I get many emotional reactions to my post “The Seven Reasons Why Professional Acting Training Programs Simply Aren’t Worth It.” In fact, that one post alone gets about a thousand hits a month, and brings lots of traffic to this blog. That blows my mind. I never meant to be so controversial.

Heck, I have an MFA in Acting and there were many things I absolutely LOVED about my two year USC program. But after I got out of the program, I learned that I’d spent about $75,000 to go there, and I could have spent that much money putting a down payment on a house in LA, or even funded my own indie film. I could have taken ten years of private classes (on my own time and schedule) with the most famous acting coaches in the world! I’ve also received many angry comments …

I recently got an email from an actress named Candace. She has allowed me to post part of her email here, so that I can reply to her publicly. I always enjoy doing this since so many people who come to this site have the same questions. I’m taking acting, and thinking of moving to Los Angeles to really go for it. Am I making the right choice?They usually all boil down to: “Help, I want to be a professional actor, what do I do?” - or - “I’m taking acting, and thinking of moving to Los Angeles to really go for it. Am I making the right choice?” While many of the posts on this site try and answer these questions, I found that Candace had some other concerns, mainly, trying to act while being a mom and a wife, and wanting the best for …

Okay, enough complaining about bigger training programs. The question you may be asking now is, “So if you don’t think I should go to a bigger program, then what should I do? I don’t want to waste my time or money! And I just don’t know if I should go to college. Shouldn’t I just start acting, and move to LA now?”

Well, getting a classic four-year college degree, from an excellent academic university is never wasting your time! In fact, when I think about it, I never ever cast an actor based on whether or not they had a degree from any kind of professional acting training program. Isn’t that sad? I also noticed that, back when I was acting professionally, no one ever cared one bit that I had both a BA degree, …

I’m writing these two part posts, in response to some fabulous comments to follow, but also because I receive so many questions regarding my post Seven Reasons Why Professional Acting Training Programs Are Simply Not Worth It. These are the basic questions I am always asked, and I wanted to explain my thoughts further: “I want to act or at least learn how to become professional actor or actress. Do I need to go to a College or University? If not, should I go to a professional acting program? If I do go to college, should I major in acting, or should I get a BFA in acting? Would that be wasting my time? And what about MFA Acting and Theater programs? What should I do?” Well, this post will try to …

There’s something about going to an acting class that really helps you, as a person, understand that you are not alone. Having to get up in front of a group of people, and really let go, really show all your sides, good, bad, and ugly, learning to scream, and open up, to laugh hysterically at yourself and others, and just having to be a kid once again — all of this helps to not only loosen you up as an adult, it also helps you to be more creative.

Scientific study has shown, in the last several years, that if you do not use your memory, or your brain to learn something new, then those synapses in that part of your brain, Acting classes should be safe havens for those of us who have fears…where those new things would be stored, and then …

Anyone I’ve ever known, including myself, who’s taken any kind of acting class: whether it be a performance class, a public speaking class, an audition class, cold reading class, or an improv class, has always said it was the best thing they ever did. You might include in this category, classes in: any type of dance, hip hop, ballet, elocution lessons, even general movement classes such as Feldenkrais, Yoga, or Alexander Technique.

Taking an acting class helps you open up in ways you never thought possible, and it’s my opinion, that everyone, at one time or another in life, should be required to take an acting class. Let’s face it, in business, sales, politics, and teaching, most people act at one time or another. Why not actually learn some short cuts to make it all easier?

One of the most important …