History of Best Acting School in Hollywood, Theatre Arts School, School of Acting Los Angeles, California

6834 Hollywood Blvd. #500
Hollywood, CA 90028
Tel. 323-463-2500
www.toa.edu

Theatre of Arts has been in continuous operation since the film actor Ben Bard founded the school in 1927. It was then called Ben Bard Drama and was based at The Playhouse on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. When Bard was named Head of Talent at Twentieth Century Fox, he handed over the school's operation to the famous director Max Reinhardt, who renamed the school the Max Reinhardt Theatre Workshop. Olivia de Havilland and Mickey Rooney were two of the aspiring stars who worked with Reinhardt during this period.

After Reinhardt's departure a few years later, Michael Chekhov became the school's principal acting teacher. The school was then known as the Geller Theatre Workshop. Such stars as Natalie Wood, Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, David Janssen, Robert Ryan, Alan Ladd, Ross Hunter and Robert Lansing studied there. In 1959, Madame Valmar Oleska acquired the workshop and renamed it Theatre of Arts. Alumni from this time include renowned actors Charlene Tilton, Vic Tayback, Frank Bonner and Greg Mullavey.

In January 2000, Theatre of Arts moved to its current location as a part of Campus Hollywood, a trail blazing group of performing arts colleges all based in the centre of the entertainment industry in Hollywood. The contemporary Theatre of Arts curriculum encompasses a multi-media training for actors working in film, television and theatre today.