LA ACTING SCHOOLS

19 schools · verified listings

Acting Conservatories in Los Angeles

A conservatory is full-time, sequential, and measured in years rather than in weekly sections, which makes it a fundamentally different commitment from a studio class. Every listing is researched from official sources and dated; see our methodology.

AMDA College of the Performing Arts, Los AngelesHollywood

AMDA College of the Performing Arts, Los Angeles

WASC-accredited performing arts college at Hollywood's Yucca and Vine, offering BFA and AOS acting degrees with audition-based admission, published tuition of $49,500 per year, and scholarships reaching 95 percent of students.

Eclectic / multi-techniqueConservatoryYouth programs$$$$Art of Acting StudioHollywood

Art of Acting Studio

The Hollywood studio of New York's Stella Adler Studio of Acting: a NAST-accredited nonprofit conservatory with a 2.5-year professional program at published tuition, plus part-time workshops and teen programs. Distinct from the Stella Adler Academy on Hollywood Blvd.

AdlerConservatoryYouth programs$$$Valencia

CalArts School of Theater

The Disney-founded arts institute's theater school in Valencia: BFA and MFA Acting with mandatory live auditions for most US applicants, experimental ensemble culture, and published institute tuition.

Eclectic / multi-techniqueConservatory$$$$Northridge

California State University, Northridge Department of Theatre

Cal State Northridge's 250-major theatre department: a no-audition Theatre BA with an acting and directing option, eight productions a year, a teen summer drama workshop, and CSU-resident tuition.

Eclectic / multi-techniqueConservatoryYouth programs$$$East West PlayersLittle Tokyo, Downtown LA

East West Players

The nation's longest-running Asian American theatre (1965) in Little Tokyo, whose Actors Conservatory track offers open-enrollment Acting I through III with a public showcase, plus a playwriting institute and youth outreach.

Eclectic / multi-techniqueConservatoryYouth programs$The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film InstituteWest Hollywood

The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute

The West Coast campus of the institute Lee and Anna Strasberg founded in 1969, teaching the Method in structured programs from two-week intensives to a two-year AOS degree, with free class audits and published tuition.

Method (Strasberg)StanislavskiConservatoryYouth programs$$$$East Hollywood

Los Angeles City College Theatre Academy

The 1929-founded conservatory inside LA City College in East Hollywood: audition-gated, full-time daytime actor training whose alumni include Morgan Freeman and Mark Hamill, at $46 a unit for residents.

Eclectic / multi-techniqueConservatory$Hollywood

Los Angeles Performing Arts Conservatory

NAST-accredited Hollywood conservatory founded 1996 by Natalia Lazarus, offering Meisner-based degree and certificate programs on a quarter system with F-1 visa sponsorship for international students.

MeisnerConservatoryWestchester

Loyola Marymount University Department of Theatre Arts

Loyola Marymount's NAST-accredited Theatre Arts BA in Westchester: an impacted program with video auditions for performance applicants, Pulitzer- and Emmy-credited faculty, and published private tuition.

Eclectic / multi-techniqueConservatory$$$$Culver City

Michelle Danner Acting Studio

Multi-technique studio led by acting coach and film director Michelle Danner, now at the Creative Center for the Arts in Culver City, with adult classes, a conservatory track, youth programs, and international student visa sponsorship.

Eclectic / multi-techniqueMeisnerConservatoryYouth programs$$New York Film Academy, Los AngelesBurbank Media District

New York Film Academy, Los Angeles

The Burbank campus of the film school founded in 1992, offering Acting for Film degrees from a one-year conservatory program to an MFA, WSCUC-accredited, with backlot production work at Universal Studios.

Eclectic / multi-techniqueMeisnerConservatoryYouth programs$$$$Malibu

Pepperdine University Theatre Program (Seaver College Fine Arts Division)

Pepperdine's Malibu theatre program: a BA with acting and musical theatre emphases plus a theatre-and-screen-arts hybrid, small classes, optional live auditions with automatic scholarship consideration, and published tuition.

Eclectic / multi-techniqueConservatory$$$$Century City

The Playground: A Young Actors' Conservatory

Century City young actors conservatory founded 2005 by Gary Spatz, the on-set coach of the All New Mickey Mouse Club generation, with age-banded on-camera training from 7 up, an on-camera tryout, and a free intro class.

StanislavskiMeisnerConservatoryYouth programs$$Downtown Burbank

The Sanford Meisner Center

The only school Sanford Meisner founded under his own name, alive and well in Downtown Burbank: a 9-month certificate program taught in the direct line by Martin Barter, with published $325 monthly tuition and free intro sessions. Reports of its closure were wrong.

MeisnerConservatoryAudit / trial$$Stella Adler Academy of Acting & Theatre - Los AngelesHollywood

Stella Adler Academy of Acting & Theatre - Los Angeles

The nonprofit Hollywood academy founded by Stella Adler in 1985, teaching her imagination-first technique through eight-week terms, a two-year conservatory of roughly 1,956 hours, and need-based scholarships up to 50 percent.

AdlerStanislavskiConservatoryYouth programs$$$UCLA School of Theater, Film and TelevisionWestwood

UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television

UCLA's Westwood theater school: an audition-supplemented Theater BA, MFAs including Acting (currently closed to new applicants), summer institutes open to non-degree students, and California-resident public tuition.

Eclectic / multi-techniqueConservatoryYouth programs$$$University Park

USC School of Dramatic Arts

USC's drama school, founded 1945: BA and BFA programs including Acting for Stage and Screen, a three-year MFA, filmed pre-screen auditions, a high school summer conservatory, and published university tuition.

Eclectic / multi-techniqueConservatoryYouth programs$$$$North Hollywood

Young Actors Space

The original LA young actors school, founded 1979, now in North Hollywood under director Patrick Day: age-banded classes from Tykes (5-7) through adults, half improv and half scene study, with Fall 2026 enrollment open.

MeisnerStanislavskiConservatoryYouth programs$$Mid-Wilshire

Zak Barnett Studios

Mid-Wilshire on-camera studio for professional actors ages 7 to adult, built on Zak Barnett's whole-self approach, with a class ladder from open-enrollment CORE to invitation-only MASTER, 16-week immersives, and published membership pricing.

Eclectic / multi-techniqueOn-camera techniqueConservatoryYouth programs$$

What this training is

Conservatory programs run a fixed curriculum across a cohort: acting, voice, movement, and text taught together and building term on term, usually full-time and often with an audition to enter. Some LA conservatories grant a certificate, some grant a degree, and some are the intensive track of a studio that also teaches open-enrollment classes. Tuition is correspondingly higher than class-by-class training.

Who it suits

Actors who want a complete foundation in one structured pass and can commit the time, and international students, since a program that issues immigration paperwork has to be an accredited or approved institution.

What these listings show

Counted from the verified records on this page when the site was last built, on 2026-08-15.

  • Published pricing. 18 of 19 publish enough pricing to place them in a band: $ (2), $$ (5), $$$ (4), $$$$ (7). The other 1 does not publish rates, so you have to ask.
  • Audit or trial. 4 of these 19 offer an audit or a trial class, which is the cheapest way to judge a teacher before committing.
  • Audition required. 11 require an audition or placement before you can enroll, so plan for a step before the first class.
  • Levels. 11 accept complete beginners and 11 run advanced work (58% and 58% of this list).
  • Online options. 10 of 19 offer an online format as well as in person.
  • Private coaching. 4 also offer one-to-one coaching alongside classes.
  • Young actors. 13 of these serve kids or teens as well as adults.
  • Where they are. Concentrated in Hollywood and Mid-City (6), Santa Monica and the Westside (5), Eastside and Downtown (2), across 8 areas of Los Angeles in total.
  • Techniques taught. Most commonly Eclectic / multi-technique (13), Meisner (6), Adler (5).
  • How established. 17 publish a founding year, the earliest 1911 and the most recent 2010.

How to compare them

Ask exactly what you receive at the end, since certificate, degree, and completion are different things with different value. If a school's status matters to you for visa or transfer purposes, verify accreditation with the accrediting body directly rather than taking a website's word for it. Ask what proportion of a cohort finishes. And compare the full tuition against several years of ongoing class, which is the real alternative use of the money.

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Colleges and universitiesAdvanced classesScene StudyWhat acting classes cost in LAHow to choose an acting school in LA
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