A performer's silhouette on a grand theatre stage with dramatic cyan and purple stage lighting, representing the aspirational goal of a career in acting

DEGREE GUIDE

Acting

What do Acting degrees involve?

Acting degrees teach you how to develop performance skills, interpret scripts, and bring characters to life on stage and screen. You will explore key areas such as voice and movement, improvisation, acting techniques, stagecraft, and screen performance. These courses help you build confidence, creativity, and adaptability while learning about different styles of performance, from classical theatre to contemporary drama. You will also gain hands-on experience through live productions, filmed performances, and workshops with industry professionals. With practical training, industry connections, and opportunities to refine your craft, you’ll graduate prepared for careers in theatre, film, television, and voice acting.

Example
Modules

Acting Techniques: Explore various acting methodologies, including Stanislavski's system and contemporary practices, to develop a versatile performance skill set.

Voice and Speech: Develop vocal strength, clarity, and versatility through exercises focused on breath control, articulation, and phonetics.

Movement for Actors: Enhance physical awareness and expressiveness by studying movement disciplines such as dance, stage combat, and physical theatre.

Common Degree Names

BA (Hons) Acting
BA (Hons) Acting & Performance
BA (Hons) Acting for Stage and Screen
BA (Hons) Acting and Musical Theatre
BA (Hons) Acting and Screenwriting

💼 Some courses include an industry showcase or short professional placements.
🌍 Study abroad is not commonly offered for Acting degrees.

A theatre script with highlighted lines and handwritten performance notes, with makeup brushes and costume fabric in the background, showing the preparation and craft behind acting

Level 3 (A-level / IB Diploma (HL) / Scottish Highers)

Acting degrees focus more on your talent and enthusiasm than on specific subjects. You don't need to have studied Drama to apply – but it can definitely help.

Subjects that can help:

Drama or Theatre Studies – gives you performance experience and grounding in techniques
English Literature or English Language & Literature – useful for analysing scripts and understanding texts
Other creative or essay-based subjects – Music, Dance, History, or Media Studies show communication skills

✨ Your commitment to acting and performance potential matter most. Almost all courses require an audition – see the Other Requirements tab.

Universities may also accept:

BTEC Extended Diplomas in Performing Arts or Performing Arts Practice
BTEC National Extended Certificates or National Diplomas, alongside A-levels that meet the subject requirements above
IB Career-related Programme (IBCP) with at least two IB Higher Level subjects (ideally three) alongside your Career-Related Study; a Performing Arts pathway would be directly relevant

Always check specific entry requirements on each university's website.

Level 2 (GCSE / MYP / National 5)

Most acting courses ask for:

GCSE English Language and Maths at grade 4/C or above (or equivalent)

English is particularly important as you’ll be reading scripts, writing reflections, and expressing ideas clearly.

🎬 If your school offers Drama or Theatre, taking it can be a great introduction—but it’s not a requirement. Involvement in school plays, drama clubs, or local theatre also shows valuable experience.

🎭 Auditions

Almost all acting courses require an audition. This is usually the most important part of your application. You might be asked to perform one or two monologues and possibly take part in a group workshop. Some schools will also ask you to talk about your passion for acting.

💬 Interviews

Many drama schools and universities include a short interview alongside your audition. This is a chance to discuss your training goals and what inspires you, not a formal academic test.

🔍 Work/Volunteering Experience

You don't need specific work experience to apply, but performing as much as possible — in any context — helps you grow and gives you material to draw on in auditions. School productions, youth theatre, amateur dramatics, and community theatre all count. If you're looking for something beyond performing, try backstage work, directing a scene with friends, or running a drama workshop for younger students. What matters is that you're actively exploring different aspects of theatre, not just waiting to be cast.

✨ Personal Statement Tips

What drives you to act - and why do you want to train seriously in it? Reflect on your journey as a performer so far: what have you learned from the roles you've played, the productions you've been part of, or the training you've undertaken? Think about performances that have inspired you and how they've influenced your own work. Admissions tutors want to see dedication to the craft and understanding of yourself as a developing artist - what excites you about performing, where you want to grow, and why you're ready for the demands of professional training.

If your qualifications don't match the usual entry requirements, there are some other possibilities.

🌱 Foundation Diploma in Performing Arts

Some conservatoires and universities offer a foundation year or diploma in Acting or Performing Arts. This can help you build audition skills and performance experience before applying for a full degree.

🎓 Access to HE Diploma (Performing Arts or Art & Design)

Accepted by many universities for acting-related degrees. A strong audition will usually matter more than your grades, but this gives you the academic qualification alongside your preparation.

Is this degree right for you?

Members can explore whether this degree fits who they are:

Skills you'd develop and whether they match your strengths
How this aligns with your interests, motivators and values
Career paths and where graduates end up

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Skills you would develop in X degree

Skill Name

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Is this a good fit for you?

Use the tabs to explore the kind of person that this would be a good fit for. Do you share the Interests, Motivations, Values, Work identity and skills that people who thrive in this course tend to have?

Not sure what these things are? Explore your Identity Tree with us first.

Interests that connect well with an Acting degree

Students who enjoy this degree often share these interests. You don't need to feel strongly about all of them, and interests develop over time. If one or two catch your curiosity, or sound like something you'd like to know more about, that's a good sign.

Theatre, Dance & Live Performance: The whole degree is performance training. You'll develop your craft through voice, movement, scene work, and ensemble practice, taking on roles for stage and screen and learning what it takes to inhabit a character and hold an audience.

Language, Stories & Writing: Text sits at the centre of an actor's craft. You'll analyse scripts in detail, work line by line through scene study, and explore how playwrights build character through dialogue and subtext, using that understanding to shape your performances.

Students who thrive in an Acting degree are often motivated by

Movement and Physical Activity

You're energised by work where your body is part of what gets the job done. Training and competing, dancing or performing, coaching others through physical activity, the hands-on side of nursing, midwifery, dentistry or veterinary practice, or the operational work of being a paramedic, firefighter or outdoor instructor: the actual job happens through what you do with your body. You'd rather be the one doing the physical work than the one analysing or organising it from a desk.

Performing and Presenting

You love being in the spotlight, whether that's on a stage, in front of a camera, or giving a presentation to a room full of people. The energy of a live audience or the focus of all eyes on you doesn't make you nervous; it makes you come alive. You thrive on the immediate connection between performer and audience, and you miss it when it's gone.

Storytelling and Communication

You're excited by crafting a compelling narrative, whether that's writing a script, performing a speech, producing content, or simply finding the perfect way to explain something complex. You notice when stories are told well and when they fall flat. Shaping how people understand and feel about a topic gives you real energy, and you're always thinking about how to land a message.

Sharing Your Work with Others

You take pride in showing what you've created to others, whether that's exhibiting artwork, demonstrating an invention, publishing writing, or presenting project results. The moment when someone else experiences or responds to your work gives you a buzz. You create with an audience in mind, even if that audience is small.

Personal Expression

You're energised by making work that's recognisably yours: putting your perspective, experiences, or imagination into something you create. Whether that's art, writing, design, music, film, or any creative output, you get the most from the work when your own voice or vision is showing through, not when you're producing something indistinguishable from anyone else's. Creative work that lets you leave your mark feels more satisfying than work that's purely technical, however skilled.

Creativity and Innovation

You're energised by the act of creating something new or finding a fresh way to approach a problem. Whether it's designing, writing, building, or experimenting, you feel most alive when you're generating original ideas rather than following established methods. The possibility that something has never been done before excites rather than intimidates you.

What makes Acting click for the students who love it?

Stepping into someone else's life and making a room full of strangers believe it: that's the pull. They build a character out of voice, body and instinct, through the daily craft of rehearsal where the same scene gets tried a dozen ways until it rings true. They're storytellers who work through performance rather than the page, and what they chase is the live connection, the moment an audience goes quiet because the thing is working and they know they've made it their own.

These are the skills that students who love this degree tend to enjoy using. You don't need to be great at them already, but if they sound like you, that's a good sign.

Skill Name

Skills that suit this degree

You don't need to be great at these already — but if you enjoy using them or want to get better at them, that's a good sign.

Do you enjoy performing in front of others — whether that's in a school play, a presentation, or just making your friends laugh?
Do you find yourself imagining how other people see the world — what they're feeling, what they'd say, how they'd react?
Do you like putting your own spin on things rather than doing them the way everyone else does?

Careers an Acting degree could lead you to

Acting

What do Acting degrees involve?

Example Modules

Common Degree Names

Is this degree right for you?

Skills you would develop in X degree

Skill Name

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Is this a good fit for you?

Careers an Acting degree could lead you to

Example
Modules