“I paid my dues at drama school and worked backstage in every theatre in London.” SchoolDramaPaidDuesLondonTheatre Author:Richard O'Brien
“I started off dancing and playing sports, and I joined the drama stuff, the theatre stuff in middle school because my friends were involved, and it was kind of the cool thing to do.” KindSchoolStuffSportsMiddleInvolvedDramaMy FriendsDancingTheatreThings To DoMiddle SchoolCool ThingsPlaying Sports Author:Kara Lindsay
“But then I got a job selling coffee at the York Theatre, and when I met theatre people, something clicked. I felt comfortable with them; I felt like myself. I decided to go to drama school based just on that feeling. I had never done any acting.” PeopleDoneFeelingsSchoolJobsFeltActingDramaMetsComfortableDecidedTheatreCoffeeSelling Author:Janet McTeer
“I was going to be a High School teacher. I was studying at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, up in Canada. I was also acting in a wonderfully supportive theatre community in Edmonton. There's a lot of support for theatre there. So, I was having a great time, but I didn't consider acting as a serious career initially, because even the most successful actors that I know in Edmonton are not super successful. Acting over there is just not a success-oriented career.” KnowsSchoolActorsCommunityActingCareersSupportStudySuccessfulTeacherSeriousHigh SchoolUniversityTheatreCanadaSupportiveGreat TimesSchool TeachersAlbertaHigh School TeachersEdmonton Author:Nathan Fillion
“I've lived on my own since I was 13 and not been to school and brought a son up who's now 18 and run theatre companies and bought a butcher's shop, learnt guitar by myself, taught myself to sing and that sort of stuff.” RunningSchoolStuffMy OwnCompanyTaughtSonGuitarTheatreShopsButchers Author:Stella Vine
“The acting bug just seemed to stick with me. I loved going to theatre school in college and continued to train in film classes and had been auditioning for T.V. and movie roles since I was in my late teens. My career has been slow and steady, and I kind of like it that way.” WayKindHas BeensSchoolFilmActingClassCareersRolesCollegeLateTrainSticksTheatreSteadyTeensBugsSlow And Steady Author:Laura Mennell
“I only went along to youth theatre with a friend when I was young to try to make myself a bit more sociable. But the whole thing was quite sore; it really hurt me trying to get into drama school. It was a world I knew nothing about - it was very middle class; all that usual stuff. But I was young, determined, and I just went for it.” WorldTryingWholeSchoolYoungStuffBitsHurtClassMiddleYouthDramaDeterminedTheatreMiddle ClassUsualHurt MeSociableIt Really HurtsYouth Theatre Author:Anne-Marie Duff
“When I started drama school, theatre was the main draw. I never had any movie star notions. Not that there were family ties to the theatre, either.” SchoolStarsDramaDrawsNotionTheatreTiesMovie StarFamily Ties Author:Anne-Marie Duff
“If we traverse the world, it is possible to find cities without walls, without letters, without kings, without wealth, without coin, without schools and theatres; but a city without a temple, or that practiseth not worship, prayer, and the like, no one ever saw.” IfsWorldSchoolReligionWealthPrayerCitiesSawsWallKingsWorshipLettersTheatreTemplesCoinsTraverse Author:Plutarch
“Mum did a lot of commercial theatre and farces in the 1980s and '90s to make sure the school bills were paid.” SchoolPaidBillsTheatreMumFarce Author:Benedict Cumberbatch
“I had an unorthodox high-school experience; I shifted around to different schools. When I got to college and met Larry Sacharow, who ran the theatre department [at Fordham University in NYC], he was the first person to say ‘I believe in you.’ At that point, I just needed someone to say ‘I see you, I get you, let’s go.’ It’s an amazing thing to borrow someone else’s confidence in you; it can change your life.” FirstsBelievePersonsDifferentSchoolI BelieveCollegeNeededMetsHigh SchoolUniversityI Believe InTheatreRanDepartmentBelieve In YouChanging Your LifeAmazing ThingsFirst PersonLarryNycUnorthodoxI Believe In YouNeeded SomeoneSchool Experience Author:Taylor Schilling
“In high school, I was one of the cofounders of New Kids on the Block my freshman year in high school. But I also started studying theatre in high school my freshman year as well. So throughout high school, I was actually doing both.” YearsWellsKidsSchoolStudyHigh SchoolTheatreBlockFreshmanFreshman YearFreshman Year In High School Author:Donnie Wahlberg
“I almost failed drama at school. I hated it. It was all about the history of theatre.” SchoolDramaTheatreHated Author:Brenton Thwaites
“I had to leave school at 14 because my father got injured in the mines and I had to support my family. I was an undertakers assistant, then a plasterer, before doing my military service in the RAF. All the while, I was doing amateur dramatics and dreaming of getting a scholarship to the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.” DreamSchoolFatherSupportMilitaryMinesMy FamilyTheatreInjuredScholarshipAssistantsUndertakerMilitary ServiceBristolRaf Author:Brian Blessed
“My parents were so proud when I got a scholarship to go to theatre school - it was unheard of that a coal-miners son should go to drama school.” ShouldSchoolParentSonProudDramaTheatreCoalScholarshipUnheardMinersCoal Miners Author:Brian Blessed
“I went to school to play sports, but I got involved in theatre in college kind of by mistake. I ended up taking an acting class almost just to get rid of an arts requirement, but I wound up in this wonderful acting class with this teacher named Alma Becker who really saved my life. I was just kind of this knucklehead kid from DC and I was in and out of trouble all of the time. I took a theatre class and she really discovered something in me and I absolutely fell in love with it.” KindArtPlayKidsSchoolSportsActingMistakeClassTeacherWonderfulTroubleCollegeInvolvedTheatreWoundsSavedRequirementsActing ClassesKnuckleheads Author:Jon Bernthal