Hollywood star Kevin Spacey is to teach masterclasses for aspiring actors in a new scheme with a London college which will include scholarships to create new stars.
The initiative is a partnership between the charitable foundation established by the Oscar-winning actor and privately run Regent’s College, which offers degree courses in theatre.
Spacey, 53, said he wanted to find a way to continue the talent development work he has championed at the Old Vic theatre, where he is due to end his reign as artistic director in about two years.
“It’s my responsibility. It’s what you’re supposed to do if you’ve done very well,” he said. Quoting his own early champion Jack Lemmon, he said it was “sending the elevator back down”.
The first applicants will be invited to auditions this spring in either London or New York, led by the Kevin Spacey Foundation. By 2015 there will be 18 scholars and the college, in Regent’s Park, aims to invest £2.3 million over the next decade. Spacey said he got through his drama studies at the Juilliard School in New York with scholarships and by working in the administration office during lunch breaks.
The scholarship programme will be extended eventually to the college’s degree courses in screenwriting and producing, creative industries and film, TV and digital media production.
Spacey said his legacy to London would be in establishing an endowment for the Old Vic sufficiently large for it to survive on the interest, and a £30 million renovation project to make the theatre fit for the 21st century. Fundraising is under way and both will be launched formally at a later date.
