Acting Intensive Program Staff

Program Director

Matthew Arkin, Director of the Acting Intensive Program
Arkin received acclaim for his portrayal of the 600-pound Charlie in SCR’s West Coast premiere of Samuel D. Hunter's The Whale. In the 2016-17 season, he was in Robert Schenkkan's All the Way and in the world premiere of Michael Mitnick's The Siegel. He has appeared on Broadway in The Sunshine Boys, with Jack Klugman and Tony Randall, Losing Louie and Laughter on the 23rd Floor (also national tour). Off-Broadway, he received a Drama Desk Nomination when he originated the role of Gabe in Donald Margulies’ Pulitzer Prize-winning Dinner With Friends, for which he was also a Drama League ​honoree. ​His other off-Broadway credits include originating roles in Moonlight and Magnolias at Manhattan Theatre Club, Rounding Third, A. R. Gurney's Indian Blood at Primary Stages, You Should Be So Lucky with Charles Busch, and Barbara Dana’s War in Paramus, directed by Austin Pendleton. He has worked extensively in regional theatre, including the world premieres of Richard Greenberg’s Our Mother’s Brief Affair and Steven Drukman's The Prince of Atlantis, both at SCR, and Surf Report at The La Jolla Playhouse. His film credits include indies Second Best, Raising Flagg, and Bittersweet Place; as well as Death to Smoochy, Liar, Liar, North, and An Unmarried Woman. His television appearances include recurring roles on Rescue Me, 100 Centre Street, Third Watch and All My Children; and numerous guest spots on such shows as NCIS, Medium, Switched at Birth, Law and Order, Law and Order: SVU, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, and Kojak. He has performed hundreds of radio spots and television commercial voiceovers. He teaches advanced acting classes in SCR's Theatre Conservatory and has taught at New York's world-renowned HB Studio, where he studied technique, scene study and Shakespeare with Uta Hagen. He also studied with Austin Pendleton and Sheldon Patinkin.

Current and Past Faculty Members: