Take acting classes after school or apply for stage school. Get involved in your local youth theater. After leaving school, apply for courses to train as as actor. To get an agent you must be taken seriously. It is essential to prove your interest, skills and experience.
Book a photo session with a professional photographer. Actor head-shots photographs are essential to gain work as an actor. Agents and casting directors need to see a professional head-shot that sells you. You will need more than one photograph, as you will have to send photos to a list of agents. Your photo must say something about you and have personality in your eyes.
Write a resume. This must look professional, clean and crisp, be typewritten and laid out on good quality white paper. It must contain your stage name and contact details and a scanned small black-and-white head-shot in the top left hand corner. It should also specify whether you are a member of an actor's union. Physical details such as height, playing age, hair and eye color are important. So are performance skills such as being a singer, dancer, circus skills, accents you can do well and any drama based workshops or classes you have attended. It is essential to list roles you have played, name of the production, the venue and who directed the show, even if it was in a school play. Include non-drama based skills in your resume such as interests in sports, other activities and part-time jobs you have had to show that you have varied skills and experience which can be valuable as an actor.
Write a cover letter. Learn to write a good cover letter that sells you as an actor to the agent. You need to present it in a professional, compelling manner. Introduce yourself and tell why you are applying for representation. Invite the prospective agent to a production you are going to be in, offering free tickets or enclose a professional show reel of audition monologues. Ask for an audition. It is important to specify what roles you would be able to play and what kind of actor you are: a leading actor or a young character.
Prepare an audition reel. Find four contrasting presentations, such as comedy and serious pieces from classical and modern plays. Prepare a one- to two-minute piece from each monologue and have a professional show reel done that you can send to agents.