Question: How Long Do I Have To Take Acting Classes?

Recently, a young, aspiring actor asked me, "How long will I have to take classes to become a good actor?" Here below is the answer I gave him.
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You will want to find a good school, a good teacher and stick with them. When you are an actor, even when you become pretty good, you will want to continue to study. As you continue, will get to know yourself better and you will get to know your strengths and weaknesses and thus, what you need to improve on.

I would venture to say, that the fact that you ask that question means that you need to continue. When you are able to answer that question for yourself, after having worked a lot, after having a feeling for how you are doing as an actor, you probably will never feel like you should stop.

The other thing to consider is, what kind of classes are you taking now? Technique is one thing, but then there is scene study, voice, movement, text breakdown, audition, on-camera, commercial, stage combat. All of these could represent areas in which you might need to sharpen your craft.

The answer to your question? First of all it depends on you, how fast of a learner you are, how well you take direction, how well and how quickly you can grasp concepts and assimilate them, how humble you are and how much raw talent you are blessed with.

But the real answer is, whether you stop taking classes or not depends on how good you really want to be.

Here are some things to consider about choosing an acting school or class:
www.actingcareerstartup.com/acting_classes.html

I hope this helps!

Good luck!

Tony