Equity Card

An Equity Card is proof of membership in the Actors' Equity Association of the United States or the British Equity.

History

Edwin Booth founded the "Players" in 1888 which held meetings at the "Players." The "Players" was an actors' club in Gramercy Park. The second organisation, Actors' Society of America, was formed in 1895 and was led by Louis Aldrich. Actors' Society of America was dissolved by vote of members in 1912.

Actors' Equity Association was founded in New York City on May 26, 1913.

Joining equity

One method for an actor to become eligible to join the union is being under an Equity contract.

An actor may also apply for membership if they are a member of any of the sister unions in the performing arts. These unions are the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA), American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA), and Screen Actors Guild (SAG).

The third way one gets his equity card is through the "Equity Membership Candidate Program" (EMC). In this program, actors are allowed to work in Equity productions as credit towards eventual membership. An actor is eligible for membership once he completes fifty weeks of work at theatres that are a part of the EMC program.