The Transatlantic Shift: Why British and Irish Drama Schools Are Opening Branches in the US
According to CinemaDrame News Agency, Shimmy Marcus, the artistic director of Dublin’s renowned Bow Street Academy, was struck by the sheer number of British and Irish actors landing lead American roles while watching the new Knives Out installment, Wake Up Dead Man. The film features a heavyweight transatlantic cast including Daniel Craig, Josh O’Connor, Andrew Scott, and Daryl McCormack. This trend is hardly isolated; Steven Spielberg’s upcoming sci-fi feature, The Dishonour, similarly features an array of British and Irish talent donning flawless American accents, including Josh O’Connor, Emily Blunt, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, and Henry Lloyd-Hughes.
This influx of British and Irish actors into Hollywood—frequently leaving audiences unaware of their true origins—has entered a new phase. As major Hollywood productions increasingly migrate from U.S. studios to booming production hubs across the UK and Ireland, elite drama schools from these nations are charting a reverse course, establishing their own brick-and-mortar presence on American soil.
Ireland’s Bow Street Academy is set to launch its new Los Angeles campus this September at the historic studio “The Lot”—the landmark site where Charlie Chaplin co-founded United Artists. This follows London’s Identity School of Acting, which established its L.A. branch back in 2018. Additionally, the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), London’s oldest drama school founded in 1861, opened a New York office last year to offer specialized short courses.
Bow Street executives noted that the inspiration for this international expansion took shape in 2023, following a massive surge in applications from American prospects. When these students were asked why they traveled from the U.S. West Coast to Dublin for screen-acting training, the consensus was clear: “Because we don’t have this over here.”
The fundamental difference lies in their pedagogical approach. While American acting training often emphasizes high-octane emotional output, Bow Street’s methodology—designed by acclaimed acting coach Gerry Grennell (who has coached stars like Johnny Depp, Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise, and Matt Damon, and helped Heath Ledger develop the Joker for The Dark Knight)—focuses on authenticity, actor agency, and building a character from the inside out. Conversely, an institution like LAMDA centers its training on the concept of “ensemble playing,” a distinct trait that sets British-trained actors apart in rehearsal rooms and on set.
Ultimately, American students enrolling in these programs aim to boost their employability and reclaim major Hollywood roles from their British and Irish counterparts. The real-world success of Bow Street alumni, such as Barry Keoghan (set to play Ringo Starr in Sam Mendes’s upcoming Beatles biographical tetralogy) and Peter Claffey (star of the upcoming series A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms), demonstrates the efficacy of these training methods—so much so that Bow Street’s new motto reads: “Our graduates go straight to work.”
