Expert: Kitty Kavey - 9/20/2004

Question
Hello, Ms. Kavey.  I am a senior at Westlake Highschool located in Waldorf, MD.  My dream and goal is to become a television and film actor and I also want to do commercial modeling.  I want to ask do you know where the best college or university that majors specifically in Acting/directing is?  Most schools make you do all the extra theater training to learn about acting. Is the theater training necessary?  Is there a school that deals with general acting?  

Answer
I do not know which is the best college/university.  There are some schools that may be more well-known than others, but whether they'd be better, or 'best' for a person I could not say.  Julliard has a drama program, and the Actor's Studio (you may have seen the show "Inside the Actor's Studio with James Lipton) has an excellent program.  I've been told that UCLA's School of Theater Film & Television is quite good, and probably closer to where you'll end up working most in the industry.  The general school of thought is that theater credits are important to have on one's resume, but there are quite a few actors who don't let the lack of them be a hindrance.  There are thousands of acting schools that are not affiliated with universities, and where you can go to take only the specific instruction you'd like (such as auditioning for commercials, improv for actors, on-camera scene study, monologues and the like) without having to take classes in areas you don't want to.  The first thing you should look at is whether you plan to begin your journey in NYC or LA, or prefer to begin in one of the smaller markets.  Weigh in the housing and job market, living costs, and see what makes more sense based on what you can afford, and the specific direction you want to go in. Once you've chosen an area, you can narrow your research to see what schools are local, and find out what would work for you.
Good luck to you,
~Kitty