Background Versus Principal Actors: Definitions

Background Actor: The “Extra”

A background actor, often called an extra, is a performer in a film, television show, or commercial who appears in a scene to provide a sense of realism or atmosphere.

Background actors usually do not have speaking roles or significant interactions with the main characters. Their presence enhances the setting and supports the narrative without being the focal point of the scene.

Principal Actor: The Lead, The Co-Star, The Speaking Role

A principal actor is a film, television show, or commercial performer who plays a central or significant role in the storyline.

Principal actors often have speaking roles, and their characters are integral to the plot development. They are the main focus of the scene, driving the narrative forward, and are typically featured prominently in promotional materials for the production.

[Read also: Can Background Acting Ruin My Career?]

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Background Agents Will Never Book You Authentic Roles

The opposite is also true: an agent who books actors in principal roles will never ask their client to be a background actor.

A serious agent knows their market: if their bread-and-butter is to book extras, they do not have time to focus on one specific actor with their specific goals and cast type. If they are a principal actor agent, they spend time getting to understand how each of their clients fits a certain role they can pitch them for.

If your goal is to be a principal actor, working with a background agent can be detrimental to your goals because:

• when you work as a background, you waste time that you should be using to audition for principal roles;
• showing up on set to work as an extra builds you an image and a reputation as “the extra”;
• unfortunately, “extras” are treated as “human props,” with no consideration of the acting choices they would like to make, which can take a toll on your confidence.

For those reasons, you should only work as a background actor in 2 circumstances:

• When you have no experience on set;
• When you choose to be a professional background actor with no ambitions of getting speaking roles.

In a nutshell: background and principal actors are seen and treated differently by the whole industry, from agents to the set crew. Once you become one (background or principal), it is challenging to become the other.

[Read also: 3 Secrets About How Agents Pitch Actors]

Background Agents Versus Principal Agents

Different agents work differently. While a background agent gets hired to provide a group of actors for one specific production (and typically one working day), a principal agent represents an actor with a specific name and headshot.

While the extras can be recast easily, sometimes even last-minute, a principal actor is not as easy to replace. A principal actor went through specific consideration due to auditioning and being pitched for the role by their agent.

A background agent:

• provides productions with groups of actors that can be replaced easily;
• does not worry whether or not the role of an extra aligns with a vision for their acting career;
• matches roles and actors according to a general type, such as “college student,” “restaurant patron,” or “soccer fan at a stadium.”

A principal agent:

• has an in-depth knowledge of their actor client, their type, and acting skills;
• focuses on matching actors to roles that enhance their professional career;
• pitches specific actors for the most competitive roles, which are not available as open-call auditions.

To sum it up: the reason why background agents will never book you authentic roles is that they are not equipped to do so. They do not have the time, the skill, or the industry connections to pitch individual actors for speaking roles. They see actors in groups that fit a visual image, assisting the overall photography of a scene to make it look realistic.

[Read also: 7 Mind-Blowing Reasons You Will Not Find a Good Audition On Casting Websites]

The Casting Director Connections

Principal agents have connections in the industry, starting with casting directors. This means:

• they call casting directors and talk directly to them about roles;
• they know how different casting directors work differently, and
• how to present an actor to a specific casting director for consideration.

Whether you need a full demo reel or a few acting clips, or a casting director prefers to see you in person to audition, a principal agent is familiar with the casting director’s process and facilitates their work to book their actor.

On the other hand, background agents communicate mostly with background casting offices. This means:

• a casting office calls a background agent requesting actors “in bulk,” with little to no need for a certain look, let alone acting skill;
• the casting process is always the same (sending available actors to set on a specific day);
• if one actor is not available, they are easy to replace.

A background actor does not need a demo reel, acting clips, or an acting resume – they may not even need a professional headshot. As long as they are available, they may receive requests to be on sets when a production needs extras.

Establishing meaningful connections between agents and casting directors is an important part of a principal agent. The sheer volume of actors represented by background agents often results in a limited time for that type of connection. The fast-paced nature of casting means:

one or two casting directors (or assistants) will focus on principal actors;

background casting is a delegation (to a separate division of an office, or even a completely different office than that of principal casting).

For those reasons, actors whose goal is to book speaking roles do not benefit from background work.

[Read also: The Most Common Misconceptions About Casting]