skills from tap and jazz dance training, but that’s it. And even with that, I still end up looking like spastic chicken)
- Yodel
- Ride a unicycle (I really want to know who can)
- Play the drums (But I want to learn)
- Yoga (I’m really not that flexible. It’s sad.)
- Ice Skating (My dad made me a makeshift rink in the back yard when I was 3. Then he stepped on the ice and it cracked and broke. That’s as far as I got on the ice skating front.)
- Rollerblading (I CAN rollerSKATE, but the blades are whole different story.)
- Ski (Again, I was around 3 years old, the skis were yellow. I went down a bunny hill. End of story.)
- Whistle (It might be the title of a musical. But that doesn’t make it true.)
3 responses to ““But I’m an Actor, I Can(Not) Do Anything!” The Special Skills I Do Not Possess”
You’re right, actors should never lie on their special skills. Though they probably do, it’s natural. We all ‘want the job.’ The problem is, someone might see that and hire you because and integral part of a character centers around the ability you’re saying you have and you don’t. And if they are trying to convince an audience of the authenticity of the story, you could significantly decrease that chance if not get fired. You’re right, we can’t do everything. We can work toward it, but we all have specialties already we can highlight now.
Yeah, I find it interesting when we lie about what we can and can’t do. I wanted to be as honest as possible with this post and sort of poke fun at myself and be like, “yeah, I really can’t do these things.” I find it helpful to admit things whether good or bad.
Yes. Tough path but helpful to all. I liked your approach with this here though, it was funny. I’m an aspiring writer-director so contemplating a lie on a resume hooked me. Lol.