I took one class at Second City called Improv for Actors, and that was it, and that was only because my agent told me I had to.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I never did improv professionally, but that was certainly in my training as an actor. I like it.
I'm an actor first and foremost, who happens to do improv. I've also done sitcoms, I've done stage.
After going to theater school, and then subsequently dropping out, I would say that when I first went to Chicago and learned long-form improv, that was a far better acting workshop than any acting school I've been to.
When I graduated from college, I moved to New York and started doing improv because I read all about the early 'Saturday Night Live' guys having come through Second City and learning how to improvise, so I wanted to get immediately into that.
I had a teacher who recommended I take improv classes in Chicago - I'm from Evanston, Illinois - so I did improv classes at Improv Olympic, and that kind of opened me up.
I got into acting classes. I didn't want to just go by luck.
I went to theater school, and if I spent time with one school of thought in this whole acting game, it's the Meisner approach of improvise-based acting. This does not mean that you improvise your acting, but that you focus on the other person.
I got involved with an acting school and studied for a couple years. They used to have improv exercises that you would work on and you would do improvs.
I never went to acting school, so improv was my training. Just being quick on your feet helps in everyday life.
I didn't do improv in college, I never performed, I didn't do theater either. I was in student government, I was a history major.