Performance: Acting - BFA
Performance: Acting - BFA
Is it for you?
Train with top industry professionals and be featured in original work in downtown Toronto by joining one of Canada’s premier acting conservatory programs in a university environment. The Performance: Acting program has a 50-year history of offering students unparalleled professional acting training, providing you with access to world-class professionals and links to the industry for further training opportunities, jobs and mentorship. This is a creative place where hard work and courage help you to become your best self as an actor, artist and human.
The program trains actors in the craft, skill, and business of live performance. You’ll bring your classroom learning to life on stage through training in voice and movement, and by exploring acting techniques in theatre, film, television, motion capture and commercial voice-over. You’ll also study a multidisciplinary approach with the unique opportunity to collaborate with students from the Performance: Dance and Production programs to make stories come to life on stage
You’ll do it all in the heart of Toronto, home to the third-largest English language theatre district in the world and a North American hot spot for television and film production.
Program info
Faculty:
The Creative School
Program format(s):
Full time: 4 Year
Degree:
Bachelor of Fine Arts
Grade range:
Mid 70s1
Requirements:
Grades-Plus
Experiential learning:
Studio and public performances
Tuition and fees
For detailed fees information, visit tuition and fees by program.
Full-time format 2023-2024:
Ontario students fees range: $7,232 - $7,738
Out-of-province students fees range: $8,060 - $8,582
International student fees range: $33,462 - $33,881
First-year courses
Here is a preview of first-year courses based on the available undergraduate calendar information.
1st & 2nd Semester
REQUIRED:
- THF 120 Music I: Introduction
- THF 121 Music I: Advanced Introduction
- THF 111 Creative Performance Studies I
- THF 112 Creative Performance Studies II
- THF 100 Anatomy of Movement and Lifestyle I
- THF 101 Elements of Production I
- THF 200 Timelines of Performance History I
- THF 201 Timelines of Performance History II
LIBERAL STUDIES:
Two courses from Table A - Lower Level Liberal Studies.
REQUIRED GROUP 1*: Two courses from the following, based on student's program:
Performance Acting students:
Your future
- Acting for stage, film or television
- Arts administration
- Trade and industrial shows
- Education
- Entrepreneurship
- Casting director
- Acting coach
- Director
- Graduate studies in the arts
Thinking of applying? Make sure the program is still accepting applications.
Requirements
Academic requirements
Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD) or equivalent with a minimum of six Grade 12 U or M courses including the following program specific requirements.
Typically, a minimum overall average of 70% establishes eligibility for admission consideration; subject to competition individual programs may require higher prerequisite grades and/or higher overall averages:
- English/anglais (ENG 4U/EAE 4U preferred).
- The minimum grade required in the subject prerequisite (normally in the 65-70% range) will be determined subject to competition.
Academic admission requirements for all other applicants are available on the admission requirements page.
This is a Grades-Plus program. In addition to meeting competitive academic requirements, you are required to submit the following non-academic requirements. Your ability to follow and adhere to the requirements is part of the assessment of your application.
Fall 2024 non-academic requirement due date:
February 1, 2024 or 10 business days from your application submission date, whichever comes later.
Submit a recent 8x10 photograph of yourself.
Please save the image as a .pdf file and upload it per these submission instructions.
The audition panel uses your written statements to learn more about you as an individual and gain a sense of who you are beyond your application, transcript, and audition. Each written statement should be 350 words or less, typed and in English. It must be your own original work. Please save all four written statements into ONE .pdf file.
Write a short (350 words or less) written response to each of these questions. You should have one statement per question:
- Tell us about who you are. How would your family, friends, and/or members of your community describe you?
- Why have you decided to become an actor and why do you think it’s necessary to perform in today’s world?
- In your opinion, what is the most important aspect of working in a group?
- Explain how you responded to a problem and/or an unfamiliar situation. What did you do, what was the outcome, and what did you learn from the experience?
Please list ONE private link (without a password) to a website (YouTube, Vimeo, personal site) that has your two monologue audition pieces and personal video. Please provide a link to your work in a .pdf file and upload this file (use these submission Instructions). Please ensure the link works and does not expire. Your application will not be considered if the link you provided does not work.
In one video you are to include Speech A, Speech B, and your personal video (see details below). Introduce each speech with your full name, pronouns if it is safe for you to do so, and age. Include the name of the play the speech is from, the writer of the speech, and the name of the character you are playing (if applicable).
Video specifications:
- Background: If possible, choose a wide-open space that you can move around in for your speech. Some people find a neutral background useful.
- Lighting: Try to ensure that your face is well-lit with no stark contrast and dark shadows.
- Sound: Please check your digital recording to make sure that you can be heard.
- Size of shot (Please refrain from using close-up shots):
- Speech A: Use a full shot for your poetic speech.
- Speech B: Use a full or medium shot for your contemporary speech.
- Length: Your video should be no longer than five minutes. The panel may stop watching if your recording exceeds this time.
- Movement: We encourage you to use the full capacity of your body and to move freely within the architecture of your space when making your digital recordings.
Speech A – Poetic monologue (two minutes maximum)
The audition piece should be in poetic form using heightened language. This is a piece in which words are chosen for their sound and suggestive power as opposed to a naturalistic speech. While it need not be originally written in English, we ask that you perform an English translation for your poetic monologue. There is no boundary in time period, culture, or form (as long as it’s poetic) in which you choose this speech from. For example, Shakespeare, Tang Zianzu, Kate Tempest, Aleshea Harris, The Mahabharata, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Joseph A. Dandurand are all appropriate choices.
Speech B – Contemporary monologue (two minutes maximum)
The contemporary piece should provide a clear contrast to your poetic piece. It ideally uses naturalistic speech and was written after 1960.
Personal video (one minute)
A one minute video about something (other than acting) that you are especially passionate about. Consider why it is important to you and how it brings you joy. Record a snippet of a song you love, a rant about something you're passionate about, share a painting you made, a tour of your kitchen - anything that will better help us know YOU!
Select applicants will receive an invitation (by email) to participate in a Callback audition with other applicants to the program. The Callback will occur on campus. Please dress in athletic wear for movement and be prepared to stay for the entire day.
Applicants will be invited to a specific date and cannot choose which date they will attend.
- Friday, March 15, 2024 from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
- Friday, March 22, 2024 from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
In addition to repeating Speech B, we may also ask for a new speech and/or for you to memorize a short scene. There will also be classes/workshops for candidates to participate in, as well as a tour of the campus. Further details will be provided in the invitation email.
The Callback may include opportunities to get to know other applicants, faculty, and students currently in the program. You may work individually, in pairs, in groups, and as an ensemble for performance creation, group discussions and embodied sequences. The Callback will give you an opportunity to better understand our school and what to expect from our training.
Zoom or Google Meet Option
For those who live out of province, arrangements can be made to attend an online callback audition on Google Meet or Zoom. Further details will be provided in the callback invitation email.
The non-academic requirements assessment fee is $50 CDN and must be paid in order for your submission to be reviewed. Here’s how to pay:
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Access your ChooseTMU Applicant Portal account (instructions to access the portal can be found below under Submission Instructions).
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Click on the button to link to the eForms Centre.
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Next, click on the eForms Center tile.
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Then click on the Non-Academic Fee Form link.
Applicants are required to submit all components of their non-academic requirements via the ChooseTMU Applicant Portal. Due to the volume of applications received and our system performance, we strongly encourage you to submit your documents well in advance of the noted deadlines.
Here’s how to access your ChooseTMU Applicant Portal account:
- Get your TMU Student Number in the email acknowledgement of your application
- Activate your TMU Online Identity. Fill in the Activation Form on the Accounts website. When asked for your Student/Applicant ID, enter your nine-digit TMU Student Number. Keep a record of your user name and password
- 24 hours after activating your TMU Online Identity, visit the ChooseTMU Applicant Portal
If you are applying for readmission or reinstatement, you may not be required to submit non-academic requirements. You must inform Undergraduate Admissions of your intentions.
Contact ServiceHub at 416-979-5036 and ask to speak with the admissions officer by February 1, 2024, or 10 business days from your application submission date (whichever comes later).
Student spotlight
Performance: Acting alum is the star of Canadian film ‘Retrograde’
Performance: Acting alumna Molly Reisman is the star of Vortex Media’s drama film, Retrograde, written and directed by Canadian filmmaker Adrian Murray. During her time in the Performance: Acting program, Reisman said she involved herself in a balance of acting and business classes to ensure she was well prepared to enter the industry.
Read more: Performance Acting alum takes the lead in feature film by Canadian writer and director Adrian Murray
Virtual tour
Explore Toronto Metropolitan University's unique urban campus in the heart of downtown Toronto from the comfort of your own home!
Notes:
- Actual minimum grade ranges required for fall 2024 admission/wait list consideration will be determined based on grades and qualifications presented by the applicant pool as they become available. Required grade ranges may fluctuate from year to year (up or down) as a result of competition. Applicants not educated in Ontario may present the equivalent of the Ontario requirements. TMU reserves the right to determine equivalency at its sole discretion.