ABOUT BK 1

ABOUT BOB..

A graduate of Tufts University, Bob Krakower started his teaching career at San Francisco’s famed American Conservatory Theatre. Shepherded by the company’s founder and Artistic Director(William Ball) and the Conservatory Director (Allen Fletcher), he was teaching first year graduate acting, directing projects, and given the job of Associate Director of Conservatory, all by the age of 24, making him the youngest person to hold that post at a major theatre school in the United States.  He worked in the same capacity under Mr. Fletcher at the National Theatre Conservatory as well.

In 1986, Krakower took over the acting program at another landmark institution, the Tony Award winning Actors Theatre of Louisville, where he also served as a resident director for the company. He was one of the main creative forces behind ATL’s Shorts Festivals, producing and/or directing over 100 projects, including world-premieres by Howard Korder, Lanford Wilson, Jane Anderson, and Jane Martin, and many more.

In 1996-97, Krakower took over as Director of the Atlantic Theatre Company Acting School, running both the Professional and NYU Undergraduate Divisions. He – along with Earl Gister (Yale), Lloyd Richards (Broadway) and J. Michael Miller (NYU) – is a founding faculty member of The Actor’s Center in New York. He has been a guest teacher at Yale, Harvard and NYU and is currently on staff at UNCSA and Juilliard.

In addition to his rich theatre background, Krakower spent a much cherished year learning the business side of things at the famed Susan Smith & Associates Agency. He also has extensive experience in film & tv casting, having worked on over 60 productions including “NYPD Blue,” “My So-Called Life,” “Arliss,” “All That,” and “Varsity Blues.” Serving as acting coach on several of these projects, he worked with Brian Robbins, who said of his work on “Hardball” (Keanu Reeves), “I knew I had my hands full with ten actors who never acted before – he really gave them skills, and he really turned them into actors. Because when I got them on the set, they were ready. They really had some chops built up and he just did a fantastic job with them.”

As an on-camera director, he has helmed multiple television episodes, and his most recent film “John Pinette: You Go Now” was selected as the opening night feature at Cinequest Film Festival.

For over twenty-five years, Krakower has coached on countless films and television productions, hired by the studios, networks, producers, writers, directors, production companies and actors alike. At his studio in New York he teaches one of the longest-running acting classes in the city. And whether he’s working with students, celebrities, stand-ups or actors, he does so with what Emmy Award Winning Director Michael Lembeck has called “the most passionate, kindest, and brightest approach I’ve ever seen.”

He lives in New York City.

  • "I play to figure things out …
    If you play with the fear of failing, you'll have the pressure on yourself  and capitulate to that fear…
    If you play with the sense of 'I want to win, I want to win, I want to win,' then you have the fear of what happens if you don't.
    I play to learn something... that enables you to just really stay in the moment, stay connected to it and not feel anything other than what's in front of you."

    Kobe Bryant 

       
  • “Behavior is the most important thing of every piece of material that you read,
    that you perform in, and you direct.  Look at the behavior.”

    Robin Wright, actress/director House of Cards 

  • “You have to make a thing believable without using the device of acting.
    Hmmm ... and that doesn’t make any sense at all.”

    great American film actor, James Stewart    

  • "It's the actor's job to be out of control, but somehow as a professional to be ......in control slightly of being out of control.
    And if you're really good, you don't wanna be in total control; everything will be boring. It'll be planned and there will be no spontaneity ...
    So you want to be slightly out of control of being in control ...
    So you're a person at the same time......being out of control of being in control, and being in control of being out of control …
    ... and in this way lies certain institutions that you can be sent to."

    Warren Beatty 

     
  • Milena Govich“Bob Krakower is without question my go-to acting coach! His seasoned guidance has enhanced my skills as an actor in countless ways. Bob was instrumental in my transition from stage work to film and television, and he continues to significantly accelerate my growth in all mediums. He has an incredibly unique ability to convey the intangible elements of acting in a way that plays to the specific strengths and needs of each individual student. His approach allows actors to find answers within themselves so that the work compliments their own personal process. This is all possible because Bob doesn't just teach the actor, he teaches the person.”
    Milena GovichConviction (regular), LAW & ORDER (regular), RESCUE ME (recurring)
  • Neil Pepe"Bob Krakower is one the finest acting coaches working today. He has the unique ability to bring out the truth and strength of every actor he works with. His many years of experience working in film, television and theater give him extraordinary insight into what it takes to be great actor and sustain a successful career."
    Neil PepeArtistic Director The Atlantic Theatre Company
  • “I insist all my clients that need to work on their craft run not walk to Bob's class. The results are remarkable.”
    Rhonda PriceThe Gersh Agency
  • "Bob has an incredible way of getting through to actors. He not only leads them into a scene but all the way through it. I’ve never seen actors improve so quickly or so easily. The guy has a magic touch. I learn something about how to talk to an actor every time I see him work ..."
    J. Miller TobinDirector – 90210, Gossip Girl, The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Numb3rs, Criminal Minds, and many other
  • "Bob is without question the best acting teacher and coach I have ever had the privilege to observe. He has a savant-like ability to key into an individual actor’s process, and to help them recognize their own strengths, weaknesses, habits, potentials…with results that can really be transformational. He does it all in a refreshingly down to earth and non-invasive way. I can’t recommend him highly enough. "
    Kathleen ChopinEmmy Award Winning Casting Director – “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps,” “Going The Distance," John Adams, Recount, I Am Legend, Zoolander
  • Joe Davola“As an acting coach, Bob has proven, time and again, to be an essential piece to the production puzzle."
    Joe DavolaAwesomeness TV, One Tree Hill, Smallville, What I Like About You, All That
  • “Bob doesn't bog actors down with acting class jargon and technique talk. He's passionate, efficient, and gets to the heart of the matter while being supportive, specific and nurturing. He encourages each individual actor to inform each individual character by drawing out his/her best, most spontaneous, and personal self. Soon, right and wrong disappear and the scene just flows."
    Barrett FoaSeries Regular (Eric Beale) - NCIS
  • Jessica Hecht“Working with Bob is a brilliant throw-back to the scene work I did with Stella Adler and Morris Carnovsky. He's a remarkably intelligent and sensitive coach who can help you exact a place where the character starts and lives, and then through his acute observations of both you and the text, urge you to a very real and dynamic place. He has coached me on two Broadway plays and several tv auditions. He is a rare combination of your most sage theatre professor and the coolest tv/film producer all wrapped up in one. His ability to make me feel I can fulfill any material -- be it "A Streetcar Named Desire" or a scene from "Seinfeld" -- is unparalleled ."
    Jessica HechtBroadway – A View From The Bridge, Fiddler on the Roof, The Price Friends, Dan In Real Life, Breaking Bad, Person of Interest, Red Oaks, The Sinner
  • Lembeck"I have been a working director for a long time. Often I am asked..."where should I study?", ".....who do you recommend as an acting teacher?" This is a significant question. It is a question I take a lot of responsibility for before responding. For me, there is only one answer. I have sat in the back and observed more acting classes then one can imagine. I have watched acting teachers/coaches, come and go. If you are looking for who I would consider the most passionate, the most invested in maximizing the actors opportunity for success, the kindest, the brightest, and the most skilled, then you want to study with Bob Krakower. This guy loves actors. And he is a better teacher then anyone working today. End of story. There isn't anyone better."
    Michael LembeckEmmy Award Winner – Friends Murphy Brown, One Day At A Time, The Santa Clause, Mad About You, Everybody Loves Raymond, The In-Laws
  • Chazz“There aren't many teachers who can help you pick up any script and give it your best shot every time. Bob can do that. And he does it all with empathy, humor, insight, and years of experience in theatre, film, and television. He's worked on every kind of project imaginable: This guy is the real deal.”
    Chazz PalminteriAcademy Award Nominee – Bullets Over Broadway A Bronx Tale, Godfather of Harlem, The Usual Suspects, Analyze This
  • Brooke Elliott "Bob Krakower has been invaluable to me as a teacher and as a support system since the very first class I took with him. If you're committed to working in this business then you owe it to yourself to work with Bob. He makes you see the scene and, frankly, your life in ways you've never known before. He is brilliant, empathetic, supportive and able to provide you with the best tv/film education out there. He is one of the best....no.... he is absolutely the best.”
    Brooke ElliottLead actress, “Drop Dead Diva” – Lifetime
  • Rooney Mara “Bob has an extraordinary way of making things seem so simple. I can read something over and over, but then I read it with Bob and he helps me to see what I just wasn’t seeing... I think what’s so special about him is that he is a master at understanding people and situations. That not only makes him great at helping you break down a scene, it also makes him a great teacher in that he understands different people have different ways of learning.”
    Rooney MaraAcademy Award Nominee - Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Carol, Social Network, Nightmare Alley, Women Talking, Brideshead Revisited, La Cocina, Her
  • "Bob is simply the best teacher of the craft that I have ever come across. The detail work that he employs incomparable. The care that he takes with actors is unmatched. To put simply, I am ten times a better actor today because of having worked with him."
    Glenn DavisGlenn Davis is known for Billions (2016), The Good Wife (2009) and The Unit (2006)