Academy Training
Michael Foerster offers masterclasses and training sessions for academies and acting schools. His background in living, working, and coaching in Los Angeles adds real value to actors’ craft and helps them navigate an evolving, increasingly international industry. The masterclasses, training sessions, and scene work can be held in German and English. The training includes acting and audition training, transformation and success coaching.
The Acting Training
The entertainment industry is undergoing a dramatic transformation. Reality television continues to capture a growing share of the market, while artificial intelligence is already changing how television series are produced and reducing traditional opportunities for actors.
At the same time, theaters in Los Angeles are experiencing renewed interest from young audiences who want to get together and see real people telling stories they can recognize themselves in. The need for human connection is part of the human DNA, and after years of social distancing, it presents a powerful new opportunity for the theater world.
So how can actors remain relevant, connect deeply with audiences, and respond to the growing demand for authenticity and vulnerability?
Acting, like every art form and industry, must keep evolving. Beyond the necessary traditional craft taught at drama school, actors can benefit greatly from an approach developed in recent years in Los Angeles, one that puts the actor’s unique personality at the center of the work.
This training includes a success-oriented audition technique used by working actors in Los Angeles and New York. It is based on a powerful principle: auditioning is not only about demonstrating what you can do; it is about revealing who you are.
Today’s casting professionals want to see more than technical skill and character work. They want to discover the person behind the performance. They want to be inspired!
This personality-driven approach is becoming increasingly influential in both television and stage acting and has contributed significantly to the distinctive power and worldwide success of American television.
Transformation
Michael Foerster created and further developed transformational exercises that build actors’ confidence, free them from blocks and fears, and help them find their unique, unstoppable voice to become an actor, a personality the industry can’t ignore. Part of this training is “shadow work”, which has become an important tool for actor training in Los Angeles and New York and is very popular among television and stage acting stars. Shadow work helps actors to explore the hidden, rejected, or uncomfortable parts of themselves—the emotions and impulses they usually suppress. They often discover that what they believe is a weakness is actually a strength and makes them special. Actors need to accept all parts of themselves and even need to fall in love with themselves. Only then will they invest, work hard, have a positive attitude, make courageous choices, believe in themselves, and make others believe in them.
Success Coaching
Many actors, even the most talented, struggle, and some quit after years in one of the most wonderful and important professions in our society. Why? Lack of talent is rarely the reason. The truth is, talent itself is not special, and it does not guarantee a lasting acting career. What is special is people with the passion, commitment, and courage to do something with their talent.
The fundamental principles of success apply to every industry, including the performing arts. In Success Coaching, actors develop a clear career vision and define meaningful goals that awaken their ambition and emotional drive. When people are deeply connected to their purpose, they become remarkably resilient, focused, and determined. Nothing can stop them. Through practical exercises, actors learn how to build authentic relationships, capture people’s interest, and communicate what makes them unique. Actors must learn how to handle the business part of the profession. Rather than waiting for someone else to shape their future, actors must become the CEO of their own brand—and the driving force behind their careers.
A sustainable acting career begins with a change in perspective, and the question is: “What do I have to offer that the audience needs?
Most actors want to get something, and it is natural to dream of meaningful roles, recognition, financial success, red carpets, and awards. But an actor's dream is never about the actor. A dream becomes a reality only when it serves others.
If an actor doesn’t touch people’s hearts, teach humanity, love, hope, and humor, the industry will not respond.
“Actors are the doctors of the soul. We need them to understand ourselves as human beings.”
“If you want to know who will succeed, it’s very simple: the one who wants it.”