Top 5 Types of Acting Classes in NYC

For decades, aspiring actors from across the globe have come to New York City to kickstart their acting careers. NYC is home to a wide variety of performing arts, including many different types opportunities for actors. Finding a class can be as easy as visiting CourseHorse.com, an online catalog for NYC’s classes, or BackStage.com, a broader resource for acting needs.

Yet knowing which classes fit you best can be challenging. In a city as diverse as New York, there’s a place for every acting style so of course, there are a multitude of acting classes to go along with them. Here’s a breakdown of the top five types of acting classes in New York City.

Classical Acting Classes
Classical acting classes instruct their students in the techniques of more traditional or historical acting styles. For those looking to express their inner Hamlet or Oedipus, classical acting courses offer invaluable assistance in mastering the historical acting techniques used in the plays of Shakespeare, Sophocles, and many others. While not necessarily a mainstay in popular culture, classical acting is timeless, which means that actors who study it will always have an audience.

Voice-Over Acting Classes
Given the possibility for work in animated films, TV shows, and video games, radio comedies and dramas, radio and television commercials, and dubbed foreign language films, voice acting is a very popular point of study for aspiring actors in NYC. Because these jobs require all dramatic expression to be vocal, voice acting classes train actors’ voices to convey any emotion a scene or setting may require. These classes help actors to master vocal inflection, tone, and style to maximize the degree of emotion expressed in their speech.

Method Acting Classes
Method acting classes teach students to immerse themselves in thoughts and emotions of their characters in order to perform their roles as convincingly as possible. Rather than merely portraying their characters externally through vocal style and body and facial expressions, method actors must fully inhabit the reality of their characters. This means that method acting classes can often be quite intensive, as they require actors to fully experience the emotions (good or bad) of the characters they want to portray.

Improv Acting Classes
With the popularity of NYC-based groups like Improv Everywhere and the Upright Citizens Brigade, it seems like nearly all aspiring comedic actors in New York City have tried their hand at improv at one point or another. Improv acting classes are often the perfect means to sharpen the wits of anyone looking to explore less conventional acting styles. Not for the faint of heart, improv classes take traditional actors out of their comfort zones by requiring their students to think both quickly and wittily to meet the demands of a fast-paced, script-less acting environment.

Film and Television Acting Classes
It should come to no surprise that film and television acting classes are the most popular acting classes in New York City. Film and television acting gigs are among the most lucrative in the acting industry, so the eventual goal of most aspiring actors in NYC is often to snag major film and television acting roles. Because of this, film and television acting classes are generally the most competitive, as they not only help students to master their craft, but also increase their marketability so that they might land jobs and agents in the future.