The Acting Concentration is a strong pre-professional 63 semester hour undergraduate degree program. Instructors come directly from the profession and have been trained in the New York Studio System by such giants as Sanford Meisner, Uta Hagen and many others. Admission into this unique concentration area requires an audition and solid letters of recommendation. Students who seek acceptance into the acting concentration should have professional employment or additional graduate or conservatory studies as their career goals. This degree is for students who have special talents and serious interests in the craft of acting. Every year the department auditions over 800 prospective students in seven states for the approximate twenty 1st year available slots.

Alumni of this concentration area work on and off Broadway, in regional repertory theatres, in film and television, and as directors and/or teachers throughout the United States. Currently some UNC acting graduates study in professional MFA Graduate Programs at the Carnegie Mellon/Moscow Arts Theatre Program, London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, the National Theatre Conservatory, the Eugene O’Neill Center, Penn State University, Ohio University/Cincinnatti In The Park, UC Irvine, Florida, Florida State, the Alabama Shakespeare Company, and the National (Folger) Shakespeare Company to name a few. Recently an official Articulation Agreement was signed that links the UNC Acting Concentration with the famed New York School for Film and Television. This agreement makes it possible for UNC students to have special access to the film school’s award winning summer and graduate programs. In addition, film school graduates may come to UNC to complete their university degrees. This networking has already resulted in job placements of UNC graduates in the New York market.