Why are some actors coy about telling us where they trained?

Why are some actors so reluctant to tell us where they trained? Yes, I know some didn’t have formal training but the majority did and I, for one, would like to know about it.

My particular bugbear is theatre programmes and those interesting, revealing (or not) potted biographies of the cast – written usually by the people they refer to, sometimes by agents and maybe to a template but never without the agreement of the subject. So every actor could tell us about his or her training if the will were there.

[pullquote]It’s what shaped you as an actor[/pullquote]

In practice, of course, most do but far too many do not. Perhaps unsurprisingly given my relationship with performing arts training, it’s the first thing I turn to in a programme. I find the omission strange and irritating. Younger actors tend to tell all. But as they become more successful, their acting credits tend to eclipse the training as though it is somehow no longer relevant.

I beg to differ. Where and how you trained is what shaped and launched you as an actor. Of course it remains an interesting and relevant fact in your biography.

During the 2007/8 Jonathan Kent season at Theatre Royal Haymarket, one of the shows was The Country Wife with a stellar cast led by Toby Stephens, David Haig and Patricia Hodge. One night during the run LAMDA invited me in to see the show and to attend a celebratory post show party with the cast.

The reason? Stephens, Haig and Hodge – well established, successful actors – all trained at LAMDA. Well it wasn’t last week in any of their cases but they were all still proud to be associated with their training and LAMDA was still delighted to claim them. I do wish other actors and schools would follow suit.

Yes, we know that Douglas Hodge and Celia Imrie – to pluck a couple of random examples – are now at the top of their game, but surely it’s still enlightening to know they trained at RADA and GSA, respectively? They are a living advertisement for the training they received.

If actors don’t include this information in their mini-biographies I find myself wondering why. Have they fallen out with their schools? Are they in some way now critical of their initial training. Or is there a view that once you’ve done 10 or 20 years on the boards or in front of a camera nobody wants to know where you trained?

If so they’re mistaken. Tell us where you trained as a matter of course, please.

Read more training columns from Susan Elkin