This is not your traditional drama conservatory.

Contemporary, highly practical and project-based, our acting courses are designed to train you as a versatile performer, ready for a career in today’s ever-changing media landscape and acting industries. Our acting courses bridge performance in the traditional areas of film, television and theatre with voice work in contemporary media like animation and gaming. 

Our goal is to equip you with the skills, experience and confidence you need to succeed in whatever acting projects you wish to pursue in your career, whether that’s on stage or screen. Through highly specialist training delivered by industry-acclaimed practising professionals, you’ll learn how to tackle a huge variety of acting roles in a vast range of formats and media, as well as the necessary self-sufficiency and proactivity to secure opportunities in the industry. You’ll also have the opportunity to collaborate with students in our film and music schools in a range of productions.

You won’t find any “traditional” classrooms, lectures or exams at Catalyst. It’s hands-on from day one and you’ll be collaborating with other motivated creatives on projects. You’ll produce work under challenging creative and logistical constraints that will both stretch and empower you. You’ll use this momentum to form a foundation of technical skills and theoretical understanding, then build upon it with expert guidance by our tutors.

Based at the iconic Funkhaus, our riverside campus is part of the historic building that was once home to the GDR’s broadcasting station and was one of the world’s largest multi-studio complexes during the Soviet era. 

It’s a technological playground with professional facilities, including an acting studio, a film studio with green screen, a cinema, a theatre, multiple computer labs and several tons of bookable audiovisual equipment.

Our courses are delivered by a team of expert tutors and internationally-acclaimed visiting industry professionals, with a genuine passion for passing on their specialist knowledge to others.

They'll ask the difficult questions you've been avoiding, set challenges that stretch you in ways you didn’t know you were capable of, provide insights into new ways of thinking, heap praise where it's due and prepare you for professional opportunities.

Meet our talented international body of Catalyst acting alumni. Here, in our Actors Database, you'll find their profile information, showreels and contact details.