Philosophy Major Resource Center – Part 5

Performing Arts:

Quite often, philosophy students are creative beyond their academic skills. They may have comedic, acting, artistic, musical or other artistic skills. So another avenue open to graduating philosophy majors is that of developing those talents.

In fact, many famous actors and other performing artists studied philosophy as undergrads, including:

Harrison Ford-actor.
Ricky Gervais-British comedian, actor, writer, producer.
Philip Glass-composer.
Amy Madigan-actress.
Terence Malik-filmmaker, writer.
Steve Martin-comedian, actor, writer.
Robert Motherwell-artist.
Steve Reich-composer.
Sixto Diaz Rodriguez-musician.
Susan Sarandon-actress.
Robert Shaw-conductor, musician.
Steve Thomas-TV host.
Alex Trebek-game-show host.

One path to breaking into the performing arts is to pursue an MFA or other professional arts degree such as a Master’s in Music (MM). One can pursue an MFA in acting, directing, or film production, or an MM in composition or film scoring. However, one can just take acting, directing, or art classes from any one of a number of commercial schools. And many schools offer online courses. Here are some links that may be of some use:

Hollywood Reporter list of top 25 MFA drama programs—link.
CSUF information on MFA programs (graduates include Kevin Costner and Peter Weller)—link.
The Actors Workshop is a commercial venue—link.
com extensive list of New York acting schools—link.
com commercial venue—link.
com list of comedy schools and studios in NY and LA—link.
Hollywood Reporter top 25 film schools—link.
Directors’ Guild of America list of film schools—link.
Newsweek piece on what makes a great film school—link.
com list of the top 20 music conservatories—link.
The Hollywood Reporter list of the top 25 music schools—link.
com search engine for art schools—link.
US News ranking of top fine arts programs—list.