Udemy Acting Courses

Udemy was founded in May 2010 in San Francisco by Eren Bali, Oktay Caglar, and Gagan Biyani — Bali and Caglar moved to Silicon Valley from Turkey and were famously rejected by investors 30 times before securing their first million dollars in seed funding. The platform has since grown into one of the world's largest online course marketplaces, hosting over 200,000 courses across every conceivable subject, with a substantial acting and performance library that includes courses from professional actors, coaches, and industry educators. Udemy operates on a marketplace model — independent instructors create and publish courses on the platform, and students purchase them individually with lifetime access. This open marketplace approach means the acting library is vast and covers virtually every niche imaginable, from comprehensive introductions to the craft through specialized courses in Meisner technique, Stanislavski method, screen acting, voice acting, commercial auditions, dialect work, and the business of acting. In a major industry development, Coursera agreed to acquire Udemy in December 2025 for approximately $930 million in equity — a deal that may reshape the online learning landscape, though as of early 2026, Udemy continues to operate independently.

In 2025, Udemy's acting library features thousands of courses ranging from brief introductory classes to comprehensive multi-hour programs that rival the depth of in-person workshops. What distinguishes Udemy from subscription-based platforms like Skillshare or MasterClass is its pay-per-course model — you purchase individual courses at prices ranging from $19.99 to $199.99 at full price, and once bought, you own lifetime access to that content with no ongoing subscription fees. Notable acting courses include 'The Complete Acting Course' by Galadriel Stineman (a professional union actor known for Ben 10 and Until Dawn), which includes three hours of video and a 55-page PDF workbook; the 'Acting Masterclass' by Amy Lyndon, creator of the Lyndon Technique and four-time Back Stage winner for Top Audition Technique Teacher, who has helped 56 actors become series regulars; and the 'Professional 10 Hour Acting Masterclass' featuring instructors from Juilliard, Harvard, Yale, RADA, and A.C.T. The platform also offers a monthly subscription starting at $16.58 per month for unlimited access, though the per-course model remains the core experience.

Getting started on Udemy requires no account setup beyond basic registration — create a free account, browse the course catalog, and purchase any course that interests you. There are no prerequisites, no admissions process, and no scheduling constraints — every course is available instantly and can be started, paused, and resumed at any time. The platform's search and filtering tools allow students to find acting courses by topic, skill level, duration, rating, and language. Each course listing includes a detailed description, curriculum outline, instructor bio, student reviews, and a free preview section that typically gives access to several introductory lessons. This transparency makes it possible to evaluate a course thoroughly before committing money. Udemy's Q&A feature allows students to ask questions directly to instructors, and many active instructors respond within a day or two — a level of interaction that is unusual for a self-paced platform. Students can also leave reviews and ratings, which helps surface the highest-quality courses and provides accountability for instructors to maintain their content.

The Udemy learning experience is entirely self-paced and self-directed — you watch pre-recorded video lessons, complete exercises, download supplementary materials, and move through the curriculum at whatever speed suits you. Most acting courses include between 3 and 15 hours of video content broken into short lessons of 5 to 20 minutes each, making it easy to fit learning into a busy actor's schedule. Many courses include downloadable resources such as workbooks, script excerpts, practice exercises, and reference guides that extend the value beyond the video content. Quizzes and knowledge checks help reinforce key concepts, though the testing is typically basic and self-graded. The mobile app allows students to watch courses on phones and tablets, and content can be downloaded for offline viewing — useful for studying during commutes, on set, or in other situations without reliable internet. The instructor Q&A section creates a lightweight community around each course where students can ask questions and see the instructor's responses to other students' queries, providing some of the benefits of live interaction within a self-paced framework.

Udemy's acting student base is enormous and global — the platform serves students in virtually every country, and acting courses are available in multiple languages. The typical Udemy acting student is budget-conscious and self-directed, looking for specific skills or knowledge rather than a comprehensive training program. Many students use Udemy to supplement formal training — taking a course on audition technique to prepare for pilot season, studying a specific methodology they want to explore before committing to full classes, or learning business-of-acting skills that their formal training did not cover. The marketplace model means instructor quality ranges dramatically — the best Udemy acting courses are taught by working professionals with verifiable IMDb credits and proven coaching track records, while the worst are created by people with minimal experience who are primarily motivated by the platform's revenue-sharing model. This range makes due diligence essential — checking reviews, previewing free lessons, and verifying instructor credentials before purchasing is not optional, it is critical to getting value from the platform.

Udemy courses are priced individually at $19.99 to $199.99 at full retail price, but the platform's most important pricing feature is its frequent and aggressive sales — Udemy runs promotional events multiple times per month where most courses drop to $9.99 to $14.99, representing discounts of 80 to 95 percent off the listed price. Virtually no one pays full price on Udemy, and students who time their purchases to coincide with sales can build a comprehensive acting library for a fraction of the retail cost. The platform also offers a monthly subscription plan starting at approximately $16.58 per month that provides unlimited access to a curated subset of courses, though the per-course purchase model remains more popular for acting students who want specific titles. All purchases come with a 30-day money-back guarantee, making every course effectively risk-free. Once purchased, course access is permanent — there are no recurring fees, and students can revisit the material indefinitely. Compared to subscription platforms like MasterClass or Skillshare, Udemy's per-course model can be either more or less expensive depending on how many courses you purchase, but the ability to buy exactly what you need without paying for an entire library gives budget-conscious students precise control over their spending.

Udemy is an excellent choice for budget-conscious actors who want targeted, self-paced training in specific skills or topics — if you know exactly what you need to learn (audition technique, self-tape skills, a specific acting methodology, the business of acting), Udemy likely has a well-rated course that covers it for under $15 during a sale. It is also a strong supplementary resource for actors in formal training programs who want to explore topics outside their school's curriculum. For actors in smaller markets with limited access to in-person classes, Udemy can provide a baseline of instruction that would otherwise be unavailable. However, Udemy should not be your primary training if you are serious about building professional acting skills — the self-paced, no-feedback format simply cannot develop the performance abilities that require live practice, direction, and real-time correction. Use Udemy as one component of a broader training strategy that includes live coaching, scene study with partners, and regular performance practice. If you are choosing between Udemy and a subscription platform like Skillshare, the decision comes down to whether you want to buy specific courses (Udemy) or browse unlimited options (Skillshare).

Never buy a Udemy course at full price — wait for a sale, which occurs multiple times per month, and you will save 80 percent or more on every purchase. Before buying any acting course, preview the free lessons, read the most recent student reviews (not just the top reviews), and verify the instructor's professional credentials on IMDb or their personal website. Sort search results by highest rated and most reviewed to surface the best courses, and be skeptical of courses with very few reviews regardless of their rating — a 5-star course with 10 reviews is less reliable than a 4.6-star course with 500 reviews. Build a wishlist of courses you want and wait for them all to go on sale simultaneously, then purchase in bulk for maximum savings. After purchasing, commit to completing each course fully rather than accumulating a library of unfinished courses — the common pattern of buying courses during sales and never watching them is Udemy's most pervasive trap. Pair every Udemy course with practical application — if you learn audition technique, immediately schedule self-tape sessions to practice; if you study a methodology, find a scene partner to work with.