Doctor Kick

Have you ever wondered why a certain actor doesn't have a profile pic on IMDB? Charles Levin for example. A very recognizable actor who played the dangerously crazy rabbi on Seinfeld. He put in a lot of quality work in his career. But he has no profile pic on IMDB, not even a tiny bio. Why is this? It's not like he's a famous foreign actor. He was the funniest actor on a Seinfeld episode. He should have a profile pic. I assume he was a standup comedian, so maybe he stopped acting at age 49 to do standup again. Maybe he became crippled. Maybe now he's a lady. Or maybe he got a job that's better than being a really funny actor that everybody loves. But I imagine that if he had a profile pic on IMDB the offers for all types of projects would be rolling.

What are your thoughts on this? And who are some of your favorite actors who don't have a profile pic? There's a lot of them, so let's show these people some damn respect ok.

RichC2

It's mostly agents that take care of that, sometimes the person themselves.

It's kind of like Wikipedia, there's no real weight to who does or does not have a picture, there was just no monetary cause for them to have one.

Doctor Kick

That's makes sense. If an actor has quit the business and doesn't have an agent, then that would help explain why they don't have a picture on IMDB.

I was about to comment on Stephen Forsythe (Hatchet for the Honeymoon), a guy who really got screwed in his acting career. But to my surprise he does have a profile picture. Somebody needs to put this guy in a movie if he still has an agent.

Another missing picture mystery is Tito Larriva (Desperado). I don't know much about his music except he's amazing. I mainly know him for his unique look and good acting skills. He must not care about acting that much because I can't come up with a logical explanation for him not having a profile pic.

Jay G.

IMDB requires actors to subscribe to their "Pro" service and claim their own page in order to upload photos:
http://www.imdb.com/help/show_leaf?addphoto

As others have noted, agents typically take care of this, but they could do it themselves if so inclined.

IMDB isn't going to be uploading any pictures of their own due to copyright concerns over the photos. Plus, they're making money this way.

hal9000

Meh, it boils down to how much a person cares about IMDB. Personally, I know not many do. Most Agents or reps don't have the time to waste on IMDB especially today when there are far greater social media platforms to police, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.

Also, it depends on how enthusiastic/motivated an up and coming production person on a film/TV crew is. Most of the time it's a production staffer that is in charge of loading all the info of the cast and crew on to IMDB for whatever movie, TV show that production co. is currently working on. But typically this part of "marketing" is overlooked in most cases until it's time to sell it for consumer home purchasing DVD/BluRay/streaming, etc,..

Edit: and what "Jay G." said.

Groucho

I wonder how hard it would be to create an entry for yourself, and insert yourself as a minor character into a much of movies ("Man #2", "Grocery Bagger", etc).

TomOpus

I know someone who was in the movie "Step Up" and is listed as "High School Student (uncredited)" on IMDB. I should ask her if she created it or if she can add a picture.

JimRochester

A local comedian on a morning radio show has an IMDB profile. I remember someone calling in and asking her why she didn't have a picture. She said she would have to pay for the service and she couldn't afford it. I just checked and she now has a picture posted but her bio has not been updated.

Ash Ketchum

I post pictures to movies and TV shows on IMDB all the time, but they won't allow anyone to add pix to individuals' pages unless you're a member of IMDB Pro. There are plenty of long-dead character actors I'd like to do that for whose pages have absolutely no pictures of them, Profile or otherwise. I have a large collection of stills, head shots and screen grabs from which I can draw. But you have to be a member of IMDB Pro and I don't feel like paying them anything, given all the voluntary contributions I make on a regular basis to the site (reviews and images). It costs $149.99 a year or, if you want to pay month by month, then it's $19.99 a month.

For instance, John Garfield's son, David Garfield, who used to be known as John Garfield Jr., has no pix on his page, yet I have a still of him from Robert Altman's THAT COLD DAY IN THE PARK (1969) that I'd be happy to submit. (I once took some acting classes with his sister Julie, who played De Niro's wife in GOODFELLAS.)



http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0307260/reference

TomOpus

Why not just pay for one month and add a bunch of photos? It's all in the name of movies. Just the price of a blu-ray.

Jay G.

You can only claim one actor/crew page per account.
http://www.imdb.com/help/show_leaf?nameclaim

TomOpus

Sorry, Ash.