<p>SkipsMom - it wasn’t calarts. It was UCLA’s head of the acting department who said if you think you can do it now, don’t bother going to school. As he put it, the oldest joke in LA is “if you are old enough to drive to the audition, you are too old for the part.” But he says this to make sure the kids going to UCLA want to be there to get an education, because at UCLA you are getting a BA, not a BFA, and you have to want to be educated. He wants to make sure that the kids attending his program want both a conservatory and a regular degree.</p>
<p>I think the best actors are educated, so that they understand the historical context or the issues behind the characters they are playing. We were having the BFA/BA debate in our house, as you may recall. When my daughter asked one of the current UCLA freshman why she turned down CMU’s BFA Acting program to come to UCLA instead to study acting, she said “How can you be in a Chekov play if you don’t understand the Russian Revolution?” This is why it is a good thing to be educated. </p>
<p>That being said, there are many fine actors who immerse themselves so much in a role that they learn everything there is to learn about that particular character when they receive the role. But if you have educated yourself, it seems there is a whole lot less learning to do. And you are a lot more fun sitting around a dinner table when everyone is having an educated discussion.</p>