What You’ll Learn

The two-year conservatory-style Performing Arts Diploma program is designed to train students in acting, voice and dance. The technical training is complemented by maximized performance opportunities and career management courses starting in the first term, with direct links to opportunities in the theatre, recording and film industries.

A one-year Performing Arts Certificate program is designed for working professionals or those that have completed a relevant post-secondary program and want a one-year intensive program tailored to their experience and needs. This program offers 31 weeks of intensive training in acting, singing, dance, and career management, customized for each student according to their previous experience and skill level. Applicants to this program require a special application, including references from industry professionals and/or successful completion of a post-secondary qualification in a related field.

The program offers advanced instruction in the performing arts (acting, singing, dancing) and focuses on career development with direct links to opportunities in the theatre, recording and film industries.

A one-year Applied Performing Arts Diploma is a 21-week intensive program where students develop and mount three productions as part of a theatrical collective. Students continue in dance classes, private and group voice studies, acting, and career management workshops while being mentored by working professionals in all areas of production and design. This program is open to graduates of the Performing Arts Diploma and Performing Arts Certificate programs, with auditions occurring in early spring.

The Applied Performing Arts Diploma program offers an opportunity to expand a student’s repertoire. The cohort, referred to as the ‘Company C’ Studio Ensemble, will gain a full grasp of a collaborative ensemble environment through hands-on rehearsal, production, and performance experience. Ensemble members will take one or two roles per production onstage and backstage. Mentorships will be assigned to fit the program and the guest director’s vision and meet production needs for each show.

What You’ll Learn

The Acting program is a rigorous and immersive training program that exposes the emerging artist to a wide array of theatre styles and approaches. Through core training in voice, movement, text, and music the actor builds a personalized process to support the development of a resilient and sustaining artistic expression. In an intimate setting, students are guided and challenged by influential artists of contemporary theatre. The acting program supports artists by developing each actor’s awareness of their own unique artistic process.

The school has partnerships with theatres such as the Stratford and Shaw Festivals, as well as professional artistic organizations across the country. Students are taught by working professional artists who share their theatre experience. NTS has an overall ratio of two instructors per student.

What You’ll Learn

Coursework is undertaken in three academic years and completed over 24 months. Each academic year is two terms of study, each 14 weeks long. Students spend an average of 27 hours per week in classes and related activities. A total of 40 credits is required to earn the Private Career College Diploma in Performing Arts.

Acting Foundations utilizes techniques and practices from a range of contemporary theatrical pedagogies, exercises, practices and projects focused on training the actor’s presence, reactivity, impulse, imagination, mind-body connection and complicity as an ensemble. Scene Study covers techniques of character and text work, emotional grounding and connection, and arc of play.

Improvisation courses cover the form and skills of Gaulier Clown as well as Scenic Improv. In Voice and Text, students will explore techniques that amalgamate vocal, physical and emotional expression with text by discovering the work of Moshe Feldenkrais, Jacques Lecoq, Rudolf Laban, Jerzy Grotowski, and more.

In Movement, students learn somatic, conditioning and improvisational practices emphasizing the interrelatedness of the mind, body, and identity. The RCPA Shakespeare course leads students through exercises exploring text analysis and performance skills using sonnets, monologues, and scene study.

Film classes cover acting for the camera, including the more technical aspects of the filmmaking process. Acting courses also include professional development workshops in seeking representation and culminate in a contemporary play production during the final year.

In vocal classes, students are encouraged to work on repertoire that suits their natural vocal talent and style through weekly individual singing lessons and learn the importance of group singing in a college-wide chorale. Integrating acting into a vocal presentation is introduced and expanded in the Vocal Division’s signature course Music Theatre Presentation. Students also undertake a thorough exploration of the origins and genesis of musical theatre in Musical Theatre History, while the fundamentals of music training and theory are covered in Musicianship.

Musical Theatre Lab immerses students in the process of creating a new piece of musical theatre by writing dialogue and song lyrics in collaboration with their fellow students. The training culminates in a musical production during the final year with a professional director, music director, and choreographer.

When it comes to dance, students receive training in ballet, jazz, and tap in the Dance Division. Students are assessed and placed in one of six levels of each dance discipline, ranging from pre-beginner to intermediate to advanced.

What You’ll Learn

George Brown College Theatre Arts students train and perform at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto’s Distillery District. The 44,000-square-foot facility serves as a performance, training and outreach centre nestled in a historic area of Toronto’s east end. The facility is shared with Soulpepper Theatre – a renowned classical repertory company. Other companies rent this space, meaning students mingle and interact with working professionals. George Brown College offers more classes than any other public-sector theatre school, with small class sizes for more focused learning.

Theatre Arts students perform a season at the Young Centre for the Performing Arts in their third and final year, working alongside guest directors and professional theatre technicians.

George Brown’s Acting for Media program provides the training needed to succeed as a screen actor in today’s entertainment industry: acting technique, movement, voice and script analysis. Learn to articulate through screen characterization, on-camera experience, audition etiquette, and standards. Graduates will have a solid industry knowledge base, including its history, structure and hierarchy and professional standards. Workshop simulations, on-camera exercises, voice-over demonstrations, green-screen training and training in motion-capture suits provide the skills needed to be a successful actor in the field.

Students will be given a basic understanding of using new technology and immersive environments.

What You’ll Learn 

Humber’s Acting for Stage and Screen diploma is a two-year program that trains you to be an actor in the modern era. You will learn the basics of acting through scenes, exercises, and projects; and work with experienced actors and directors in theatre, film, TV, and multimedia. You will also learn the business and professional aspects of acting, such as auditioning, branding, and freelancing. You can explore your creativity and use technologies that enhance your performance. In your final semester, you will choose to focus on either stage or screen, and attend workshops on topics like motion capture, voice-over, virtual production, and more.

In addition to traditional stage, film and television opportunities, graduates of the program are ready to work in a wide range of multimedia, including webisodes, virtual reality and gaming videos, as well as voice overs for cartoons, commercials, narration and audio dialogue replacement (dubbing). 

What You’ll Learn 

At the School for Performing Arts at Capilano University, the three-year Diploma in Acting for Stage and Screen provides students with the skills to begin a professional acting career in theatre, television and film.

The first year of the program is comprehensive and introduces students to acting for stage and screen, improv, voice, movement, history, and backstage work. In the final two years of the program, students concentrate on performance and professional skills as well as directing, acting in film projects and in theatre department mainstage productions. The faculty are professional theatre and screen artists so the combination of this comprehensive training and studying with working professionals will increase the chances of success for the graduates of this program.

Capilano University also offers diplomas in Musical Theatre, a Bachelor of Performing Arts Degree, and related diplomas in other areas of the entertainment industry.

What You’ll Learn 

All theatre students start as Specialized Honours BA Theatre Studies students and study a general first year that introduces them to all aspects of theatre, including Acting, Production/Design, and Performance Creation and Research. At the end of first year, students choose their path to enter Performance Creation & Research, Devised Theatre, Playwriting & New Play Dramaturgy, Production/Design, and Acting Conservatory.

The four-year Acting-Theatre program offers students rigorous, integrated training in acting for the stage and screen. You will study voice, movement and acting over the three final years of the degree, acquiring knowledge and a range of high-level skills that are then applied in performance projects. The Acting Conservatory takes students deep into scene study, script analysis and character development. Upper year Conservatory members are cast in Theatre@York’s mainstage season, which features classic masterpieces and contemporary plays from Canada and around the world, chosen to address significant cultural and political debates.

Students of the program must audition to be admitted to the program at York University.

What You’ll Learn 

The Toronto Film School knows that aspiring actors need professional training that is both skills-oriented and industry-based. The Acting for Film, TV and the Theatre diploma program covers all areas of acting, from the artistic and technical to the business side as well. The comprehensive, 18-month on-campus program offers small class sizes, and instruction from working actors. You’ll also be provided with networking opportunities with directors and casting agents. Students graduate with the knowledge needed to land a variety of creative roles, including film or TV actor, theatre actor, voice-over artist (for TV, film, radio and video games), screenwriter, filmmaker, director and producer.

Students learn the foundations of acting for the camera and on stage. The small classes are taught by experienced actors, and you will graduate with a demo reel of work ready to go to auditions. Graduates  will also leave with eligibility for their first ACTRA credit.

Toronto Film School graduates have gone on to act in a variety of film and television shows such as The Man from Toronto, The Murdoch Mysteries, The Expanse, and more.

What You’ll Learn 

The BFA Acting program in the Department of Theatre and Film at UBC combines professional acting training with a solid grounding in theatre history and a liberal arts education. The BFA Acting program focuses on the development of the actor and as they progress through their degree they will study and develop their own acting styles and disciplines.

Admission into the BFA Acting program at UBC is limited and based on each individual’s audition and supplemental application information.

In the first two years, students pursuing a degree in acting will focus on storytelling, improvisation, scene study, movement and voice. In their third year, students study and practice acting styles including Commedia dell’arte, Chekhov and Shakespeare. The fourth-year incorporates screen acting, auditioning, solo creation, singing, voice-over and stage combat. Additionally, the courses are fully integrated with theatre productions and students will have the opportunity to act in shows and work with guest artists and industry professionals.

What You’ll Learn

The program combines the professional training of an acting school with the academic studies of an honours-level drama degree program and includes the intensive professional training of an acting school with the academic preparation of an honours-level drama degree. Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies offers three program options including Theatre and Drama Studies, offered jointly between Sheridan College and UTM, Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies (Major) or Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies (Minor).

As a Theatre and Drama student, you will receive expert practical training in acting, balanced with a thorough exploration of dramatic history, theory and literature in this longstanding program. Graduates are well versed in the craft and business of acting in small class sizes.

Students in the program are given the opportunity to earn a two-year (equivalent) conservatory diploma in professional actor training from Sheridan in combination with a specialist program focused on performance history, theory, and dramatic literature from UTM. This intensive combined program provides a foundation for a career in the professional theatre and for advanced theatre studies.

What You’ll Learn 

Concordia’s Bachelor of fine Arts Acting for the Theatre program trains students to be adaptable performers with skills applicable to many forms and genres of contemporary theatre and live performance.

As students move through the program, they explore more advanced techniques and specialty skills, such as stage combat, theatrical biomechanics, viewpoints, singing, dialects, audition and camera, among others. They then progress from acting styles rooted in psychological realism to range-expanding techniques based in psychophysical and non-realistic approaches. Students apply their growing skillset by performing in productions of plays by great contemporary playwrights and iconic writers from the past as well as create and perform original work.

Throughout the program, you will gain exposure to the professional theatre scene in Montreal and beyond. You may do a supervised internship with an organization such as the Segal Centre, the Centaur Theatre, Geordie Theatre, and Bread and Puppet Theater. You may also have the chance to participate in an international exchange program or field schools. Recent opportunities have included programs in Chinese opera in Beijing, and post-dramatic theatre in Germany.

Acting for the Theatre students begin by taking core theatre courses with all theatre students. As you progress and your skill base grows, you will take classes in specialty performance areas and advanced techniques. You may also choose from courses that cover all practical aspects of theatre, including stage management, production, and dramaturgy.

What You’ll Learn

TMU’s four-year Bachelor of Fine Arts Performance: Acting degree is a full-time program Students train with talented actors from diverse backgrounds and learn to build artistry in acting through a deepened understanding of theory, text analysis, technique, movement, and voice for a wide variety of performance opportunities. Learn the business side of performance and gain a global perspective working with internationally acclaimed guest directors and professional companies. All in the heart of Toronto, home to the third-largest English language theatre district in the world and a North American hot spot for television and film production.

The Performance program at The Creative School is now offering students the opportunity to learn 21st-century skills in motion capture training and voiceover acting as a way to provide students a pathway into the exciting world of video game acting careers. You will also learn the business side of acting and gain a broad perspective as you work with internationally acclaimed guest directors and professional companies.

What You’ll Learn 

The four-year program centres around in-studio courses in Acting, Movement, and Voice and Speech that build towards a Bachelor of Arts with Honours degree in Theatre.

Students are provided with a series of performance opportunities throughout the degree program, including four mounted productions in which they collaborate with industry professionals, faculty and students in the school’s other threatre programs (Costume studies, Stage Design and Technical Theatre, Theatre Studies). Past students have supplemented their acting studies with minors or double majors in a range of topics to personalize their education.

The first-year acting class is open to any student, regardless of experience. However, entrance into the next three years of the Acting Program is by audition only. Students may secure a spot by auditioning either before they enroll in their first year at Dalhousie or upon completion of their first year.

What You’ll Learn

The program covers physical and vocal flexibility and stamina to tackle any style of playing in today’s theatre.

Students learn theoretical and critical analysis of contemporary and classical texts, and a variety of approaches to make them come alive. Graduates also acquire a solid practice that develops all the actor’s tools to create a centered, intuitive, and exciting on-stage presence.

Students will also learn:

• to create a vibrant character with extended physical, psychological, imagistic, and vocal qualities.
• to fill the stage and reach the audience in a variety of performance spaces.
• to work in an ensemble to ensure respect for the work, the partner, and the self.

Preparation for immediate entry into the professional workforce, including extensive audition preparation for both and stage and film.

What You’ll Learn 

In the Theatre Performance Bachelor of Fine Arts program, students explore a range of genres and forms, including devised theatre, live art, and social practice. The degree program deviates from traditional theatre training by experimenting with contemporary processes of performance, unconventional narrative styles, expanded dramaturgy, experimental forms, new media and creative research. Students examine how the fundamentals of performance—time, space, body, text, movement — help enact necessary social interventions, and advance the broad aesthetic fields of contemporary art.

What You’ll Learn 

The Department of Theatre and Film at the University of Winnipeg’s faculty of working professionals has established a reputation as the go-to centre in Manitoba for training in the practical aspects of making both theatre and film.

Students can enroll in either a three-year General BA in all streams, a four-Year Honours BA in most streams, and a Minor. Degree programs are offered in Filmmaking, Acting, Theatre Production and Stage Management, Directing, Playwriting, Design, and Drama in Education.

What You’ll Learn 

The four-year Acting Bachelor of Fine Arts program at the University of Windsor’s School of Dramatic Arts aims to balance conservatory style classes, performance, and academic course work. Designed to prepare graduates to pursue careers as professional actors, this internationally recognized acting program provides the opportunity for students to learn from faculty members who are professional actors and directors, and from guest artists who are working theatre professionals serving as visiting professors, directors, and artists in residence. Small classes and easy access to professors provides students with personalized attention and an individualized approach to studies to enhance learning. Courses include acting technique, scene study, Shakespearean performance, voice, improvisation, movement, theatre history, other electives in dramatic art, and courses in the liberal arts.

University Players, the acting company of the School of Dramatic Art, plays a vital role in the training as students take their place among the company members. Courses include Introduction to Acting and Improvisation for the Theatre, Movement for the Actor, Voice for the Actor, Introduction to Theatre and Performance Studies. An audition is required.

You will learn to identify and apply specific acting exercises and techniques essential to the development of a theatre artist as well as learn to embody the principles of flexibility, strength, and endurance as they apply to the development of the theatre actor. Students are also taught to communicate articulately, effectively, and efficiently by incorporating voice and movement techniques into the creation of a role.

The program had 19 graduates in 2020 and a graduation rate of 87 per cent.

What You’ll Learn 

Seneca’s two-year Acting for Camera and Voice diploma program offers hands-on learning in film and voice acting. Students learn techniques to build a strong foundation of stage acting, movement, voice and camera acting.

This program includes how to research roles, how to create audio and video demo reels, how to write scripts and business management skills necessary to succeed in an acting career. You will also learn to:

• Develop and apply a personal, positive creative process for the creation and performance of a believable character appropriate to the requirements of each media discipline.
• Prepare for and deliver a believable performance appropriate to the recorded media discipline, convey character to the camera with appropriate emotional depth and clarity.
• Maintain a character’s physical and emotional continuity over the course of production.
• Work effectively with agents, casting directors, producers, directors and film crews.
• Describe the roles and hierarchy of “in–front–of–the–camera” and “behind–the–camera” workers in the film and television industry.
• Effectively employ improvisational skills for problem–solving.
• Use creativity and imagination to demonstrate through individual performance an understanding of character development and scene awareness and how it affects the overall production structure.
• Create dialects and adjust the voice for various mediums by utilizing all components of the speaking voice and manipulating each of these components as required to achieve the desired result.

When students graduate job opportunities can range from: actor for film, television, and stage as well as voice-over narrator for audiobooks, radio and television commercials, radio plays, animation and video games.

What You’ll Learn

Canadore’s Acting for Stage and Screen provides tools of the trade necessary to be successful in the worlds of theatre, film and television in this fast-paced program. Students train under professionals currently working in the industry and have the opportunity to act in Digital Cinematography student movies. This three-year program culminates with a graduate contemporary theatre company where graduates can perform in one or more live productions.

Courses in the program include acting techniques, voice and singing, movement, speech, stage combat, film and television performance, and theatre history. Actor training culminates at the end of the third-year term with Rep 21, the mainstage production series showcasing the talents of each graduating class.

Additional learning opportunities include:

• Performing dramatic roles in various styles, from classical to contemporary, in multiple theatre mediums.
• Self-producing and creating original works.
• Performing non-classical, vocal material – solo and choral – and executing basic dance steps and choreography as required by musical productions and classical plays.
• Applying acting skills such as voice, speech, movement, stage combat and clowning to various performance works.
• Adapting performing style to the electronic media, working for the camera (film, television and video production) and the microphone in various aspects of radio broadcasting/ and character voice-over work for animation.
• Interpreting theatre history and genre knowledge to prepare for roles.
• Managing the business of acting.
• Managing job stress, enhancing work performance and maximizing professional opportunities, including self-employment.
• Working cooperatively with other theatre arts professionals (e.g., technical production crews, designers, directors, stage management, and arts administrative staff).
• Providing services as a drama resource for community theatre, recreational programs, children’s programs and private teaching.
• Completing all work to a professional standard and in compliance with relevant laws, standards, and organizations affiliated with professional acting.

What You’ll Learn 

Fanshawe College’s Acting for Screen and Stage program inspires students to pursue their acting talents and lays the groundwork for a career in performance-based media. The two-year diploma program centres on collaborative media-based projects with other Fanshawe programs that simulate real-world working environments. During the first year of study, students learn the foundations of acting involving stage performance. In the second year, students perform in films, motion capture and green-screen work and experience virtual set performance. You will also learn to do voice work for animation, film and games and combat for stage and screen. The program culminates in a showcase evening presented by students, a mix of live and projected work.

Students learn in dedicated lab and theatre spaces at Fanshawe’s campuses, including the largest green-screen TV and film studios outside of Toronto. Guest speakers and field trips round out the program and provide insight into the professional world of entertainment. Graduates end the program with a professional portfolio of work to show employers, including an on-camera demo reel, voice demo and recorded monologues that can be used to find acting jobs and representation by agents. Other skills include screen and stage characterization, script analysis, voice work, motion capture, technical knowledge and creativity in acting.

What You’ll Learn 

Niagara College’s Acting for Film and Digital Media two-year diploma program in the School of Media offers courses in voice, speech, movement, scene study and auditioning for film and television. Niagara College is also one of the few Canadian post-secondary institutions that offer direct instruction in the Meisner Technique, one of the foremost acting techniques taught today. With the rise of more entrepreneurial web content, students also study film editing, screenwriting, stunt training, voiceover acting, self-marketing and acting with technology (e.g., green screen).

The program includes extensive hands-on experience taking scene study and short film projects from script to screen using the latest technology. The instructors work with industry professionals in the Toronto region and across Canada. The school is recognized by the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA), with graduates granted immediate ACTRA apprentice status.

Highlights of the program also include:

• The opportunity to establish a professional portfolio, including a resume, headshots, demo reels, and voiceover demo that reflects your style and acting technique.
• Collaboration with future directors and producers in Niagara College’s Broadcasting – Radio, Television and Film program on short films, commercials and music videos.
• Interacting with working industry professionals (instructors, directors, actors and producers) through the ‘Up Close and Personal’ series.
• Niagara College is recognized by the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA), with graduates granted immediate ACTRA apprentice status.

What You’ll Learn

The Acting program at Second City provides students with the skills to take responsibility of their own growth and learning as an actor. This program offers a unique method of acting that enables students to discover skills found in the physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual aspects of the human condition. Each level of the program builds upon the skills achieved from the previous one. Auditioning and working in the business will also be examined. This program is great for beginners or for actors who have been out of the classroom for a while.

Some courses are available on-demand through the Second City website including Voiceover 101 and Acting 101 Fundamentals. This class teaches a solid, fundamental approach to acting that can be applied to any style or genre of material. After establishing a core process, put it immediately into practice by tackling different styles of scripts each week. Students learn and discuss key elements in scripts, as well as submit self–taped assignments with direct feedback from the instructor.

Live one-on-one student/teacher checks-ins can be requested with your instructor by appointment if needed. Hone your process and then put it into practice through multiple genres.

What You’ll Learn 

The Vancouver Institute of Media Arts Intro to Acting program is designed for students with little or no previous acting experience. If you are passionate and dedicated to the serious study of acting, this one-year conservatory program is designed to challenge and nurture aspiring actors. Students learn from professionals in the industry for 30 hours of class per week, receiving intensive practical training in Acting for Film, Television and Voiceover.

Term 1 is devoted to building strong foundation skills in acting. In these first 12 weeks, your mind, body and imagination are challenged while exploring text and story. This intensive foundation prepares you for the challenges that await you in the upcoming terms, with most classes held in a dedicated studio space. The second term is dedicated to the actor’s individual process and character development as you emerge into public spaces for location shoots and showcases. Through an intensive scene study and a short film project, as an actor, you are challenged to use yourself and your foundation skills to advance your personal exploration into story and character.

By the final term, students participate in two intensive projects: a short film shoot and a full-length play in a professional theatre space. The last two months of the program are committed to the business of creating demo reels. Voiceover and audition skills are critical to landing work. Many guest speakers and instructors are brought in to pass on their expertise — including professional actors, directors, casting and talent agents who have worked extensively across North America.