Ben Whitehair hails from Colorado where he spent time as a homeschooling cowboy, a web designer, and an entrepreneur. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Colorado at Boulder with degrees in Theatre, Political Science, and Leadership. His favorite colors are blue and green, his favorite number is 13, and his favorite ice cream mix-in is heath bar.

Ben moved to Los Angeles in 2009 to continue his acting career, and has starred in numerous short- and feature-length films, webseries, and the like. When he is rich and famous he plans to solve global hunger, buy a toilet made out of solid gold, and try to wrangle a date with Natalie Portman. He writes the blog Playbills vs. Paying Bills, where this article was originally published, with fellow actors Joe Von Bokern and Emily Beuchat.

Visit Part One of Ben’s article on  the actors’ essential Internet Movie Database where he covered the basic features of the site, getting projects listed & the Starmeter.

Your Profile

Pics

As you now know, signing up for IMDb Pro is a must.  Now that you’re paying for it, you might as well keep your 3 best, most up-to-date headshots up there. Yet another place to market yourself. It makes your profile look that much more professional, and people are far more likely to click on your profile from a movie page if they see your picture.

Resume

It is possible to fill out your full resume on IMDb, listing whatever you want. I’ve heard a couple people say that you might as well to show stuff that isn’t listed. However, I have heard from some legitimate casting directors (tangent: always take into account the source of your information) that listing your full resume on IMDb is a very amateur thing to do. Again, do your best to get whatever you can listed on your actual page.

Vanity URL

I’m a huge proponent of vanity URLs (ex: www.imdb.me/BenWhitehair), as it makes it easy to find you. It also makes it a lot easier to use the URL on business cards, email signatures, etc. It’s very rare for someone to type in a lengthy or confusing URL from a business card or other printed media. An easy-to-remember URL is a whole other story.

To get your vanity URL, follow these steps:

1. Go to https://resume.imdb.com/
2. Log in to the box in the upper right of the page
3. Click on the big “edit resume” button in the upper right
4. If you already have any of your resume entered, click on any of the “edit” buttons on the page.
5. The “Vanity URL” menu link should be there on the top left of the menu

Nerd Note: I’ve heard of some browsers having issues with the vanity URL. To help avoid problems, always include “http://” at the beginning of the link.

Age

You can submit your birthday to IMDb which then lists your age. There are a couple schools of thought on publicizing your age, but that’s another blog post. Just know that once you give them your birthday it’s very hard to have it taken off.

Bio

It’s advisable for all actors to have a fairly brief bio that fits with their marketing and gives a sense of their personality.

Take-Aways

IMDb probably won’t get you a job, but if used properly it just might help get you in the room. The more and better projects you have officially listed on IMDb the better. The higher your Starmeter (see part one) the better. Again, you still have to deliver in the room, but all of this adds legitimacy to you as a professional actor.

Recent Updates to the Internet Movie Database

The Bacon Number

Let’s start this off with the coolest feature of IMDb, which I have only recently discovered: The Bacon Number.

How do you see how many steps you are from Kevin Bacon, you ask? Go into IMDb Pro and click on “Trivia” in the “Personal Details” section in the menu on the left. If, and only if, you are indeed connected to Kevin Bacon through your IMDb credits, your Bacon Number will show up on the right hand side of the screen. Awesome on a stick.

Linking Your Blog and Twitter

If you have IMDb Resume you can now populate your IMDb profile with links to your recent blog updates and/or your twitter feed. To do this, simply sign in to edit your IMDb Resume page, and click on “Twitter and Blog” in the menu on the left. Follow their (surprisingly helpful) instructions.

General sidenote: You know that things like twitter, your blog, (and even Facebook) can be accessed by people other than you, right? You know that these things are in public, right? Ok, great. Now please stop writing how you hate your agent, or think so and so is a dick (unless they really deserve it), or how you hate the business. It’s hurting you, and it makes everyone else look bad. Stop it.

Photos…Lots and Lots of Photos

Again, if you have IMDb Resume, you can now upload 100 photos to your IMDb account. Word to the wise, however, don’t go uploading a bazillion headshots. A few will be fine. Use the extra photos to put up pictures of you on the red carpet, talking with industry folks, or pictures of you on set. You might also put a picture of you with your puppy. People love puppies.

Hiding Your Age

Ok, we get it. You think you still like 17 and don’t want anyone to know your age. First of all, know that once your birthday is on IMDb, there’s no getting it off completely. Get over it. However, when you’re logged in to IMDb resume you can click on “Control my Details” on the left, and remove the following from the pro side of IMDb:

• Age/Birthdate
• Also Known As
• Awards
• Biography
• Height
• Salary

Now, these things still show up on the non-pro, public side of IMDb, but most industry people will be opening your profile in IMDb Pro anyway, so this should help assuage your age-related concerns.

Webseries Category

As detailed in this article from Tubefilter, it appears that IMDb will finally be creating a web series category. Hopefully this means all you folks who are creating your own legitimate web videos will have an easier time getting them listed on ye olde Database of Internet Movies.