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Graduate Acting Program

Develop the skills you need to take control of your own destiny.

It’s our belief that the majority of working actors earn their living from on-camera work. To ensure you have the best shot at getting this work, our conservatory-inspired MFA program revolves around preparing you for the professional film, television, and voice-acting environment.

Learn to act on camera in a program run by a multiple-Academy-Award-winning producer. At the end of your three-year MFA program, you’ll have built a reel that looks like you’ve been working in the film industry for years.

Train on our soundstages, directed by experienced industry professionals. Develop the skills that all great actors share: free access to your imagination, the ability to act from your impulses and intuition, and command of your body and voice.

Take classes and work in a collaborative environment with talented writers, directors, and producers, building creative relationships that will last a lifetime. If you choose to do so, you can write, direct, and produce your own original work.

Our digital showcase highlights your full range of talent for managers, agents, and producers and is available to stream year-round.

Graduate Student Voices

Reel Development

This three-year immersion in on-camera acting develops your ability to bring characters and conflict to life. You will star in multiple scenes specifically curated for you by our in-house casting director. Our professional production designers, cinematographers, directors, and editors will help you create your best performances in a professional working environment on one of our six sound stages.

Student Work

NXTUp Film Festival

NXTUP

Films in which you appear will be seen and critiqued by high-profile casting directors, writers, directors, and producers during our annual NXTUp Film Festival. Numerous actors have received casting invitations from NXTUp judges’ post-festival. The festival is streamed live to audiences in every corner of the world. 

Application Information

MFA Acting scholarships are available if you apply through URTA.

Application fees are waived for URTA applicants. Download an application form using the buttons below, complete it, and email it to jmemel@academyart.edu.

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The benefits of an Academy education are amazing: the skills you learn , the connections you make, the incredible physical facilities you get to use, and of course, the professors. No other university prepares you for professional life after graduation the way the Academy does.
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Joel

School of Acting

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