A Brief History of the Mulholland Academy
The Mulholland Academy was created in 2010.
The Mulholland Academy was created to serve the international film industry.
After teaching theatre acting in Amsterdam for many years, Debra Mulholland and Emma Dingwall were asked more and more frequently if they could recommend students to act in film projects. It became clear to Debra that there was a need in the acting community to expand and add a film study option. In researching this new area it surfaced that there were only one or two full time Film Acting schools in English throughout the whole of Europe. A formal film acting school was very much needed to serve the growing international acting community.
After two years of research and study of the differing forms of film acting, and their differences Deb worked on creating a full-time curriculum., and with the school filled with students for the year ahead, the Mulholland Academy was ready to launch. The Academy opened with a full-time program and part-time classes in the evenings and weekends.
Our students are multicultural, multi-disciplined, and have had some training before joining us.Our classes go beyond foundation acting classes for new actors, professional actors find us and join our more specialized studies to refresh and go deeper into the work. The work at the Academy is of a practical and post graduate nature. Students come from all over the world to study with us. Our goal is to offer an excellent program and to make sure our graduates are ready to work in the industry when they leave us.
The Academy is not only an acting school but is heralded as a place where our International acting community come together, and support each other in the growth of projects, ideas, and futures.In late 2016, the Academy was growing too big for Deb to handle on her own. She reached out and asked her friend and colleague Robert Hersee for help. Robert invited Guus van Kammen, (another good friend) and together Robert, Guus and Debra became partners.
We are all eternally grateful to Robert for his dedicated leadership, and to Guus for his astounding behind the scenes support. This partnership allowed Debra to return to New Zealand to be close to family in early 2017.
Robert, Guus, and Alex Murphy (our head teacher) work together to keep the Academy serving the wonderful students, the outstanding teachers, and our beloved International Acting community, in the heart of Amsterdam.
Deb Mulholland.