Aspiring young actor from Dunstable wins place at prestigious Stella Adler school of acting in New York

An aspiring young actor who started training at the Grove Theatre in Dunstable has been awarded a place at the Stella Adler school of Acting in New York

Asa Clark starts a three-year course in September at the school whose famous alumni include Abbi Hawk who starred in ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’ on Broadway and Nicole Kang who starred as Mary Hamilton in Batwoman – not to mention film stars including Robert De Niro, Martin Sheen, Mark Ruffalo and Bryce Dallas Howard.

Asa, who was born and raised in Dunstable, said: "This truly life-changing opportunity will enable me to immerse myself fully into the art of acting, at one of the most prestigious schools in the world.

“I always knew I wanted to be an actor, from the age of five. I asked my mum while watching a local pantomime “How do I that?”. From that moment I started acting classes at the Grove Theatre alongside learning the basics and building confidence in dance as well as acting at The On Pointe Dance Academy where my love for hip-hop was born, all while they exposed me to the possibilities of this industry.”

From here Asa trained at the Emil Dale Academy and during Covid joined The Urdang Academy in London, successfully graduating at 18 years old.

Wanting to pursue a full time career in acting Asa then spent the next 18 months developing his acting skills, auditioning for the Almeida Young Company in Islington where he and seven others wrote, composed and performed their own 10-minute musical.

And last summer Asa completed a National Youth Theatre Senior Intake Course which he described as “one of the most memorable experiences of my life – being surrounded by likeminded individuals with a passion for performing was amazing and merely confirmed by aspiration to pursue my acting career”.

Asa’s now looking forward to the next step of his acting career by treading the boards in the Big Apple. He added: "This incredible and fortunate opportunity was in all honesty unexpected and I am still genuinely processing the reality of moving to New York as a ‘homely’ lad from England.

"I’m extremely excited about this opportunity and I am desperate to go, but there is no hiding behind the fact that studying at Stella Adler and living In New York come with significant financial challenges. So I’m exploring every possible opportunity to raise money to help fund my tuition for the first year.”

Asa is hoping to raise £1,500 which will go directly towards the first year’s tuition fees, setting up a funding appeal which has so far raised £527.

"I am looking for the generous combined contribution of £1,000 which will go directly towards the monthly tuition fees I need to cover in year one. I can assure you any donation big or small will be hugely valued and appreciated. Thank you so much in advance.”

Click here to support Asa’s GoFundMe.