ABOUT

WELCOME, I’m KAREN AUSTIN.

The Asylum is an arena designed for you to train and perform with other professionals. I seek simplicity. My goals are to:

  • give you usable information, not just theory  

  • foster a space where you can experience emotional access

  • guide you to work both hard and smart

  • help sharpen your technique while building the courage necessary for industry success. 

I teach from boots on the ground experience garnered from a wealth of work, in a variety of mediums, in concert with an infinite variety of talents, under a myriad of conditions.  

I love actors; I am fascinated by our process. I work with each student very individually and ensure the environment is supportive. The curriculum emerges and collectively evolves from the unique needs of each member. 

I encourage and require potential students to observe a class. 

Observer seats are limited & by reservation only.

MY APPROACH

I try to pose questions in a way they can be answered, to define any problem in a way it can be solved, to see creative blocks and, together, we create opportunity for breakthrough: exfoliating what doesn't serve you and entertaining what does. 

  • The heart of the class is scene work

  • frequent on camera audition tech

  • monologue work for industry situations

  • "ice cold" reads entertain impulse and freedom 

  • Members are encouraged to work their audition sides in class.  

Vitae

Karen Austin has performed a wide variety of lead roles in film, television movies & mini-series, series regular, recurring & guest work as well as stage work in LA, Chicago & London. 

NOTABLE credits include:

  • Films: Rum Diary, Summer Rental, Jagged Edge, Far From Home, Taming of the Shrew, Lazarus

  •  Mini Series &  TV Movies, lead roles:  Laura Lansing Slept Here, Celebrity, Hillside Stranglers, Murder One, Casey's Gift, Murder or Memory, When the Time Comes, The Assassin

  • Series regular: The Quest, Nightcourt, Hollywood Blvd, Live Shot

  • Recurring episodic:   Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, Girlfriends, St. Elsewhere, Rodney, Murder One, The Trials of Rosie O'Neill, CSI: Miami.

  • Stage leads: NUTS @ The LA Stage Company, Beautified @ the Skylight directed by Jenny Sullivan, Daddy's Dyin' Who's Got the Will @ LA's Theatre/Theatre directed by Del Shors, NAMES @ the Strasberg, LA directed by Adam Davidson, the world premiere of John Ford Noonan's Talking Things Over With Chekhov @ LA's Victory Arts Theatre. Member of the Oxford Mummers, an ensemble rep in England, The Wisdom Bridge Theatre in Chicago, and the Dream Cycles Mime Troupe @ the Body Politic in Chicago.

  • Ms. Austin has worked with such notables actors as Katherine Hepburn, John Candy, Reese Witherspoon, Drew Barrymore, Johnny Depp, Glenn Close, John Lithgow, Jeff Bridges, Cuba Gooding, Felicity Huffman, John Rhys Davies, Richard Crenna and with such wonderful directors as Carl Reiner, Jay Sandrich, Leo Penn, George Schaeffer, Richard Marquand, Tony Richardson, Allison Anders, James Brooks & Mark Tinker.

Awards & Honors

  • member Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences

  • member Academy of TV Arts & Sciences.

  • LA Drama Critics Circle (Ovation) & Dramalogue Awards: Lead Performance, NUTS

  • Distinguished Alumni Award & Commencement Speaker, Mary Baldwin University   

Education & Training

  • MA in Dramatic Literature — Northwestern University

  • Shakespeare: Hugo Dyson, Oxford University

  • Movement & mime: Etienne Decroux & Jerzy Gortowski 

  • Scene Study: Milton Katselas & Laura Rose

  • Multifarious Trainings with Dan Fauci

Teaching

  • Over 15 years leading weekly classes at the Asylum and quarterly Mastery of Acting Workshops. Workshops and classes at The SAG-AFTRA Conservatory both at the union headquarter and at the AFI, lectures sponsored by the SAG-AFTRA Membership Education and workshops at Stanford University, The NY Actors Institute, & The West Coast Ensemble. 

    BEST CREDIT

  • Olivia's mom