Graduates of the School of Theater go on to make a profound impact on the world stage through their innovative and transformative work. Our alumni network includes some of the most influential actors, directors, and theater artists of our time.
Performance
- Hugo Armstrong (BFA 98), stage and screen actor (Waiting for Godot, Bleed Rail, Land of the Tigers) -- Ovation Award
- Matt August (MFA 97), director (How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Discord: The Gospel According to Thomas Jefferson, King Charles III)
- Alison Brie (BFA 05), screen and voice actor (Glow, The Post, The Disaster Artist, Mad Men, Community, BoJack Horseman) -- SAG Award
- Tiffany Boone (BFA 09), screen actor (Hunters, Little Fires Everywhere, The Chi)
- Don Cheadle (BFA 86), screen actor (Hotel Rwanda, Crash, Out of Sight, Ocean’s 11/12/13, House of Lies, War Machine in the Marvel Cinematic Universe) -- 2 Golden Globe Awards, Academy Award nomination
- Monty Cole (MFA 19), director (Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre Company)
- Eliza Coupe (BFA 05), stage and screen actor (Future Man, Happy Endings, The Mindy Project, House of Lies, Scrubs)
- Jennifer Elise Cox (BFA 91), screen actor (Web Therapy, Six Feet Under, The Brady Bunch Movie)
- Michael Cudlitz (BFA 90), screen actor (The Walking Dead, The Kids Are Alright, Southland, Band of Brothers) -- Critics Choice Award
- Ty Defoe (BFA 04), performance artist, activist, and writer (Straight White Men, Come to Me Great Mystery: Native American Healing Songs) -- Grammy Award
- Nataki Garrett (MFA 02), director, artistic director of Oregon Shakespeare Festival
- Dana Gourrier (MFA 10), screen actor (The Hateful Eight, Django Unchained, True Detective, American Horror Story)
- Virginia Grise (MFA 09), playwright (blu) -- Yale Drama Prize
- Ed Harris (BFA 75), stage and screen actor (Westworld, The Truman Show, Apollo 13, The Hours, Game Change), director (Pollock) -- 2 Golden Globe Awards, 4 Academy Award nominations
- David Hasselhoff (73), “The Hoff,” screen actor (Baywatch), pop singer
- Bill Irwin (72), clown, stage and screen actor (Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Interstellar, Rachel Getting Married), director, playwright -- Tony Award, MacArthur Genius Fellowship
- Lars Jan (MFA 08), director, transmedia artist, founder and artistic director of Early Morning Opera -- 2 TED Fellowships
- Michael Jung (MFA 94), director, VP of Theatrical Development, Walt Disney Imagineering
- Jessica Kubzansky (MFA 94), director, co-artistic director of Boston Court Pasadena
- Debi Manwiller (BFA 83), casting director (24, Chicago Hope, The Blacklist, Rudy) -- 2 Primetime Emmy Awards
- Terence McFarland (MFA 03), producer, Associate Executive Director, The Younes and Soraya Center for the Performing Arts at CSUN; former CEO, LA Stage Alliance
- Katherine Noon (MFA 90), director, co-founder and artistic director of The Ghost Road Company
- Poor Dog Group, experimental theater collective
- Condola Rashad (BFA 08), stage/screen actor and musician (Billions, Romeo and Juliet, The Trip to Bountiful, Stick Fly, Ruined, Steel Magnolias) -- 2 Tony Award nominations
- Paul Reubens (73), screen actor, creator of Pee-wee Herman and Pee-wee’s Playhouse -- 3 Primetime Emmy nominations
- Amy Keating Rogers (MFA 94), story animation writer (The Powerpuff Girls, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Johnny Bravo, Dexter’s Laboratory) -- 4 Primetime Emmy nominations, 2 Daytime Emmy nominations
- Douglas Rushkoff (MFA 86), media theorist, author (Team Human, Present Shock: When Everything Happens Now), documentarian
- Katey Sagal (72), screen and voice actor (Sons of Anarchy, Married with Children, Futurama), singer-songwriter -- Golden Globe Award
- Catherine Sullivan (BFA 92), artist, director and filmmaker -- Alpert Award in the Arts
- Cecily Strong (BFA 06), stage and screen actor, comedian (Saturday Night Live)
- Bresha Webb (BFA 07), screen actor (A Fall From Grace, Meet the Blacks, Ride Along 2, Marlon, Grey’s Anatomy)
- Derek Webster (BFA 93), screen actor (NCIS: New Orleans, Ray Donovan, The Whispers)
- Michole Briana White (91), stage and screen actor (Jitney, Bulrusher, Stick Fly, 100 Centre Street) -- Obie, Drama Desk, and Ovation Awards
- Chi-wang Yang (MFA 07), director, digital media artist, co-founder of Cloud Eye Control
Experience Design and Production
- Kevin Adams (MFA 86), lighting and scene designer (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, American Idiot, The 39 Steps, Spring Awakening) -- 4 Tony Awards
- Brandon Stirling Baker (BFA 10), lighting designer (New York City Ballet)
- Chad Bauman (MFA 03), executive director, Milwaukee Repertory Theater
- Robert Barnhart (BFA 87), lighting designer -- 9 Primetime Emmy Awards
- Johnny Bradley (MFA 07). Lighting designer; Primetime Emmy Award winner.
- E.B. Brooks (MFA 08), costume designer
- Efren Delgadillo (MFA 03), scene designer (Oregon Shakespeare Festival, CalArts Center for New Performance, Center Theatre Group)
- Jenny Foldenauer (MFA 12), costume designer -- Ovation Award, LADCC Award, Stage Raw Award
- Dan Friedman (MFA 03), editor, Dynasty Football Digest
- Ian Garrett (MFA 08), producer and lighting designer -- Center Theatre Group Richard A. Sherwood Award
- Roger Holzberg (BFA 78), co-founder, Reimagine Well
- Barbara Inglehart (MFA 86), costume supervisor (Scandal, Little Fires Everywhere, Fifty Shades of Grey), co-author of Shopping L.A.: The Insider’s Sourcebook for Film & Fashion
- Jeff Kleeman (BFA 87), technical director, Los Angeles Opera
- Peter Ksander (MFA 01), scene designer (Untitled Mars [this title may change]) -- Obie Award
- Etta Lilienthal (MFA 99, BFA 97), designer for performance, environmental installation, and architecture
- Brian J. Lilienthal (MFA 03), lighting designer -- Ovation Award
- Christine Marie (MFA 09), shadow artist, director, inventor -- TED Fellowship
- Jamie McElhinney (MFA 03), audio artist, sound designer, engineer; Head of Audio, Found Sound Nation
- David Kay Mickelsen (MFA 83), costume designer
- Marco Morante (BFA 02), fashion and stage costume designer (Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj, Shakira)
- Laura Mroczkowski (MFA 02), lighting and scene designer, co-artistic director of Blank-the-Dog Productions
- Cricket S. Myers (MFA 03), sound designer (Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo) -- Drama Desk Award, Tony Award nomination
- Leon Rothenberg (MFA 02), sound designer (The Nance) -- Tony Award
- Darcy Scanlin (MFA 00), production designer for stage and screen -- Ovation Award
- Meredith Lynsey Schade (MFA 05), producer (The Inheritance, Hadestown, Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike) -- 2 Tony Awards
- Qadriyyah “Q” Shamsid-Deen (MFA 10), creative executive, Higher Ground Productions (American Factory, Becoming)
- Laura Kay Swanson (Theater-Music MFA 11), executive director, Los Angeles Youth Orchestra
- Justin Townsend (MFA 03), lighting and scene designer (Moulin Rouge, The Humans, American Psycho) -- Obie and Drama Desk awards, 2 Tony Award nominations
- Dana Vasquez-Eberhardt (BFA 01), production manager; Senior Director, Current Series and Development at Nickelodeon Animation
- Miranda Wright (MFA 09), executive director and producer, Center for the Arts at Kayenta -- Center Theatre Group Richard A. Sherwood Award
- Laura Youngkin (MFA 10), entertainment producer, writer, creative consultant