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Posted Sep 4
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Casting Calls in Chicago, IL
Chicago gives actors three real ways in: steady network television, one of America's strongest theatre communities, and a comedy scene that launches careers. You do not have to choose only one.
7 open calls · updated todayFree to submitSeries, theatre & commercialTwo-hour catchment
Welcome to the Chicago acting market
A serious acting city that still feels possible.
You can start with background work, build your craft onstage, train in comedy, or move between all three. This guide shows you where the openings are, what they pay, and how people actually get seen.
New to Chicago?Start with the three paths below. Pick the one that matches your experience today — you can add the others later.
Engine 01
Network televisionReturning series filming most of the year, casting background on a continuous cycle with published rates.Engine 02
Equity theatreFull seasons cast a year ahead, on weekly contracts. A career, not a side project.Engine 03
The comedy pipelineThe training institutions that have supplied American comedy for sixty years — and they are here.
Paid — $500 stipend
Posted Aug 20
Unpaid
Posted Aug 20
The thing that makes this market unusual
Network series here cast background continuously, and they publish the rate
Most markets wait for productions to arrive. Chicago has long-running network dramas that film most of the year, renew season after season, and cast local background every week they are shooting.
Observed on live Chicago series casting calls · August 2026
What the returning series pay
Published openly, with direct submission emails on the notices themselves.
General backgroundNetwork medical drama, new season · any gender, any ethnicity, ages 6 and up
$136.40 / 8 hrs
Featured non-speakingNetwork drama · involves prosthetics and a wardrobe fitting
$165 / 8 hrs
OvertimeBeyond eight hours, on the featured rate
Time and a half
Note the gap between general and featured — about 21%, for the same day. Featured roles are cast on physical specifics rather than credits, which makes them genuinely winnable by an unknown. If you fit a brief, say so precisely.
How these are actually cast, and it is old-fashioned
Submissions go by email, direct to the extras casting address on the notice — with current photographs, height, weight, age, city, phone number and complete clothing sizes. Not a platform, not a profile. An email.
Which means two things. Read the sizing requirements exactly, because incomplete submissions get skipped. And send current photos — current hairstyle, current colour, no hats, no sunglasses, no comp cards. Notices say so explicitly, which tells you how often people get it wrong.
They also cast stand-ins matched to featured performers on height, weight, complexion and appearance. Stand-in work pays above general background and is matched on physique rather than experience — one of the most accessible better-paid categories in this market.
A detail with real consequences
The catchment is bigger than the city
2hours
One network series states its background calls are open to applicants living within approximately two hours of Chicago. That pulls in a very large chunk of Illinois, plus parts of Indiana and Wisconsin.
Which cuts both ways, and you should know both. If you live in Rockford, Milwaukee or northwest Indiana, you are eligible for work you may have assumed was Chicago-only. And if you live in Chicago, your competition for background is considerably wider than the city limits.
Note that a two-hour catchment with an early morning call time means a very early start. Series filming here typically runs Monday to Friday with early call times.
Observed on live postings, August 2026
What everything else pays
Chicago is one of the few markets where screen and theatre both pay enough to belong in the same table.
Live Chicago postings · August 2026 · illustrative, not a schedule
Chicago rates
Screen
Independent short filmCredit, a copy for your reel, and catered lunch
Unpaid
Commercial backgroundInsurance campaign, half day
$125 / half day
Series general backgroundNetwork drama, per 8 hours
$136.40
Series featured backgroundPer 8 hours, plus overtime
$165
Union ULB feature, featured backgroundPolice, detectives, EMTs, reporters, restaurant patrons
Paid, scale
SAG-AFTRA New MediaB Scale plus 10%
Scale + 10%
Theatre
Equity SPT tier 4Weekly minimum, rising in January 2027
$496 → $511
An Equity weekly contract is roughly three and a half series background days. Which is the honest reason so many Chicago actors build a theatre career and treat screen as the supplement, rather than the other way round.
One structure to read carefully
A live Chicago feature posting offered a profit-sharing agreement rather than a rate — a percentage of the film's total profit after release. That is not payment. Independent films rarely show a profit, and “points” on a first feature are worth planning around as though they were zero.
Take those jobs for the footage and the experience if you want them. Do not take them as income.
The best local resource, and it is not ours
A Chicago studio publishes the agency list, with named agents by department
This is unusually good and unusually specific. Most agency directories give you a company name and an address. This one tells you who handles what — which means you can address a submission to a person rather than to a building.
Example: one Chicago agency, as listed
Named by department
Director
Named agent
Theatre
Named agent
Film / TV
Two named agents
Youth
Named agent
Submissions
Two headshots and résumés, or by email
Knowing to address a film and television submission to the film and television agent is worth more than any amount of general advice about cover letters. Verify names before you write — agent rosters change.
The directory also spans the market's range — from agencies operating in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles simultaneously, to one working out of Cinespace Chicago itself, to the agency generally described as the city's leading one for non-union actors. That last category matters if you are starting out and not yet eligible.
The rule underneath all of it
SAG-AFTRA franchises agents, not managers. Chicago is a strong union town — both SAG-AFTRA and Actors' Equity matter here, and several agencies hold both franchises. A real agent earns commission on work you book, never a fee from you up front.
Your local covers Illinois, Indiana, Eastern Iowa and Wisconsin.
A national standard, confirmed here
If a class is taught by an agent, look for this sentence
A Chicago studio publishes the following on its business workshops — the same union-driven disclaimer that appears in New York and Los Angeles:
“This seminar is for educational purposes only and will not secure or provide an opportunity for employment or representation by an agent.”
Three markets, same wording. It is a national standard for classes taught by agents and casting directors, not a local quirk — and its presence is transparency rather than a red flag. Its absence is the thing to notice.
And a genuinely good-value example from this market
A one-day Chicago business-of-acting workshop, taught by an agency owner, runs at $75 and covers who the local agents and casting directors are, whether you need an agent and how to get one, cover letters, self-tapes, where to find audition notices, what work is available to a Chicago actor, and how to make ends meet.
That syllabus is essentially this page, delivered in a room, by someone who signs actors. Seventy-five dollars is a fair price for that — and it carries the disclaimer, which is how you know what you are buying.
The engine nobody counts as casting
The comedy pipeline is a career route, not a hobby
Chicago's improv and sketch institutions have supplied American comedy for sixty years. In any other city this would be a footnote in a training section. Here it is a legitimate path into the industry, and it is the reason many actors move to Chicago rather than somewhere warmer.
The improv institutionsStructured, progressive training programmes with published fees, running from drop-in level upward. They are schools, and they are also the audition.
The theatre companiesChicago's major houses run education programmes alongside their seasons. Steppenwolf, Goodman and others have supplied a remarkable number of working screen actors.
The on-camera studiosIncluding one with a former casting director on faculty, and another running a conservatory-style programme with a showcase attached.
Why this changes the calculation
In most markets, training is a cost you carry while you wait for work. In Chicago the training institutions are where people get seen — by other performers, by directors, and by the industry that recruits out of them. That is a genuinely different relationship between class and career.
It does not mean paying for classes guarantees anything. It means the room you are paying to be in is, in this city specifically, a room where things happen.
Where the work is posted
Beyond this board
Series extras castingRegistration takes full sizing — jacket, dress, inseam, shoe. Have them ready.The local agency directoryNames individual agents by department. Updated June 2026.Chicago audition noticesFree, public, and current. Theatres post here at no cost.Actors' EquityFull seasons cast a year ahead. Their notices are members-only.SAG-AFTRA ChicagoIllinois, Indiana, Eastern Iowa and WisconsinFranchised agents listScroll to the bottom, select "Chicago", and search.Casting offices working ChicagoFilm, television and commercial. This one takes open submissions.Improv and on-camera trainingThe pipeline. Beginner improv is published at $395 for eight weeks.
Quick answers
Common questions
How do I get on a network series background list?
Email the extras casting address on the notice with current photographs and your complete sizes — height, weight, and every clothing measurement they ask for. Incomplete submissions get skipped, and notices say so plainly. Then keep submitting; these series cast every week they film.
Do I have to live in Chicago?
Not necessarily. At least one series accepts background applicants living within about two hours of the city, which covers a lot of Illinois plus parts of Indiana and Wisconsin. Expect a very early start if you take one.
Is the theatre scene actually paid work?
Yes, and on weekly Equity contracts with minimums that rise on a published schedule. A week of theatre is worth roughly three and a half series background days, which is why so many Chicago actors build the theatre career first.
Is improv training worth the money?
In Chicago specifically, it is a different proposition from elsewhere — the institutions are where the industry recruits. It guarantees nothing. But the room you are paying to be in is a room where things genuinely happen, which is not true of every city.
Series background is a repeating job, not a one-off
Set a Chicago alert and filter to series work, theatre, or both. The returning shows cast every week they film — being on the list before the call goes out is most of the battle.
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