LAMDA

Tom Riley Three Year Acting Course (Class of 2005)

Big break? Stepping in at the last minute to replace one of the lead roles in The Woman Before at the Royal Court, whilst still in my third year, was the lucky break that meant casting directors and producers around London sat up and took notice.

Tom Riley, LAMDA alumnus, currently starring in "The Vertical Hour" at the Royal Court Theatre

7.  "I have always wanted to be an actor, but upon leaving school, felt I lacked the life experience and the intellectual capacity to do the profession justice. I chose to take an English Literature degree in order to achieve this, with every intention of applying to drama school the minute I graduated, if I could afford it. The knowledge that there may be funding there to help me when the moment came kept my hopes alive.

It’s not every day that the principal of a drama school has to go to the Royal Court to mark his student’s end of year performance but that’s what has been arranged in Tom Riley’s case.

Tom Riley, winner of a Genesis Bursary at LAMDA, has written a brief letter to us outlining how this past term has gone for him - the first of his final year.

Saturday, 11 March 2006

At the end of my second year at LAMDA, when my class was told that for the 'Long Project' (only one important module of our three year training, the one in which the year - in collaboration with a playwright and director - devises and performs a new piece of writing) we would be working with Mark Ravenhill, there was a slight unease.