Top 12 Entertainer Skills to Put on Your Resume

In the dynamic world of entertainment, standing out to casting directors and talent agents takes more than raw talent. You need a cocktail of technical chops, interpersonal finesse, and specialized abilities that prove your range and professionalism. Spotlighting the top entertainer skills on your resume doesn’t just separate you from the pack—it signals you understand what it takes to thrive in a fast, hungry industry.

Entertainer Skills

1. Improvisation
2. Storytelling
3. Vocal Range
4. Dance
5. Instrumental Proficiency
6. Comedy
7. Magic Tricks
8. Public Speaking
9. Social Media (e.g., TikTok, Instagram)
10. Audio Editing (e.g., Audacity, Pro Tools)
11. Video Editing (e.g., Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro)
12. Stage Presence

1. Improvisation

Improvisation, for an entertainer, is the art of creating and performing music, dialogue, or action on the spot—leaning on instinct, awareness, and creativity to amplify the moment.

Why It's Important

Improvisation keeps you nimble. It helps you dance with the unexpected, engage audiences in real time, and keep every performance fresh instead of formulaic.

How to Improve Improvisation Skills

Improving improvisation hinges on practice, play, and presence. Try this:

1. Practice Regularly: Run improv games with other performers to sharpen quick thinking. Resources like Improv Encyclopedia can spark ideas for exercises.

2. Learn From Masters: Watch seasoned improvisers and live shows to study pacing, listening, and commitment to choices.

3. Accept and Build: Live by “Yes, and…” Accept offers, add something meaningful, push the scene forward.

4. Stay In The Moment: Lock into what’s happening right now. Mindfulness techniques help you respond truthfully instead of forcing bits.

5. Expand Your Knowledge: The wider your knowledge base, the more raw material you can pull into scenes.

6. Be Fearless: Misses happen. Treat them as pivots, not failures. Bold choices beat timid ones.

Further reading: Improv 101 courses on major learning platforms; Improvise: Scene from the Inside Out by Mick Napier.

How to Display Improvisation Skills on Your Resume

2. Storytelling

Storytelling is the craft of shaping a narrative—through words, movement, and timing—so an audience not only hears it, they feel it.

Why It's Important

Great stories hook attention, stir emotion, and forge connection. That bond keeps audiences leaning in and remembering you.

How to Improve Storytelling Skills

Keep it tight, vivid, and alive:

1. Know Your Audience: Tailor tone, references, and complexity to who’s in the room.

2. Structure Your Story: Give it a clean arc—beginning, middle, end—with tension and a payoff.

3. Show, Don’t Tell: Use sensory detail and action. Let the audience see it, not just hear it.

4. Practice Your Delivery: Pace, tone, phrasing, and pauses matter as much as content.

5. Engage Your Audience: Eye contact, questions, call-and-response—invite them in.

6. Use Humor and Emotion: Laughter and heartbeats land stories in memory.

7. Seek Feedback and Iterate: Workshop your stories. Trim the fat. Sharpen the turns.

Storytelling sharpens with reps and honest feedback. Keep shaping.

How to Display Storytelling Skills on Your Resume

3. Vocal Range

Vocal range is the span of notes you can sing comfortably and consistently—from your low floor to your high ceiling.

Why It's Important

A wider, well-controlled range expands your repertoire, deepens your expressiveness, and broadens your appeal.

How to Improve Vocal Range Skills

Build with care and consistency:

1. Warm Up Properly: Gentle, targeted warm-ups protect your voice and set you up to stretch safely.

2. Breath Control: Train diaphragmatic breathing for stability, power, and ease.

3. Scale Work: Sing scales with varied vowels, inching the range outward over time.

4. Vocal Agility: Runs, trills, and interval drills improve flexibility and transitions.

5. Healthy Habits: Hydration, rest, and smart voice use. Organizations like NATS share helpful vocal health guidance.

6. Professional Coaching: A good coach pinpoints tension, technique gaps, and safe strategies to grow.

It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Patience pays off.

How to Display Vocal Range Skills on Your Resume

4. Dance

Dance is deliberate movement as art—technique fused with feeling, shaped by culture, and read by an audience like a living script.

Why It's Important

It magnifies presence, unlocks physical storytelling, and electrifies a stage without a single spoken word.

How to Improve Dance Skills

Technique and expression, hand in hand:

1. Consistent Practice: Daily sessions for technique, flexibility, and stamina. Platforms like STEEZY offer structured classes across styles.

2. Feedback and Critique: Record your sessions; get notes from coaches or community groups for clear corrections.

3. Cross-Training: Add yoga or Pilates to boost mobility, balance, and core strength.

4. Learn from Pros: Workshops and masterclasses accelerate skill and style.

5. Study Performances: Watch top performers to analyze musicality, lines, and transitions.

6. Improvise and Create: Choreograph, freestyle, experiment—find your voice.

7. Mind-Body Connection: Visualization and mindfulness lift precision and presence.

8. Nutrition and Hydration: Fuel recovery and performance with smart intake.

9. Rest and Recovery: Sleep, stretch, foam roll. Longevity beats burnout.

Technical polish matters. So does emotional heat. Aim for both.

How to Display Dance Skills on Your Resume

5. Instrumental Proficiency

Instrumental proficiency is your command over an instrument—technique, tone, timing, and the agility to move across styles with confidence.

Why It's Important

It expands your act, opens creative doors, and signals professionalism that bookers trust.

How to Improve Instrumental Proficiency Skills

Sharpen the fundamentals, then stretch:

1. Regular Practice: Daily time on technique, repertoire, and musicality. Resources like Musician’s Way can guide effective practice habits.

2. Learn Theory: Harmony, rhythm, ear training—strong theory speeds learning and improvisation.

3. Take Lessons: A skilled instructor shortens the learning curve with targeted feedback.

4. Play with Others: Ensembles and bands build listening, timing, and versatility.

5. Perform Often: Open mics, community gigs—stage time builds poise and presence.

6. Listen and Analyze: Study masters. Dissect phrasing, tone, and choices.

7. Use Technology: Apps like Yousician and smart metronomes make practice engaging and precise.

8. Set Clear Goals: Break big aims into weekly targets to maintain momentum.

Consistency plus curiosity equals growth—and better shows.

How to Display Instrumental Proficiency Skills on Your Resume

6. Comedy

Comedy is the craft of making people laugh—through timing, perspective, and the delightful twist they never saw coming.

Why It's Important

It disarms, connects, and creates unforgettable moments. Laughter builds loyalty.

How to Improve Comedy Skills

Write, test, refine, repeat:

1. Study Comedy: Books, albums, specials, podcasts. Analyze rhythm, structure, and persona.

2. Write Daily: Jokes, tags, premises. Volume leads to gems.

3. Perform Often: Open mics, small shows, living rooms—stage time is oxygen. Organizations like Toastmasters can help develop delivery.

4. Record Sets: Review crowd response and trim dead weight.

5. Engage the Audience: Build rapport in the room and online to test ideas and grow your voice.

6. Keep Learning: Classes, workshops, and peer feedback sharpen instincts.

Comedy is taste and timing. Keep experimenting until it clicks.

How to Display Comedy Skills on Your Resume

7. Magic Tricks

Magic is deception as wonder: sleight of hand, misdirection, and illusions that make the impossible feel inches away.

Why It's Important

It captivates instantly, invites interaction, and turns a set into a shared gasp.

How to Improve Magic Tricks Skills

Precision and presentation, both vital:

1. Keep Learning: Explore new methods, subtleties, and routining through reputable magic resources and literature.

2. Practice Diligently: Smooth mechanics and timing require daily, focused reps.

3. Engage Your Audience: Build patter, manage focus, and shape reactions—connection elevates the effect.

4. Seek Feedback: Share with trusted peers or local communities for honest critiques.

5. Refine Presentation: Script, story, character. The trick is the vehicle; presentation is the journey.

The sweet spot: clean method, confident handling, compelling framing.

How to Display Magic Tricks Skills on Your Resume

8. Public Speaking

Public speaking, for entertainers, means commanding a room—informing, persuading, or entertaining with voice, movement, and presence.

Why It's Important

It supercharges connection, clarifies your message, and turns moments into momentum.

How to Improve Public Speaking Skills

Clarity, energy, intention:

1. Know Your Audience: Fit content and tone to who’s listening. Groups like Toastmasters share helpful frameworks.

2. Practice Relentlessly: Rehearse aloud, record yourself, run mock sets with friends. Structured speaking drills help.

3. Lead with Story: Narratives land ideas in hearts, not just heads. Study effective talks for rhythm and arc.

4. Own Your Body Language: Open posture, purposeful gestures, clear eye lines—nonverbal cues do heavy lifting. Outlets like Verywell Mind discuss fundamentals.

5. Train Your Voice: Work pitch, pacing, and volume; vocal training resources can guide technique.

6. Tame Nerves: Breathwork, visualization, and pre-show routines. Organizations like the Anxiety and Depression Association of America share strategies.

7. Invite Feedback: Ask trusted peers for notes and iterate quickly.

The more you speak, the stronger your grip on the room.

How to Display Public Speaking Skills on Your Resume

9. Social Media (e.g., TikTok, Instagram)

Platforms like TikTok and Instagram are your direct line to fans—snappy clips, live moments, behind-the-scenes threads that build a brand in public. Think Reels, Shorts, carousels, lives.

Why It's Important

It fuels discovery, deepens fan relationships, and opens doors to collabs, bookings, and press—no gatekeepers required.

How to Improve Social Media (e.g., TikTok, Instagram) Skills

Strategy meets creativity:

1. Define Your Brand: Nail your niche, voice, and visual vibe. Clarity attracts the right audience.

2. Post Consistently: Cadence matters. Scheduling tools like Buffer keep you on track.

3. Engage Actively: Reply, duet, go live, run Q&As. Community beats broadcast.

4. Use High-Quality Visuals: Good lighting, clean audio, tight edits. Tools like Canva help polish assets.

5. Smart Hashtags: Relevant, targeted tags help discovery. Research what your audience actually follows.

6. Collaborate: Partner with creators to cross-pollinate audiences.

7. Track Analytics: Read your insights. Double down on what lands, retire what doesn’t.

8. Ride Trends—Your Way: Adapt formats to your brand. Don’t chase, reinterpret.

Show up with purpose, adapt fast, and keep it human.

How to Display Social Media (e.g., TikTok, Instagram) Skills on Your Resume

10. Audio Editing (e.g., Audacity, Pro Tools)

Audio editing is the craft of shaping sound—trimming, cleaning, layering, and mixing—to deliver crisp, compelling audio for music, podcasts, or performance assets.

Why It's Important

Clean audio lifts everything. It removes distractions, clarifies message and mood, and creates a professional sheen audiences can feel even if they can’t name it.

How to Improve Audio Editing (e.g., Audacity, Pro Tools) Skills

Tool mastery plus taste:

1. Learn the Fundamentals: Explore official docs and tutorials for your DAW. Know the interface cold.

2. Start With Quality: Good mics, proper gain staging, and a treated space save time in post.

3. Practice Core Techniques: Cutting, crossfades, clip gain, EQ, compression, reverb, automation. Daily reps matter.

4. Use Advanced Features: Noise reduction, spectral repair, batch processing, and MIDI editing where relevant.

5. Get Feedback: Share mixes with peers or community groups; fresh ears catch what you miss.

6. Keep Learning: Follow publications like Sound On Sound and Production Expert to stay current.

Great edits are invisible. Aim for clarity, cohesion, and feel.

How to Display Audio Editing (e.g., Audacity, Pro Tools) Skills on Your Resume

11. Video Editing (e.g., Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro)

Video editing shapes footage into story—selecting the best moments, refining timing, mixing audio, and grading color so the whole thing clicks.

Why It's Important

It turns raw clips into polished work that holds attention, boosts your brand, and wins more eyes.

How to Improve Video Editing (e.g., Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro) Skills

Speed, story, and style:

1. Master the Basics: Learn your NLE’s core tools and workflow from official resources and structured courses.

2. Keyboard Shortcuts: Build muscle memory to edit faster and cleaner.

3. Color Correction and Grading: Balance exposure and white balance first, then add look and mood deliberately.

4. Edit for Story: Cut for intent. Every shot should serve pace, emotion, or clarity.

5. Sound Design: Dialogue cleanup, foley, ambience, and music placement can make or break a piece.

6. Use Effects Wisely: Transitions and effects should support story, not distract from it.

7. Stay Inspired: Analyze creators you admire; reverse-engineer their choices.

8. Seek Feedback and Practice: Share cuts, accept notes, re-edit. Reps build taste and speed.

Edit often. The eye—and ear—gets sharper with every timeline.

How to Display Video Editing (e.g., Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro) Skills on Your Resume

12. Stage Presence

Stage presence is that magnetic quality—confidence, charisma, connection—that pulls a room toward you the moment you step into the light.

Why It's Important

It amplifies impact, anchors attention, and turns performances into experiences people talk about later.

How to Improve Stage Presence Skills

Own the space, own the moment:

1. Build Confidence: Rehearse until your material lives in your bones. Watching confident speakers (like TED Talks) can help you model presence.

2. Engage the Audience: Eye lines, banter, responsiveness—meet their energy and shape it. Groups like Toastmasters International share useful engagement tips.

3. Intentional Body Language: Open stance, expressive gestures, purposeful movement. Outlets like Verywell Mind discuss fundamentals.

4. Vocal Variety: Shift pitch, pace, and dynamics to keep attention alive.

5. Dress the Part: Wardrobe should signal tone and character the second you appear.

6. Perform Often: Stage time is the teacher. Seek chances to be in front of real people.

Presence grows with experience. Keep experimenting until you find the flavor that’s undeniably you.

How to Display Stage Presence Skills on Your Resume