Hart and Michael Share News from the Acting Program
Get out your sweaters and parkas, it’s time for the Winter Semester for the Acting for Film, Television & the Theatre program. This term, we have 11 acting sections and close to 200 students enrolled in the program. Actors are coming from all over the world to be part of our community and they are working with the most passionate and caring faculty in the business.
As a new year’s resolution, we want to encourage you to commit to the work, dive into the characters you create and make bold and risky choices in your performances. If you are new to the program, break down all barriers that inhibit your creativity and network with as many filmmakers/writers/actors that you can. The cross integration between programs at TFS has never been more active than now. Some of this term’s acting program collaborations with other departments include:
- TFS actors starring and working on Film Production sets
- Film Production students helping to produce our Term 6 Greenlit Films
- Actors’ Voiceovers being used by Video Game designers at Steeles Campus
- Writing Program students pitching scripts to our Term 5 Acting Students for the greenlight competition
- Graphic Design Students from Davisville campus creating more dynamic packages for our Term 5 pitches as a well as the opening graphics for our Term 6 films
Important update: our resident instructor (and all around great guy) Omar Zamir, will be running the TFS General Auditions. This is an online platform for acting students to record a monologue on camera, and then have Omar post it online for TFS directors/producers who use it to cast their films. If you have not auditioned for the generals or want to update your monologue with something new and improved, we urge you to contact Omar at ozamir@yorkvilleu.ca
Our graduates are continuing to thrive in the industry and are getting scooped up by the best talent agents in the city. Already we have graduates represented by:
- Noble Kaplan Abrams
- Talent House
- Characters
- Butler Ruston Bell
- Ambition Talent
- AMP Talent
Graduates have gone on to direct/produce/write/and star in several films that have premiered at TIFF, Sundance Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, and Toronto Film School’s Festival of Films. They have also made appearances in both commercials and tv series including Kim’s Convenience, Degrassi, Covert Affairs, Rookie Blue, Hannibal, Odd Squad, Mr. D, Reign, Motives and Murders, Web of Lies, and the new HBO series Sensitive Skin.
Ralph Small is returning to direct the biggest cast yet for our 5th Term Winter play. The show title and location will be officially announced shortly and will run the weekend of March 24th. As well, our ever-popular acting showcases will be between March 20th and March 25th with 3 Screening Nights! Do not book flights or trains until the showcase week is over. Stay tuned for specific times.
We’d also like to congratulate our three Term 6 graduating classes who will be starting production on their short films. Under the leadership of Yale Massey and Tony Del Rio, the directors will be on location and in studios for the first half of the semester. Make sure to inquire with the directors as to whether they are holding auditions for acting program students or feel free to participate as extras for those who need them.
Stay warm and focused, and strive towards bettering yourselves in every possible way. We are honoured to continue the journey with you.
Hart Massey and Michael Ayoub are the Coordinators of The Acting for Film, TV and Theatre Program at Toronto Film School. Hart is also an actor, writer, and producer, known for his television shows Hart of the Annex (2006) and the Gemini-nominated series The Film Student (2009-2013). Michael is a graduate of the prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater in New York City, under the brilliant Sanford Meisner. As an actor, director, producer and teacher, Michael has been an active force in the business for more than forty years.
