Jenny Lipman
Acting Coach & Drama School Audition Prep
Hello
I'm Jenny Lipman, a London-based acting coach
I've worked as an acting tutor and director at LAMDA for over 20 years as well as some of London’s other prestigious drama schools including RADA, Drama Centre, Rose Bruford, Central School, Italia Conti, and Guildhall.
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I specialise in preparing actors for drama school auditions. Each year my clients go on to attend top drama schools in the UK and US.
Actors who have trained with me include Michael Fassbender, Tom Hardy, Kelly Reilly, Claire Rushbrook, Michele Austin, Stephen Graham, Jaime Murray, Chris Jarman, Anna Madeley, Anna Maxwell Martin, Dominic Cooper, Daisy Haggard, Luke and Harry Treadaway, Ruth Wilson, Nikki Amuka Bird, Amit Shah, Rose Leslie, Emily Beecham, Daniel Sharman, Matthew Needham, Harry Hadden Paton, Charlotte Riley, Danny Lee Wynter, Tom Bateman, Simon Manyonda, Sam Clafin, Janine Harouni, Aisling Bea, Alexia Moyano, Raphael Acloque, Malena Solda, Matthew Tennyson, Robert Emms, Abubakar Salim, Aaron Pierre, James Harkness, Angus Imrie, Nkeki obi Melekwe, Elodie Yung, Archie Madekwe, Arty Froushan, Ell Potter and many others.
I did my acting training at the Drama Centre under Christopher Fettes, Yat Malmgren and John Blatchley and worked as an actor in film, television, and theatre for over 20 years. My theatre work includes productions with The Royal Shakespeare Company, Open Space Theatre, Theatre Royal York, Liverpool Playhouse, Liverpool Everyman, Palace Theatre Watford, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Watermill Theatre Newbury and The Roundhouse in London. I did many tours in England as well as 3 Middle and Far East tours as an actor. I speak Italian and have performed at the Teatro Stabile of Turin. I've worked with theatre directors like John Barton, Terry Hands, Charles Marowitz, David Thacker, Ken Campbell, David Halliwell and Pip Broughton and television & film directors like Michael Apted, Franco Zefferelli, Bruce Beresford, Ken Hannam, Claude Whatham and Michael Papas.
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Testimonials
Jenny and I trained together at Drama Centre. She was a marvellous actor, but found herself drawn more and more to teaching. Now, wherever I go in the world, here in England, in America and in Europe, actors – many of them extremely famous – come up to me and say, “You trained with Jenny, didn’t you? She changed my life.
Simon Callow
Jenny is a wonderful teacher. She gave me opportunities at drama school that I wouldn’t otherwise have received . She boldly cast me against type allowing me to stretch underused muscles and set me up with a tool box brimming full of knowledge to enter into the world of professional acting.
Maxine Peake
I was so lucky to be taught by Jenny at LAMDA while I was in training there. Her understanding, not only of the dramatic text, but of the emotional depths of them and how to reach them truthfully as an actor, are matched only by her passion for the theatre and the arts. A truly inspirational teacher.
Tom Bateman
There is no one I have met more dedicated to the art of theatre, film and the craft of acting. No one I have met more loyal and supportive to their past students. Jenny Lipman is ambitious and insistent in her pursuit of brilliance.
Angus Imrie
Jenny Lipman’s passion and dedication as a teacher had one of the strongest influences on me as a drama student. She taught me what it meant to be an artist, to be devoted to your craft and to search tirelessly for the answers to the truth about your character. She lit a fire in me that I’m truly grateful for.
Nikki Amuka-Bird
The lessons I learnt from Jenny Lipman’s acting classes at LAMDA were invaluable and inherently became a basis of how I worked as a professional actor in the industry. Her attention to detail and commitment to encouraging ‘truth’ in performance is something I always think about and aspire to.
Amit Shah
Jenny Lipman is without a doubt the most indelible part of my acting training. Her exceptional knowledge and experience in teaching the fundamentals of acting has been invaluable to me and countless others, and her love and passion for drama and actors is I think without equal.
Matthew Needham
Under Jenny’s guidance I learnt how to thoroughly prepare, and build a character. How to seek out and portray their truth. How to be ‘brave’, challenge myself and make bold, instinctive choices. How to safely explore and use vulnerabilities. And of course how to be playful. Jenny’s teaching is passionate, rigorous and rewarding. She was, and very much remains an inspiration
Claire Rushbrook
Jenny is an incredibly wise and ferociously passionate teacher with a rare knack for bringing out something very deep inside you you didn’t know you had. She always pushed me right to the brink, and never settled for anything less than the raw and messy truth. I will never forget my classes with Jenny, and would be half the actor I am today without her insight, guidance and mentorship.
Arty Froushan
Jenny Lipman is an extraordinary teacher. My three years at LAMDA were filled with many high and low points but Jenny’s dedication and teaching will always remain the bright spots of my time there. Her intricate knowledge of Rudolph Laban, Yat Malmgren and Stanislavsky techniques made her lessons invaluable to me. In fact my only regret was that I wished I had more time with her over my training.
On the middle of a windy, dark, cold 3am set, I still think about those lessons over ten years after graduating. She’s a true artist and teacher.
Daniel Sharman
I trained with Jenny for many years and learnt how to really commit to a role. Being a naturally shy person myself, she taught me tools that helped me physically and emotionally. This brought out more strength, clarity, muscularity and depth in my work. I hold my training in high esteem accredit it to helping me forge my way in the industry. Not only is Jenny a lovely person but she knows more about acting than anyone.
Emily Beecham
I still use many of the tools that Jenny Lipman taught me at Lamda. Her knowledge and passion for actor training is unequalled and her ongoing support throughout my career has meant a great deal. I’d highly recommend Jenny to anyone looking for an acting coach.
Matthew Tennyson
She is kind and passionate about her students and works incredibly hard to bring out in her students the inner world of the characters they are playing. Her main priority is creativity in the moment and for that to be the purpose. To explore ideas and push yourself, not just to get it "right". I loved my classes with Jenny. She focuses on trying to get actors to explore their range, rather than just falling into the easiest thing to do, which may be challenging but that is the craft and the purpose, to challenge ourselves to become someone else!
Aisling Bea
For Jenny working with actors is not a job, it's a vocation. The passion she brings to her teaching is inspiring. She helped me to find confidence in my choices and taught me many useful techniques in particular Laban work which I still use to this day as a starting point for characters. I feel really lucky that I got to work with her and have so many fond memories of her brilliant classes. Thank you Jenny!
Charlotte Riley
My first year of drama school auditions I wasn't accepted into any. My second year I decided to take Jenny Lipman's Audition Technique Course and I was accepted into two of the top drama schools in the US and UK. Jenny helped me to select speeches that showed off my range and helped me to make strong choices for the characters. After accepting my place at LAMDA, I trained with Jenny for two more years and her lessons have proved invaluable. I can say without a doubt that if it hadn't been for Jenny I wouldn't have gotten into drama school.
Janine Harouni
Jenny’s teaching encourages you to find the deep inner life that will fuel a scene/performance. She is interested in the core of the matter, the beating heart of a character; the raw flesh, blood and sweat of a scene. Guided by inner motivation and emotions rather than end result, a journey with her on a scene or character will tap into that ever complex and elusive thing in performance - Humanity
Harry Treadaway