TOM SAWYER

Acting Coach

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Tom has trained and worked extensively both in the UK and the US. Training in London includes The Poor School, The Actors Centre and The Actors Temple and the Margie Haber Studio In the US among others. 

He has worked as a professional actor for over 20 years on stage and screen at the highest level for institutions such as BBC (Eastenders), Channel 4 (Hollyoaks), ITV (The Bill) and on stage has worked at the famous Edinburgh Festival and with companies such as Pilot Theatre Company (Sing yer heart out for the lads) appearing in some of the UK’s most prestigious theatres including Hackney Empire, Salisbury Playhouse, Soho Theatre and York Theatre Royal. 

He is a founder and tutor at the Screen Actors London and a tutor at The Actors Temple where he specializes in the Meisner Technique, and also works with actors at Mountview Academy, International School of Screen Acting and the London Film Academy.

DOMINIC KELLY

Acting Coach

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Dominic is an acting coach with over twenty years of experience in theatre and film, specialising in the Meisner Technique, and as a creative consultant, advising writers, actors, and producers on idea development, and dramaturgy. He is also the artistic director of the salon:collective, hosting actors training and producing creative projects for theatre, film, festivals and corporate clients such as British Council for Rio Olympics, Harvey Nicholls, and Wilderness Festival. Dominic teaches Meisner Technique internationally, and has recently created an online actor training programme. He has assisted top Meisner coaches, Tom Radcliffe (Actors Temple) and Martin Barter (Sanford Meisner Centre).  His focus in actor training is to embolden actors to question fully and rigorously the definition of Meisner’s quote, ‘living truthfully under imaginary circumstances’. His work encourages actors to question their habits and explore the power of their vulnerability. He recently was awarded the Olwen Wymark Award from the Writer’s Guild for his work with emerging playwrights. Previous clients have appeared in Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, The Avengers: Infinity War, The Avengers: Endgame, Black Panther, Wonder Woman, Crazy Rich Asians, Ex Machine, Peaky Blinders, Black Mirror, I May Destroy You, The Crown, The Witcher, Casualty, Silent Witness, Holby, EastEnders.

 

ASHLIE WALKER

Acting Coach

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A wealth of experience as a professional actress for 20 years and extensive training in Meisner Technique, Ashlie is a highly respected international teacher, tutor and personal coach. As a tutor, she especially focuses on unlocking the actors' instinct for truth, elevated by dramatic choices in performance. She guides actors to deepen their understanding of the craft, experience emotional freedom, build their actors' faith and, perhaps most importantly, to take risks. ​Alongside teaching, Ashlie has numerous directing credits and holds a Bsc (Hons) in Psychology and Diploma in Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy, both of which expand her capacity to work with and empower her actors on and off stage. As a personal transformation coach, Ashlie guides those living in fear, anxiety and stress to discover a life of freedom, purpose and joy. Ashlies soul calling is to guide others back to love and into their light.

BEN JOINER

Voice & Movement Coach

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Ben is an actor and a vocal coach. He trained as a dancer in the early nineties, touring internationally with various ballet and modern dance companies before retraining as an actor in 2000. Since then he has worked extensively in theatre, film and television. He coaches on the MA in Voice Studies at The Royal Central School of Speech of Drama and is one of approximately 200 vocal coaches worldwide trained by Kristin Linklater to teach her method Freeing the Natural Voice. Since 2010 he has been coaching at The Oxford School of Drama, Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts, Rose Bruford College of Theatre and Performance, Arts Educational Schools, The Giles Foreman Centre for Acting, The Actor’s Temple, plus numerous theatre companies, independent groups and individual clients.

NITA ARPIAINEN

Acting Coach

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Nita Arpiainen is an actor and acting coach, yoga teacher, holistic coach and the founder of Actors Academy Finland. In her previous career, she has also worked as a TV presenter and producer. 

Nita's deep passion and curiosity for acting, learning and personal growth is the underlying motivation for AAF to come alive. The vision for AAF was formed while Nita attended numerous acting schools and workshops in London at the Actors Temple, Giles Forman Acting Studio, City Academy and the Actors Studio to name a few, ultimately falling profoundly in love with the Meisner Technique, and it making a powerful and lasting impact on the way she viewed acting. Nita has been passionately studying and working with the Meisner Technique since 2015.

Nita has created and designed the Actors Academy's One Year Training as the optimal training course for varied level acting students who share a readiness and authentic desire to dive into the work with depth and and expand both professionally as personally. The One Year Training combines the expertise Nita and the other OYT coaches have gathered on the subject around the world in an empowering and effective way.

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TIM KENT 

Director & Acting Coach

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Tim Kent is a multi-award winning director with over 25 years experience working at the forefront of the British film industry. After running a successful talent agency in London's West-End for 12 years, representing many household names. Tim has directed over 200 projects including showreels and award winning films for which his talent has been recognised internationally. In 2008 Tim founded the Actor's Studio as an international training ground for actors to develop their on-camera skills whilst working with a professional crew. He has taught thousands of established actors as well as provided coaching to politicians, sports stars, professional singers and TV personalities. Actor's Studio is globally renowned as one of the best places to study the craft of screen acting. His debut feature 'Sparrow's Call' is set to commence filming in Romania in 2021 with a crew led by some of the best creatives working in the film industry today.

JAMES LARKIN

Director & Acting Coach

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James Larkin trained at RADA and brings over 30 years of experience as an actor and director. His inspiration to direct was sparked while working with Sir Kenneth Branagh and the Renaissance Theatre Company, touring Shakespeare globally and in London’s West End, where he performed alongside Emma Thompson and was directed by Branagh and Dame Judi Dench. This period included work on the Oscar-winning Henry V.

James has had a prolific television career, with notable roles in ITV’s Maigret alongside Michael Gambon, as Tony Blair in the multi-BAFTA-winning The Government Inspector, and appearances in Wolf Hall and Black Mirror. His directing journey began with the cult short My Own Private Lido and expanded into international award-winning films. He has since directed over 60 hours of drama, including Private Practice in the US and BBC’s Call the Midwife in the UK. His feature film City Slacker was nominated for Best Film at Raindance and the British Independent Film Awards.

James’s unique screen acting training approach is shaped by his extensive experience both in front of and behind the camera. His method, developed from insights gained on set and in the edit suite, has quickly transformed many actors' performances. He has also trained students at top institutions such as RADA, Guildhall, LAMDA, Arts Ed, Actors Studio, and the Actors Academy in Finland.

ALEKSANDER RUCIDLO

Voice Over Coach

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Aleksander Rucidlo is an actor, speaker and a model. He has vast experience both in film and TV, such as Veljeni Vartija, Syke, Roba, Ex-onnelliset, and Karkurit. Aleksander is also a voice talent, voice over artist and a voice work coach. His voice can be heard on the radio, TV, and adverts. The transformative and charismatic Aleksander is a credible actor both in drama and action roles. In addition to Finnish, he speaks English fluently.

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ANTHONY MEINDL

Acting Coach

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Anthony Meindl started Anthony Meindl’s Actor Workshop 26 years ago. He now has the largest scene study studio in Los Angeles and locations in 10 other cities around the world: New York, London, Vancouver, Toronto, Atlanta, Sydney, Chicago, Copenhagen and Cape Town. He has been the guest acting teacher for directing at David Lynch’s Master of Filmmaking Program, and has guest lectured at the prestigious Moscow Arts Theatre, The National Theatre School of Ireland, The Actors Centre London, The Danish National School of Performing Arts and others. His latest feature film, Where We Go From Here sold to HULU. He is the author of five books, including best-sellers, At Left Brain Turn Right and Book the F*cking Job and his latest book Unstuck was released in 2021.

He has been a passionate voice in helping actors everywhere understand their worth and advocate for themselves and their own creativity. He has broken myths around the business and what often holds actors back. 

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FAY BECK

Acting Coach

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Fay Beck is the artistic director and founder of the Actors Door Studio, a London based acting studio specialising in deep characterisation and realism in acting. In addition to training actors at her studio, Fay coaches actors one on one and in small groups. As an acting coach she works internationally with trained professionals, performers, working actors and with actors in training.

While the Foundations of her approach lie in the Meisner Technique, Fay has developed a new, focused and efficient acting technique, Beck Emotional Access Technique™ (or BEAT for short), aimed at developing the actor as ‘an artist of emotions’. Through BEAT, Fay trains actors to be able to give nuanced, highly specified, and finely tuned character driven performances. For the screen, Fay’s experience as a writer and film director, has enabled her to create a straight forward but powerful approach to screen acting, using an approach directly derived from BEAT.

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JULIA PETÄJÄ

Improv Teacher

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Julia Petäjä has done improvisational theater for over 11 years and has performed in seven different countries. She has studied improvisation at the iO Chicago as well as under the directing of many legends in the field. At the moment Julia is part of three performing improv collectives: Noisy Caramel, Happenstance and duo Kaisa & Julia. As an actor and teacher she is especially keen on developing personal ways to utilize non-conscious mind intentionally on stage.

MONIKA LINDEMAN

Screen Acting Coach

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Monika is an international actor with credits in the UK, Norway and her home country Finland. Over the last six years, Monika has been working solidly on television. 

With a Masters Degree in Acting, Bachelors in performance art & pedagogical studies and a diploma in physical theatre acting, Monika has studied her craft for more than a decade. She works mainly on television but is still connected to her theatre background.

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TUULI NILSSON

Voice & Speech Coach

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Tuuli is a voice and speech coach with a broad knowledge of various actor voice training methods. She has been a designated Linklater Voice teacher since 2007, and Linklater work has been the basis of her voice training ever since. She is also an Associate Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework (2014), and a certified Alexander Technique teacher, having graduated from The American Center for the Alexander Technique in New York (2015). She holds a Masters degree in Speech Communication and is currently pursuing doctoral studies in Vocology (Tampere University), focusing on the effectiveness of actor-centered voice training methods. She trains acting students and actors both in Finland and internationally. 

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BARBARA HOUSEMAN

Voice Coach, Acting Coach & Director

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Barbara Houseman has worked in theatre for forty years. After dividing her time between Directing and Voice Work, she spent six years in the world renowned Voice Department at the Royal Shakespeare Company then became Associate Director at the Young Vic. For the last 22 years she has worked freelance as a Voice, Text and Acting coach and Associate Director and Director. Among other private clients she coaches Daniel Radcliffe, Jude Law, Clive Owen and Jessie Buckley on various projects. In 2009 she joined Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre as Voice and Text Coach and in 2014 became Season Associate Director. She has worked on numerous shows in the West End including End Game, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Duchess of Malfi, Design for Living & Playboy of the Western World at the Old Vic; The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night time and The Ferryman at the Gielgud; Macbeth, Richard iii and Dr Faustus for the Jamie Lloyd company; the All Female Shakespeare Trilogy, St Joan, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Coriolanus, Trelawny of the Wells at the Donmar. She is the author of Finding Your Voice and Tackling Text [and Subtext] both published by Nick Hern Books and of two digital Masterclasses Developing Your Voice and Bringing the Text to Life. Barbara has also trained as a Healing Shiatsu Practitioner, Master NLP Practitioner, Clean Language & Symbolic Modelling Coach, Calling in the One Coach. These have all influenced her work as has her 33 years practising Mindfulness. She now teaches Mindfulness and Self Compassion alongside her voice, acting and directing work.

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ELIZA SIMPSON

Accent Coach

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Eliza's recent dialect coach credits include Netflix's Tall Girl, the upcoming sequel to Fantastic Beasts, and Justin Chon's new film Blue Bayou with Alicia Vikander.

Eliza is a dialect coach for production and private clients, as well as a certified teacher of Knight Thompson Speechwork. She coaches performers from across the globe for film, TV, stage, voiceover, spokes-modeling, and corporate events. Eliza is a proud graduate of Rutgers University and a member of the Voice and Speech Trainers Association. When she's not on set or at rehearsal, she works in conjunction with acting conservatories like HB Studios, American Academy of Dramatic Arts, NYU, and the New School to assist actors in mastering accent skills.

GARY CONDÉS

Director & Acting Coach

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Gary Condés has 30 years of extensive experience as a professional actor. Having worked in Mainstream, Independent and Low Budget Films, TV Dramas and Soaps, West End, Off-West End, Repertory and Touring Theatre, he knows what it takes to be a professional working actor. His career highlights include working alongside: Sam Rockwell (Moon), Helena Bonham Carter, Colin Firth, Ray Winstone. During the last 5 years, Gary has moved into directing, with plays at West End & Off-West End Theatres, as well as writing and directing short films, which have won a number of awards at international film festivals in London, Los Angeles, Berlin and Barcelona. His work is deeply rooted in the principles and techniques pioneered by Sanford Meisner, but he is also very much inspired by selective practices developed by Stella Adler and Mike Alfreds. Standing on the shoulders of these giants, Gary has developed a way to train actors to work from the personal passions of the heart and guts, to create acting that is alive and kicking, totally committed & fully behavioral. Characterizations full of meaningful behavior is always the goal.

DARREN MCSTAY

Voice Coach

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Darren initially gained a certificate of distinction in Speech and Articulation from LAMDA before studying for an MA in Acting at East 15 Acting School. He also has an equivalent MA in Radio from the same school. As a stage actor, Darren has worked at The National Theatre, The Royal Opera House, ENO (English National Opera), and has also performed in Warhorse in London's West End. As a film actor, he has appeared in over twenty-five films and he continues to work in both fields.

"I have been fortunate enough to have appeared before almost three and a half million people live worldwide. This has successfully led me to become an effective voice & performance coach, reaching over half a million people, in not only improving their voice and communicative potential but making positive changes to their lifestyle, beliefs and habits.

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LEONIE SCHLIESING

Voice Over Coach

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Leonie trained as an actor and singer at the American Musical Theatre Academy in London. After graduation, she quickly developed an interest in Voice Overs and started working in dubbing and ADR as well as animation. 

Today, she has been working as a professional voice over artist for seven years. From her home studio in London, she records her voice daily for clients all over the world. In the past year alone, she has voiced campaigns for Pokémon, Playstation, Ebay and Smarties to name a few.

As a mentor, she has helped a number of emerging voice over artists find their feet within the industry and regularly holds online workshops to pass on her knowledge and skills. 

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PIA RICKMAN

Intimacy Coordinator & Acting Coach

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Pia Rickman trained as a director at Drama Centre CSM in London and complimented her writing and directing experience with an actor training and coaching degree from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama where she focused on the contemporary screen actor training. Rickman, originally from Finland, worked as an assistant director and production manager in film & TV in the years 2002-2014. Rickman coaches actors for their auditions and on set, and has taught at various HE performing arts institutions e.g. Arts Ed, Rose Bruford, London Film Academy, Screen School/ UAL, St Mary’s University as well as ELO, TeaK and NäTy in Finland. Rickman is currently working towards accreditation as an Intimacy Coordinator at IOS. She is a full-time Lecturer in BA (Hons) Acting & Performance at University for the Creative Arts in Surrey.

ALLY MANSON

Acting Coach

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Ally is an actor and director from the UK and trained at East 15 Acting School on the BA (Hons) in Acting. He is currently the Assistant Director of the NO1 UK Tour production of 'Dial M for Murder'. His other notable directing and assistant directing work has led him to work at theatres such as The Duke of York's in London's West End, Rose Theatre Kingston and Leicester Curve Theatre.

As an actor, some of his credits include: ‘EastEnders’ (BBC), ‘The Girl on the Train’ (West End/NO1 UK Tour), ‘Pride and Prejudice’ (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, Original Cast + NO1 UK Tour Cast), and ‘The English Game’ (Headlong). 

He has taught at some of the most reputable drama schools in the UK, such as Guildford School of Acting and East 15 Acting School. Ally's main passion when teaching focuses on Stanislavsky technique, Meisner, audition technique, International collaborations and acting for camera.