Who writes performers' Playbill bios?

[Musicaldudepeter]

Posted: 1/4/24 at 8:24pm

It may seem like a stupid question, but do actors write their own bios for the Playbills? Or do they get their management/"people" to write the bios? I'm talking like a Patti LuPone, a Bernadette Peters...? Do they sit down and type their own bios or does someone else do it for them? I ask because looking through the bios of these actors on the Playbill vault/site, the bio structure changes from show to show... Just curious! Any insight? 

[blaxx]

Posted: 1/4/24 at 9:18pm

Yes, either PR team or the performers themselves. There is a word cap depending on who the performer is.

[Bill Snibson]

Posted: 1/4/24 at 9:34pm

The majority of actors write their own. In the case of a big name/over the title celebrity then their teams compose a bio for them to sign off on. There is always a “word count” cap for every bio varying on the size of the part and celebrity status. Ensemble members typically get 25 word bios, supporting 50 words, lead 100+ words. 

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 1/4/24 at 9:46pm

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 1/4/24 at 11:10pm

Each bio & headshot is provided by the performer (or their representative) to the production, within a word limit, and the production is not allowed to change anything in their bio without permission. The press agent collects the bios, assembles the Playbill info, and works with the designers/editors at Playbill to produce each week's book (there's a new printing every week for Broadway).