Academy Award Nominee Sally Kirkland To Lead Masterclass In Belgrade For New International Acting Program TIAS

Veteran actress Sally Kirkland will lead a masterclass for the students of The International Acting Studio (TIAS) in Belgrade, Serbia on Monday, February 22nd. Participants will perform a monologue for Ms. Kirkland via a virtual class and receive one-on-one feedback from the legendary star and veteran of over 200 films. TIAS limits the numbers of attendees for each masterclass so each student gets personalized coaching directly from the guest artist.

"This is such a generous gift from Sally," said Adam Davenport, Artistic Director and Master Acting Coach at TIAS. "Young actors in the Balkans do not have an opportunity to learn from professional actors who work outside of the local film industry here and to learn from an Oscar-nominated and Golden-Globe winning actor is unprecedented."

With a career that spans over six decades, Sally Kirkland began her career on the off-Broadway circuit and trained under Lee Strasberg. She is best known for the film ANNA, for which she garnered the Best Actress Oscar nomination and won the Best Actress Golden Globe, the Independent Spirit Award, and the LA Film Critic's Circle Award. She was also nominated for Best Actress in a TV movie by the Hollywood Foreign Press for her performance in THE HAUNTED. Her filmography includes THE STING, THE WAY WE WERE, JFK, EDTV, BRUCE ALMIGHTY, guest stars on CRIMINAL MINDS and RESURRECTION BLVD. and recurring roles on ROSEANNE, FELICITY and DAYS OF OUR LIVES. Kirkland became a lifelong member of The Actors Studio in New York in 1961 at the age of 20. She became an acting teacher in 1971 at the age of 30 and has since taught over 2,000 students, which include Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli, Roseanne, Bill Paxton, Amy Madigan, Sela Ward, Sandra Bullock, Kathy Griffin, and Rebecca DeMorney.

A multi-hyphenate artist, Adam Davenport won an Independent Music Award at Lincoln Center in 2018 and made history as the first African-American artist/producer to chart on Billboard for Electronic Dance Music. In 2020, the International Music and Entertainment Association honored him as Electronica Artist of the Year. After graduating from Yale University, he became a recipient of the Panavision New Filmmaker Award and the youngest member in the Playwright/Directors Unit of The Actors Studio. Davenport was previously the producing partner for Academy Award and Emmy winner Melissa Leo and co-produced the feature FURLOUGH, with a cast of three Oscar winners (Leo, Whoopi Goldberg, Anna Paquin) in addition to Tessa Thompson and Edgar Ramirez.

Davenport founded TIAS in 2020 with the aim that it would be an incubator for developing international talent in underrepresented and underrecognized local communities outside of the United States. Says Davenport: "I first set my eyes on Serbia, a developing country with a deep and varied history of artists who have enriched cinema, television, theater and music in the Balkans and abroad. Two examples of their impact: you have the filmmaker Emir Kusturica who won the Palme d'Or at Canne twice, you have Karl Malden who won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE who changed his surname from the Serbian 'Sekulovich' because a theatre company wanted it shortened for the marquis." Davenport recently spoke to Serbian media about TIAS on RTS and PrvaTV, the two top-rated morning shows in the country.

Davenport previously directed Kirkland in readings of AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY (opposite Austin Pendleton, Peter Facinelli, Elizabeth Greer, Tony winner Reed Birney, Chris McGinn, Will Brill, Vinessa Shaw, Aubyn Philabaum, Gary Lee Mahmoud, Gabe Fazio, Shayna Jackson and August MacDonald) and Sweet Bird of Youth at The Actors Studio (starring Academy Award winner Melissa Leo, Jonathan Tucker, Nick Stahl, Amy Landecker, Justin Mortelliti and Adetokumboh M'Cormack).

For more information about TIAS, visit www.theinternationalactingstudio.se or email info@theinternationalactingstudio.se.

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