Today we’d like to introduce you to Susan Giosa.
Susan, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Well, I was a working, professional actress who had won several theater awards, and earned my name above the title, starring in the comedy, Breaking Legs, in New York, and touring for Neil Simon in Lost in Yonkers in the First National Tour. I had worked in over 25 TV shows and films and was on network lists for leads of series. And then I got pregnant. I was used to making a substantial living from my acting career and since my husband is a professional comedian who travels a lot I knew it would be difficult to travel for my career, work in New York or tour, as a pregnant actress and then a breast feeding mother. Pregnant actresses are not accommodated in show business unless then have star or name value. I did not. I needed to find another way to make a good living while I raised my daughter. I decided to try to teach acting.
Since I believe you should be passionate about your work, I promised myself if I didn’t love it I would stop. I decided not to teach under someone else’s authority or at an already established school but to start my own. I began with just a few students. I believe only people who excel at something should teach it. I believe students want to be inspired by their teacher or coach and know that they are not asking them to do something they themselves can’t do. I ended up loving teaching and found a new passion. My daughter was only 3 when I started so I wanted to teach close to where I lived, Santa Monica. And she was in pre-school so I started teaching in the daytime, which I still do.
As an actress with an ability to feel easily and on cue, I developed a unique emotional technique based on some of the work I learned from my mentor and acting teaching, Larry Moss. Mainly through word of mouth my reputation grew. I have now been teaching 18 years. I own one of the few acting studios in LA where actors get individual attention because classes are deliberately kept small and you get to study with the Master Teacher from day one. People who began studying with me with no training or little training now have careers. I am most proud that today many of my students are working actors; some became leads of their own series, others working in TV, film and the stage.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Most acting teachers teach at another acting school for years, building a following of students, before opening their own studio. Eventually, they leave taking a group of students with them. My teacher, Larry Moss, started at the Warren Robertson Acting Workshop, and took a group of 20 or 30 students with him when he started his own school. I did not do this.
I started on my own, sometimes with only 3 students in a class and built a reputation. I also tried to teach in rooms that were not theaters because it was cheaper and realized for me acting needed to be taught in a theater. Renting theaters in the evenings was much more expensive. As I mentioned before, I had a 3-year daughter in pre-school so renting theater space in the day and teaching during the day became the best option.
Today, I still teach during the day. I also teach ALL the classes at my studio as I believe students benefit the most from working with the Master Teacher. This limits how big my studio can become as I also still work professionally and also teach acting seminars in New York. I have to sometimes close the studio for these other commitments. I also don’t have the funds for advertising to compete with large acting studios that are run like big businesses. In spite of these obstacles I have prospered. And students that find me stay for years. I have an excellent rating on Yelp and Google, particularly for acting schools in Santa Monica and on the West side.
Please tell us about Susan Giosa Acting Workshop.
I expanded on it. I suffered from OCD and panic attacks and realized that no matter how good I was in class, having a successful career was dependent on being able to do it in under pressure, at the audition and on set. I realized through some of the exercises Larry brought to his teaching from books like Healing Your Inner Child by John Bradshaw that it was mainly “fear of judgement” that inhibited actors. I developed tools and exercises that helped me tremendously and was able to pass them on through my teaching. My special course Freeing Your Emotional Core is taken by all artists, actors, singers, dancers, writers and even painters to rid themselves of their fear of judgement and connect to their emotional core.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Ha great question. I don’t know. You have to make mistakes to grow. I probably struggle between my commitment to being a professional actor/performer and my commitment to teaching. I also write and am working on my acting book, Freeing Your Emotional Core and a pilot script called The Art of Living. It is sometimes difficult to juggle all this.
I am also a mom but my daughter is finally in college at CalArts in the music singer/songwriting department so she doesn’t need me in the same way as when she was a child. I have been married to my comedian husband, Glenn Hirsch, since I’m 25 so that has been a wonderful support system.
Pricing:
- At the Susan Giosa Acting Workshop classes are $240 for once a week attendance. I do not raise my prices often so it remains affordable to struggling actors.
- However the second class you take a month is only $80! That’s right only $80 making 2x a week only $320.
- Each additional class is only $80 more to encourage actors to realize class is necessary more than once a week.
- I also offer private coaching for actors. Students who study at my studio get a $15 discount on private coaching for auditions.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1211 4th Street, Santa Monica, CA 90401
- Website: susangiosa.com
- Phone: 310-828-8544
- Email: [email protected]
