Kamil Haque was just 24 when he got himself employed as an acting instructor at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in Los Angeles—the school which trained actors like Paul Newman, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Lady Gaga, Al Pacino, Claire Danes and Robert De Niro—and 30 when he started Haque Centre of Acting & Creativity (HCAC) in Singapore—the self-funded, diverse acting school which coached Henry Golding before he got the role in ‘Crazy Rich Asians’. Six years on, Kamil tells LUCK-IT all about getting employed in Hollywood right out of school and everything a person needs to do to become an acting instructor anywhere.
“If I told you I got employed by refusing to leave the administrative office until they promised to hire me, would you believe me? Well, that’s exactly how I got the job.”
Q: First off, can you tell us about the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute? What is it, where is it and how prestigious is it, really?
A: It was and is a school started by Lee Strasberg in 1969 to teach what Lee had become famous/notorious for which is the heavily misunderstood concept of method acting. Lee’s method had been shaped through over 30+ years of refinement in various capacities and for the first time in a major way, his work was made available to the masses in a consistent way via his two schools, one in L.A. and one in N.Y.C.
What makes a school ‘prestigious’? Is it the facilities? The location? The staff? The process to gain admission? The alumni? I’d say for the first four criteria there is hardly anything that would make it stand out to the casual observer. Where the Institute has really cemented its name is in the strength and sustained success of its alumni and the association Lee Strasberg had directly or indirectly in training some of the world’s greatest actors which in no particular order include Paul Newman, James Dean, Christoph Waltz, Marilyn Monroe, Lady Gaga, Al Pacino, Claire Danes, Steve Buscemi, Robert De Niro, and the list goes on.
What about your acting school? What is it all about, where is it and why did you start it?
My acting school, Haque Centre of Acting & Creativity (HCAC) was founded in 2013 as the culmination of a 20+ year childhood dream to have my own school that is in many ways modelled after the Strasberg Institute and also other acting schools and private acting associations I have been a part of over the years. HCAC is the first professional acting studio in Singapore. The school doesn’t subscribe to only one method of acting and has workshops that span across various modalities of performing arts. The school caters not just to actors but also to a significant group in Singapore I called Creative Double-Lifers—people who are in some sort of parent-approved profession from 9-6 but are in need of an outlet or who want to maintain a second parallel path in the creative arts that their personal or professional life does not provide them. Perhaps they even have no ambition at all to perform but they believe there are essential skills from the arts that might benefit their personal or professional lives. My studio is located in a shophouse in the heart of Little India at 89A Desker Road. I started the school as a place for artists to refine their craft in a professional environment, a place for people to figure out what stories they want to tell and to have my teachers provide them with the tools and skills on how to tell them better and lastly as a place where self-expression has a safe space to flourish in a country that perhaps doesn’t value it as much as it could.
How did you even get employed as an acting instructor by the Lee Strasberg Institute anyway? How does one qualify to be an acting instructor anywhere?
If I told you I got employed by refusing to leave the administrative office until they promised to hire me, would you believe me? Well, that’s exactly how I got the job. I remember, the very first day I arrived in L.A. to register for classes at the theatre school as a student, I told the administrative head I wanted to teach there instead. She laughed and said I couldn’t simply because I didn’t know what they taught. I was really stubborn and I insisted we come to compromise. We agreed that if I could finish the 2-year programme (and many people don’t for various reasons) then I could possibly teach. Challenge accepted. Within the first 9 months, I identified my mentor and made my intentions known to her and she was generous enough to teach me acting as well as how to teach acting. With each lesson she would slowly let me teach parts of it in increasing increments eventually working my way towards being a substitute for her when she was unwell. Literally, the day after I graduated, I told them “I’m done with the program, I want to teach.” They saw that throughout the two years, I was willing to work hard, to grow, to learn and I was also helping people who were new to Los Angeles, the school and to the work. Because I had also established myself as a capable teacher and substitute, the transition to full-fledged teacher was easy. They saw the passion so they fulfilled my wish.
To be an acting instructor anywhere I think you first have to have a love for teaching. To be a teacher you have to be an activist and love to serve. Beyond that, as an acting instructor specifically, you have to have a keen eye for the human condition and be equal parts intellectual and instinctive in elevating your students and giving them ample opportunities to have lightbulb moments. Beyond that, of course as with any profession, having the appropriate credentials certainly helps.
I’m very sorry if this comes across as rude, but… why not just be an actor? Why be an acting instructor?
It’s not that I don’t love acting. Acting will always be my first love. Over time, I have realised while I love acting, it is something that feeds my ego. Teaching on the other hand is something that feeds my soul. I can’t imagine doing one without the other. After all, what is an ego without a soul and vice versa?
What do you presently teach at your acting school and how did you come up with the syllabus?
“Since the bulk of acting pedagogy comes from Lee Strasberg and I’m the only teacher in Asia who has credible experience teaching his work, I specialise in teaching all aspects of Strasberg’s work.”
Since the bulk of acting pedagogy comes from Lee Strasberg and I’m the only teacher in Asia who has credible experience teaching his work, I specialise in teaching all aspects of Strasberg’s work and by extension workshop-productions for all students to practice what they’ve learnt to test it outside the echo chamber of a classroom.
My syllabus and how I shape the syllabus for the other workshops not taught by me is really to ensure there is an egalitarian approach to actor training. I must stress again that HCAC doesn’t subscribe to just one methodology of acting and that all methods are welcome here and when taught, they are taught by specialists so students are exposed to the breadth and depth of acting so they can make informed and empowered decisions on how to create a method that works for them.
Can you share what your schedule and weekly routine was like when you were an acting instructor at the Lee Strasberg Institute?
The schedule varied depending on the semester and the demand for workshops depending on the size of the student population. At its peak, I might have taught up to 12 hours a day but never more than 2-3 days a week.
What about now, what’s your present routine like now that you’re also a businessman on top of being an acting instructor?
I typically start my day around 10:30am. At home, I answer emails from potential students, corporate training enquiries and even production houses that need assistance with casting actors for their projects. My arrival at the studio usually coincides with a lunch meeting for upcoming projects or rehearsals. I might bookmark that conversation for the moment to welcome private clients who need coaching. Some are prepping for a role; others need a sounding board if they have already been cast. But the majority of my students are Creative Double-Lifers who need coaching on public speaking and presentations. If I’m not in the studio, I might be found at a bank teaching improvisation at the workplace or some such form of corporate training that incorporates acting.
When the afternoon flurry is done, there might be a lull to attend to emails for a couple of hours before it picks up again from 7pm when my teachers and I begin our acting workshops. Classes officially end about 11pm and unofficially, much later. When I’m finally done, usually around midnight or so, I stick around to answer questions from students and answer more Whatsapp messages or emails that have appeared in my Inbox That Never Empties™. I finally make it back home by about 1:20am or so and allow myself to binge on Netflix or football news (Go Manchester United!) to decompress before drifting off to sleep around 3am to start the cycle all over again. The work is taxing and I’m usually at my studio 6-7 days a week. I hardly see my own family and barely have time for a social life. I’m slowly learning to be better at that last bit with some amazing people in my life who balance me out.
How do you presently spend your weekends?
If I don’t have to be at work, I avoid it! Instead, I might watch a play or movie or binge on Netflix (I’m not ashamed to say I watch a lot of crap because most other times, it’s still like I’m working because I’m subconsciously analysing what I’m watching). Ideally, I’ll be with my partner and we’ll relax over good food, home-cooking, drinks with friends or decompressing from the week by relaxing at her home.
What advice do you have for someone hoping to become an acting instructor? What about for someone who hopes to open their own acting school one day?
Do it because you love it. Not because it’s a cash grab (because there isn’t much to grab!) or because you aren’t getting much work as an actor. The last thing the industry needs is a cynical ex-actor who is jaded and jealous of their students. If someone has hopes of opening their acting school one day, come talk to me. Maybe you can teach me something!
Can you map out a recommended path for people who want to be acting instructors to follow? What about for people who want to open their own acting schools?
Get solid training with specialists. Learn the breadth and depth of methodologies that inspire you. Find a mentor who is a said specialist. Learn how to teach from them. Learn how to create your own way of teaching. Get as many teaching hours in. Whilst doing so, get out there and act. Learn what it’s like by being an actual practitioner too so you understand what your students go through. If you approach such a hands on craft from pure academics and intellectualisation then you are not really doing justice to what you teach. If you want to open your own acting school, go work in one for several years first. Figure out what works and what doesn’t before you embark on your own initiative.
What are the key things/people/situations that have enabled you to be an acting instructor, then to set up and run your own acting school, in your opinion? Who/What was/is indispensable?
In my life, whether by my own doing or by mysterious forces I am not privy to, I’ve had the good fortune of always having mentors and guides to nudge me along, believe in me and call me out on my BS. To set up and run my own acting school, truthfully, six years in, I’m still learning how to do that. Come back and ask me again in 44 years time.
How did becoming an acting instructor and owner of an acting school change you as a person? Or did it not change you?
It made me more responsible because for my employees, their livelihoods are in my hands. For my students, their careers are in my hands. My own future and what I want to see happen in it is in my hands.
If you could go back and replay the whole process of becoming an acting instructor and starting your own school all over again, what would you do differently?
Had I more insight into the world of business, perhaps I would have done more research into the business climate of the arts in Asia and I would have ascertained how I could have gotten more business managerial support and other means of funding to scale the school up faster.
What were you like as a child? What about as a teenager and young adult? How did you change at every decade? Or did you not change?
I was a pain in the ass. I was loud (I still am at times) but that was mainly from a constant desire to impress, or fit in or to shape shift without having a voice of my own. As I got older and certainly from my time in L.A., I discovered my own voice, my own body, my own mind and I had actual infrastructure to bring my childhood dreams to life.
Which major event in your life has made you who you are, in your opinion? Why do you think so?
I first got involved in acting in kindergarten in my stage debut of ‘The Bear Went Over The Mountain’ but it was in my primary one performance as the dog in ‘Old MacDonald’ that I caught the acting bug. My parents would also often take me to movies as a kid and I remember that it was after watching ‘Dead Poets Society’ that I knew acting (and eventually teaching) was what I wanted to do. I distinctly remember on the car ride home from the old Orchard Cinema (what is now Orchard Cineleisure), I was sitting in the backseat expressing my thoughts and opinions on the movie, specific events in the movie and their significance and what the movie meant to me. To that, my parents turned back to look at me and asked how I was able to have such thoughts that were apparently well beyond my years. Shortly after that, they also enrolled me into acting school with Julia Gabriel (who I remain eternally thankful to) and the rest they say is history.
Which 3 objects/people in your life can you presently not live without and why?
My parents (I collectively count them as one because they are divorced and I speak to them exclusively on separate matters so together they form one super human). My girlfriend who is my cheerleader, my rock and my biggest bullshit alarm. She helps me keep it real. Sambal belacan/chilli to spice up my food because I live for that pleasure from pain!
Of all the objects you bought in the past year, which has most positively impacted your life? Why?
A engraved bracelet I always wear around my right wrist that says ‘Know Thyself’ because it’s a constant reminder for me to be self-aware, sensitive to my own needs and boundaries and also because I’m too much of a coward to get a tattoo with the same phrase.
Which person do you wish LUCK-IT would interview for you to learn from? Why?
My parents because I don’t know enough about them and I doubt they would actually tell me if I sat them down to ask.
What’s the worst advice you’ve been given, or have heard people giving, with regards to acting? And what’s the best?
Worst Advice: Don’t waste your time with acting. Get a real job.
Best Advice: Genius is inspiring. Smart and hard work gets results.
Kamil is presently working on HCAC’s current set of workshops, planning for the rest of 2019, developing the Haque System of acting, setting in motion the HCAC ensemble, doing more corporate training, figuring out how scale up his business and inviting investors and business angels to take a plunge with him—more details available on his website, www.methodactingasia.com. When he has the time, he will also answer queries about acting, teaching and starting acting schools so if you have any questions on those, drop them in the comment box below.
Photographs courtesy and copyright of Kamil Haque. Interviewer: Sy
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