Famous Actors Who Never Went to Acting School

I am putting together an article that lists famous actors who didn't take any formal training in acting before they ended up acting in films. I have listed 6 actors so far and I am building up the list one entry per day.

Please have a look. I hope you enjoy reading it. Read the article at: http://sathyaish.net/writing/ActingSchool.aspx

Today's entry:

When she told him she hadn't understood his question, he asked again, "You're a model, aren't you?" He gave her his business card and requested that she think it over and that if she decides to become a model, that she ask her parents to give him a call.

Read the whole thing at http://sathyaish.net/writing/ActingS...px#cameronDiaz

Johnny Depp didn't go to acting school ?? he is so actor though.

I never went to actibg school but I've been pretending I can program for nearly 20 years now. That's a kind of acting.

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Originally Posted by FunkyDexter

I never went to actibg school but I've been pretending I can program for nearly 20 years now. That's a kind of acting.

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If you'd gone to acting school, maybe you'd be more convincing. ;)

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Originally Posted by ahmedkhairy

Johnny Depp didn't go to acting school ?? he is so actor though.

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That's right, Ahmed, Johnny Depp didn't go to an acting school. There are more actors that I will be adding to that list and they will all surprise you, some of them will really surprise you. :-)

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Originally Posted by FunkyDexter

I never went to actibg school but I've been pretending I can program for nearly 20 years now. That's a kind of acting.

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LOL! That's funny but so true. I am sure you're being modest, but our industry is filled with so many people who can't code anything and yet are moving up to roles that make them call the shots.

I am, in fact, making a play about this. It will be a comedy with a sad undertone depicting the life of us developers in this Godforsaken industry. It used to be different. Here's a teaser about my play: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V-Lchu7aiA

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Originally Posted by InvisibleDuncan

If you'd gone to acting school, maybe you'd be more convincing. ;)

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LOL! I doubt that. Of course there are some brilliant actors who went to acting school, like, Paul Newman, Al Pacino, Dustin Hoffman, Gene Hackman, etc. but there's also a good number of them who didn't go to any acting school. And the ones that went to an acting school and got famous are a very small minority and a very small percentage of all those that study in acting school and are not famous.

Actually, Gene Hackman was so frustrated with the experience at Pasadena Playhouse that he and Dustin Hoffman quit and ran away. They were both labeled as the actors who were least likely to succeed. The faculty at the Playhouse thought that Gene Hackman's style of acting was so numb that he wasn't just acting at all.

Cameron Diaz:

When she told him she hadn't understood his question, he asked again, "You're a model, aren't you?" He gave her his business card and requested that she think it over and that if she decides to become a model, that she ask her parents to give him a call.

Read the whole thing at http://sathyaish.net/writing/ActingSchool.aspx

Here's another actor's story: Meg Ryan

The first film that she auditioned for was Endless Love. She didn't get the part. It went to Brooke Shields.

By 1981-82, her acting career began to heat up and people started recognizing her.

http://sathyaish.net/writing/ActingSchool.aspx

And here's another actor added to the list of actors who never went to an acting school. This one might surprise you as will the many more that are yet to come. Keep reading...

His mother re-married and during this time that Tom was in New York, his step father gave him $900 to help him out while Tom waited tables and did other odd jobs while also auditioning regularly for parts, both big and small.

Within 6 months, he landed himself a movie called Taps. Initially, he had only 3 lines in the movie but they liked him so much that they kept increasing his part.

He is the first ever actor whose 5 movies in a row grossed more than a $100 million each. By the 1990's, he was one of the highest paid actors in the world.

Read the whole thing at http://sathyaish.net/writing/ActingSchool.aspx

Is there a point to all these posts linking to the same page?

Hi baja_yu,

The article I psoted is still work in progress. Every now and then, I'll add a new actor to the list. So, to let everyone know that I have, I add a new entry here, too, to the same thread.

I hope you don't mind.

I don't believe Dennis Farina went to acting school.

are you talking about people who didn't go to acting school (where the focus is acting) period... or those who didn't study acting at all (at any kind of school) ... Ben Stein probably qualifies... he's an economist... Kevin Costner has a BA in Marketing from Cal State Fullerton....(although it seems no amount of marketing could have saved Waterworld). Harrison Ford took some drama classes in college, but it wasn't at an acting school...

-tg

Thanks for that information, The_Grudge. That's a good find.

techgnome, I mean actors who did not undertake any formal training of any kind before they made it into the movies. At some point after they were already big names and celebrities, most of them did hire acting coaches to improve their craft.

Thank you very much for the list of other actors. I was aware of some of them and will be adding them gradually to the article. I didn't know about Ben Stein. Thank you for that find. I'll certainly research his life more. :-)

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Originally Posted by The_Grudge

I don't believe Dennis Farina went to acting school.

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But he makes good dog food. My pet loves Farina Puppy Chow

Here's a new addition to the list:

Their new condition forced all of them to work as security guards and janitors at Titan Wheels, a local tyre factory in Scarborough, a grimly industrial area of Toronto.

He was until then a straight-A student. On his 16th birthday, he dropped out of school to work full-time and support his family. Gulping together the salival bitterness of a battered pride and smiting grief, his father took him to a local comedy club to perform as a stand-up comic.

His career had many ups and downs, and he lost several roles along the way. His story would probably make for a good 2-hour talk. He went through a severe depression in the 1980's.


Read the whole thing at http://sathyaish.net/writing/ActingSchool.aspx

Here's another actor added to this list. You're going to be surprised with this one. :-)

I recall vividly. It was 1993. I had just completed my 12th standard. That evening, we were watching television in our one-room rented house. I saw a man's face, unknown to me at the time.

He must've said a few other things in that interview, none of which I remember, but these words stayed with me. They made me remember his face. I didn't know why, back then.

Read the whole thing at http://sathyaish.net/writing/ActingSchool.aspx

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Originally Posted by FunkyDexter

I never went to actibg school but I've been pretending I can program for nearly 20 years now. That's a kind of acting.

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haha well we all didn't @FunkyDexter