Film Career · Cast
Supporting Actor
Cast · Varies by craft and market
- Union
- Varies
- Day rate
- ~$208/day and up
- Experience
- 0–40+ yrs
What does a Supporting Actor do?
The supporting actor is a working craft position in the cast department on film and television productions.
Union coverage for the position varies: varies by craft and market. The role is engaged show by show, and careers in cast are built on the department heads and crews who hire the same trusted people back.
What does a Supporting Actor make?
- SAG-AFTRA scale is $208 a day for background and about $1,100 a day for principal performers, with leads negotiating far above.
- Roughly $15K a year to millions, with almost all of the range at the very top.
Film work is gig based, so crew are paid a day or weekly rate rather than a salary. These are realistic 2024-2025 ranges grounded in union rate cards and industry data; actual pay swings with budget tier, market, overtime, and reputation.
Sources & how we estimate pay
Union scale is the floor; the ranges above also reflect market day rates above scale. They are grounded in the following 2024–2025 sources:
Union rate cards & wage schedules
Official guild scale — the floor each craft is paid from.
- IATSE — 2024 Basic Agreement wage scales (PDF) ↗
- IATSE Local 600 (International Cinematographers Guild) — camera rate cards ↗
- DGA — minimum salary rate cards (director, unit production manager, assistant directors) ↗
- WGA — schedule of minimums (writers) ↗
- SAG-AFTRA — theatrical & background rate sheets (cast, stunts, background) ↗
- Teamsters Local 399 — basic feature wage rates, 2024–27 (transportation, locations, wranglers) (PDF) ↗
Government wage data
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, for the closest federal occupation.
You’ll like and be good at this job if:
Hard skills
- You can act and take direction
Soft skills
- You like hands-on work and getting the details right
- You take pride in doing your specific craft well, day in and day out
Career progression
The role advances the way most cast careers do: repeat hires from the same department heads, growing responsibility within the craft, and a reputation that travels between productions faster than any resume.
How do you become a Supporting Actor?
The working route in is through the cast department's junior positions: assist the people holding this chair, learn the standards the department runs on, and take the small versions of the job wherever they are offered.
Covered by a union? The joining a film union guide explains how each one takes members.