How to Start Acting in New Orleans: Hollywood South Today, Local Theater, and Your First 90 Days

You’ve heard New Orleans called Hollywood South. Maybe you’ve walked past a block lined with trailers and a “No parking: filming” sign, or seen a movie you love and learned it was shot a few streets from your apartment. It’s easy to assume the work will come to you.

It might, but Louisiana’s film market has been through a rough few years, and the actors who keep working here know how to stack theater, local casting, and self-tapes for other markets. The city’s theater scene is small and close-knit, which helps you once you’re in it.

The short version: understand where Louisiana production stands right now, and why being a Louisiana resident is worth something to a production. Register with the local casting offices, go to the joint theater auditions every June, and train somewhere you can be seen. Check anyone who wants to represent you against the union list. Self-tape well enough to compete in Atlanta and Texas too. Then follow a 90-day plan.

Where Louisiana production stands in 2026

The honest picture first. In October 2026, Film New Orleans director Carroll Morton told Fox 8 that Louisiana had fallen from fourth to 10th in film production, and the station reported that the industry’s yearly economic impact had dropped from about $1 billion to $185 million. Verite News, using federal labor data compiled by Giggster, reported that Louisiana’s film jobs fell 32.2% from 2024 to 2025, the steepest drop of any state.

Not everyone expects the slide to continue. The president of Film Louisiana told WWL in October 2025 that he expected an uptick in 2026. Treat that as a hopeful forecast, not a promise, and build a career that doesn’t depend on it.

Part of the story is policy. Louisiana’s Department of Revenue says the state cut the yearly cap on its motion picture tax credit to $125 million starting July 1, 2025, down from $150 million, and repealed the rollover of unused credits.

Why being a Louisiana resident matters

Here’s a detail most newcomers miss. The state’s motion picture program gives a 25% base credit, with total credits capped at 40%, and adds an extra 15% credit on qualified Louisiana resident payroll. The program’s FAQ says productions are not required to hire a set share of Louisiana residents; hiring them simply earns a bigger credit.

For an actor, that’s a quiet advantage. A production filming here has a financial reason to cast local actors in the roles it can. It’s one reason to establish real residency if you’re moving here, and to be honest about it; claiming to be local when you aren’t can cost you a job. Our guide on moving to LA or New York explains how local hire works.

Unions in New Orleans

The SAG-AFTRA New Orleans Local represents performers doing SAG-AFTRA work in Louisiana and Mississippi, including actors, stunt performers, dancers, singers, and voiceover artists. You don’t need to be a member to start. Our guide on how to become SAG-AFTRA eligible covers the three ways in.

Actors’ Equity splits the two states. Louisiana is in Equity’s Central Region, served from Chicago, while Mississippi is in the Eastern Region. There’s no Equity office in New Orleans, but local companies do hire Equity actors, as the next section shows.

Get into New Orleans theater through the June auditions

The single most useful date on a New Orleans actor’s calendar is the joint season audition. In June 2026, Le Petit Théâtre du Vieux Carré hosted Joint Season Auditions with Fat Squirrel, Goat in the Road Productions, Intramural Theatre Company, The NOLA Project, and the Tennessee Williams Theatre Company of New Orleans. Actors prepared a 60-to-90-second monologue, plus 32 bars for musicals, and Le Petit held separate Equity auditions on the following two days.

Le Petit’s opportunities page says its season auditions happen each June, and its 2026 notice also invited video submissions from in-town and out-of-town actors. Put June on your calendar now and have your monologue ready by May. Our monologue library has pieces you can cut to 90 seconds.

Other companies hire through their own calls. Crescent City Stage held an Equity Principal Audition in October 2026 and encouraged local actors to come. At Tulane, Summer Lyric Theatre casts its summer musicals each winter, and the New Orleans Shakespeare Festival at Tulane held auditions in January 2026 for King Lear and Macbeth. JPAS, the Jefferson Performing Arts Society, is in its 49th season.

One correction to older guides: Southern Rep Theatre, often listed as a place to audition, closed in July 2022. Our guides to unified auditions and Shakespeare festival auditions will help you prepare for these formats.

Where to train in New Orleans

The training scene is small, so the class you take is also your network. Some options with adult classes as of November 2026:

• The Actor’s Apothecary on Prytania Street runs monthly adult scene study, capped at 10 students, with an on-camera final class where students get their footage.
• Big Couch teaches improv in levels, and its Improv 101 is four free two-hour sessions.
• Anthony Bean Community Theater and Acting School on Tchoupitoulas offers acting classes for adults, from beginner to advanced, plus voice, movement, and improvisation.

For degrees, Loyola University New Orleans offers a BA in theatre arts and one in theatre arts and musical theatre, and Tulane has an undergraduate theatre program. The former University of New Orleans became LSU New Orleans on July 1, 2026, and its MFA in film and theatre includes a theatre performance track in acting. For teens, NOCCA is a public, tuition-free arts training center with a drama and musical theatre program, admitted by audition.

Casting, background work, and agents

Local casting offices are where New Orleans film and TV roles start. Coulon Casting, run by Elizabeth Coulon, CSA, at Second Line Stages, casts principals and background for features, TV, and commercials, union and non-union, and has an online extras registration. Central Casting has a New Orleans office on Richard Street, and its help pages say signing up is free with no experience required.

Know what the city’s film office does and doesn’t do. Film New Orleans handles permits and keeps crew, vendor, and location directories, but it doesn’t post casting calls. The state’s crew and talent directory is a database productions can search; contact the office if you want to ask about a listing. For the national casting sites, our roundup of casting sites for actors compares them.

On agents, Louisiana law says no one may operate or advertise a fee-charging employment service without a state license, though the statute doesn’t single out talent agencies. If you’re in SAG-AFTRA or plan to join, search the union’s franchised agents list with New Orleans selected; the union says that if your Local returns no results, contact the Local’s staff. And in any case, never pay a fee to be represented. Our guide to spotting acting scams lists the other red flags.

Self-tape for New Orleans and beyond

Self-taped auditions became the norm rather than the exception after the pandemic, Backstage reported, and SAG-AFTRA added self-tape guidelines to its November 2023 TV and film agreement. For a New Orleans actor, that’s how you stay busy in a slow year: you can tape for productions in other Southern markets from home, as long as you’re honest about where you live.

Keep your setup simple and ready. Our guides to a self-tape setup on a budget and self-taping alone cover the basics, including noise problems like a buzzing window unit (turn it off while you roll).

The harder part is often finding someone to read with on a weeknight. Offbook covers the rehearsal part: upload the sides, pick your role, and realistic voices read every other character and wait for you to finish your line before cueing the next. Rehearse on your laptop with the script on a big screen, and listen to the scene on your phone on the streetcar. When you’re close, Offbook can hide your lines while the other parts stay visible, so you can test yourself from the cue. For the take itself, our guide to finding a self-tape reader has ideas.

Getting around New Orleans

The RTA’s regular fare is $1.25 for a one-way ride, with a one-day Jazzy Pass at $3 (as of November 2026). Studio and location work can be outside the city, so if you don’t drive, ask about the location before you accept a booking.

Your first 90 days in New Orleans

1. Days 1 to 14: Build an honest one-page resume with our free acting resume builder and register with the local casting offices.
2. Days 1 to 30: Take a scene study or improv class, and stay for the next session.
3. Days 7 to 30: See shows at Le Petit, the Tulane summer and festival companies, and the smaller ensembles, so you know who’s who before June.
4. Days 14 to 60: Audition for every show you fit, and submit to student and independent films.
5. Days 30 to 90: Tape a practice scene from our free acting scripts every week and track every submission in our free audition tracker.
6. Days 45 to 90: Prepare a 60-to-90-second monologue for the June joint auditions, and keep it ready.
7. Days 60 to 90: With credits and footage, research representation carefully, and never pay to be signed.

Thinking about other markets? The same guide exists for Los Angeles, New York, Atlanta, Chicago, and Dallas-Fort Worth, and our guide to an acting career outside LA and New York covers regional careers in general.

Questions actors ask

Is New Orleans still a good place to act in film and TV?

It’s a smaller market than it was. Local officials said in October 2026 that Louisiana had fallen from fourth to 10th in film production, and Film Louisiana’s president predicted an uptick in 2026. Actors here do best combining local film work, theater, and self-tapes for productions in nearby markets.

Do productions in Louisiana have to hire local actors?

No. The state’s program FAQ says productions don’t have to hire a set share of Louisiana residents. But they earn an extra 15% credit on qualified Louisiana resident payroll, which gives them a financial reason to hire locally where they can.

When are theater auditions in New Orleans?

Many companies cast through the joint season auditions Le Petit hosts each June, which in 2026 included Fat Squirrel, Goat in the Road, Intramural Theatre Company, The NOLA Project, and the Tennessee Williams Theatre Company. Others, like Crescent City Stage and the Tulane summer companies, hold their own auditions through the year.

Which SAG-AFTRA Local covers New Orleans?

The SAG-AFTRA New Orleans Local, which represents performers in Louisiana and Mississippi. For stage work, Actors’ Equity places Louisiana in its Central Region, served from Chicago.

Where can I take acting classes in New Orleans?

Options include adult scene study at The Actor’s Apothecary, improv at Big Couch (whose first level is free), and classes at Anthony Bean Community Theater and Acting School. For degrees, look at Loyola, Tulane, and LSU New Orleans, which has an MFA track in theatre performance.