diff --git a/src/vidxp/capabilities/actor/indexing.py b/src/vidxp/capabilities/actor/indexing.py
index 35da06c..483694b 100644
--- a/src/vidxp/capabilities/actor/indexing.py
+++ b/src/vidxp/capabilities/actor/indexing.py
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ def _actor_records(
         records.append(
             StorageRecord(
                 source_id=source_id,
-                embedding=[0.0],
+                embedding=detection["encoding"],
                 metadata={
                     **config.record_identity("actor", source_id),
                     "detection_id": detection["detection_id"],
@@ -209,6 +209,7 @@ def process_actor_samples(
                             min(height, int(face[1] + face[3])),
                             max(0, int(face[0])),
                         ),
+                        "encoding": encoding.tolist(),
                     }
                 )
             state.processed_frames += 1
diff --git a/src/vidxp/core/contracts.py b/src/vidxp/core/contracts.py
index c58d632..34162bb 100644
--- a/src/vidxp/core/contracts.py
+++ b/src/vidxp/core/contracts.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 from urllib.parse import quote
 
 
-INDEX_SCHEMA_VERSION = 7
+INDEX_SCHEMA_VERSION = 8
 MANIFEST_SCHEMA_VERSION = 2
 
 
diff --git a/tests/test_indexing.py b/tests/test_indexing.py
index b60b2fb..d72b53b 100644
--- a/tests/test_indexing.py
+++ b/tests/test_indexing.py
@@ -444,6 +444,7 @@ def test_actor_records_preserve_stable_detection_metadata(self):
                     "frame_index": 0,
                     "timestamp": 0.0,
                     "bbox": (1, 2, 3, 0),
+                    "encoding": [0.6, 0.8],
                 }
             ],
             config,
@@ -455,6 +456,73 @@ def test_actor_records_preserve_stable_detection_metadata(self):
             "generation-1:actors:video-1:actor-cluster:1",
         )
         self.assertEqual(records[0].metadata["bbox_top"], 1)
+        self.assertEqual(records[0].embedding, [0.6, 0.8])
+
+    def test_actor_indexing_persists_real_face_embeddings_not_placeholders(self):
+        import numpy as np
+        from unittest.mock import Mock
+
+        from vidxp.capabilities.actor.indexing import (
+            ActorIndexState,
+            process_actor_samples,
+        )
+        from vidxp.core.video import FrameSample
+
+        config = IndexConfig(
+            dataset="sample",
+            split="test",
+            run_id="actors",
+            video_id="video-1",
+            generation_id="generation-1",
+            enabled_modalities=("actor",),
+        )
+
+        raw_encoding = np.array([3.0, 4.0], dtype="float32")
+        expected_normalized = (raw_encoding / np.linalg.norm(raw_encoding)).tolist()
+
+        detector = Mock()
+        detector.setInputSize = Mock()
+        detector.setScoreThreshold = Mock()
+        detector.detect.return_value = (
+            True,
+            np.array([[10.0, 10.0, 20.0, 20.0]], dtype="float32"),
+        )
+
+        recognizer = Mock()
+        recognizer.alignCrop.return_value = np.zeros((112, 112, 3), dtype="uint8")
+        recognizer.feature.return_value = raw_encoding.reshape(1, -1)
+
+        state = ActorIndexState(
+            models=Mock(detector=detector, recognizer=recognizer)
+        )
+        storage = Mock()
+
+        samples = [
+            FrameSample(
+                frame_index=0,
+                timestamp=0.0,
+                frame=np.zeros((48, 48, 3), dtype="uint8"),
+            ),
+        ]
+
+        process_actor_samples(
+            samples,
+            state=state,
+            config=config,
+            storage=storage,
+            cancellation=CancellationToken(),
+        )
+
+        self.assertEqual(storage.upsert.call_count, 1)
+        (_, records), _ = storage.upsert.call_args
+        self.assertEqual(len(records), 1)
+        record = records[0]
+
+        self.assertIsNotNone(record.embedding)
+        self.assertNotEqual(list(record.embedding), [0.0])
+        self.assertEqual(len(record.embedding), 2)
+        for actual, expected in zip(record.embedding, expected_normalized):
+            self.assertAlmostEqual(actual, expected, places=5)
 
     def test_actor_cluster_identity_is_unique_by_media_and_generation(self):
         def config(video_id, generation_id):