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As Hollywood Moves Across the Atlantic, Why Are U.K. and Irish Acting Schools Opening in the U.S.?
British and Irish acting academies are opening campuses in the United States even as major Hollywood productions increasingly relocate to film and TV hubs in the UK and Ireland, creating a curious crossover in the two industries. The trend follows years of British and Irish actors dominating leading American roles, prompting Dublin's Bow Street Academy artistic director Shimmy Marcus to seek ways of exporting that talent pipeline directly to the US.
Bow Street Academy will open its first overseas campus in Los Angeles this September, based at the historic Lot at Formosa where Charlie Chaplin once founded United Artists Studios, with Oscar-nominated writer-director Kirsten Sheridan overseeing operations locally. It joins The Identity School of Acting, which opened an LA branch in 2018, and LAMDA, London's oldest drama school, which opened a New York office last year offering short courses. Marcus points to films such as "Wake Up Dead Man" and "Disclosure Day," both featuring numerous British and Irish actors playing Americans, as evidence of the so-called "invasion" that has made such performers increasingly indistinguishable from their US counterparts.
In short
- UK and Irish acting schools are opening US campuses despite Hollywood's eastward shift.
- Bow Street Academy launches its first overseas campus in LA this September.
- Follows years of British and Irish actors dominating major American film roles.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
The expansion of British and Irish acting schools into the United States represents healthy competition and cultural exchange at a time when their training methods have demonstrably produced talent succeeding in major American roles. These institutions bring different pedagogical approaches and world-class instruction that enrich the overall ecosystem, and their presence responds to genuine student demand without displacing but rather complementing existing American options. Cultural vitality depends on the best institutions thriving wherever students seek them out.
The case against
The trend of prestigious British and Irish drama schools establishing American campuses, even as Hollywood production shifts overseas, reflects a concerning decline in American cultural institutions and domestic talent development. If foreign training becomes the gold standard for Hollywood success, it risks undermining investment in American acting education and creates inequalities where only wealthy students can afford elite British-Irish programmes. This pattern of American cultural infrastructure becoming dependent on foreign institutions rather than developing robust domestic pipelines warrants serious attention.
Explained simply
British and Irish actors have become increasingly dominant in leading American film and television roles, to the point where they are often indistinguishable from their American counterparts. At the same time, major Hollywood productions have been relocating to film in the UK and Ireland rather than Los Angeles.
This has prompted drama schools from Britain and Ireland to open branches in the United States, seeking to develop talent closer to where significant film and television production is now taking place. London's LAMDA, one of Britain's oldest drama schools, and Dublin's Bow Street Academy are among the institutions expanding into the American market.
The trend reflects a fundamental shift in how the entertainment industry operates, with major productions and talent training no longer exclusively centred on Hollywood. These acting schools see an opportunity to create a direct pipeline of graduates into the American market, capitalising on the international prominence of British and Irish performers.