Teresa DiSpina- Owner/Instructor teresa@theactorsalley.com
Teresa has been working professionally in the industry for more than fifteen years. She is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and Actor's Equity. Some of her many credits include a recurring role on ABC's NYPD Blue, starring roles in feature films, and the title role in NBC's "The Anissa Ayala Story". She has worked professionally on stage in New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Atlantic City.
Ms. DiSpina has been teaching actors of all ages for more than a decade in Los Angeles and New York City including private coaching and classroom situations where the personal growth of the individual actor is the focus.
Ms. DiSpina is a graduate of the High School of Performing Arts in NYC, and an alumnus of Improv Olympic West, where she performed regularly on various teams.
Danielle Paccione- Instructor
Denise Dowse- Instructor
Denise Yvonne Dowse, born in Honolulu Hawaii and daughter of US Naval Officer, graduated Cum Laude from Norfolk State University with a BA in English/Theatre. She returned to California after living seven and a half years in Germany working as the Aschaffenburg Military Community Theatre Director. Denise is best known to television audiences for her recurring role as Vice-Principal, Mrs. Teasley on the long-running hit Beverly Hills 90210; and was a Series Regular on the short lived sitcom Built to Last. Her most recent feature film work includes, Reign Over Me, Ray and Coach Carter
She’s guest-starred on shows such as Law & Order, The Mentalist, Saving Grace, Gilmore Girls, Charmed, Shark (recurring), Everwood, The Guardian (recurring 3 seasons), Without a Trace, Judging Amy and The West Wing to name a few.
Denise began Directing in LA in 1995 with Long Time Since Yesterday by P.J Gibson (nominated for 6 Image Awards), for which she received the 1995 NAACP Image Award as Best Director and Dramalogue Award for Best Director then followed that up with The Chest by Angela deJoseph for which she also received 1996 NAACP Image Award as Best Director (nominated for 10 NAACP Image Awards). Most recently, Denise as a Director has journeyed to Winston-Salem, NC for the 2003 & 2005 National Black Theatre Festival with Malcolm Jamal-Warner's Spoken Word One Man Show; Love & Other Social Issues( 2008 NAACP Best Director) and Judiann Mason's Eddie Lee Baker is Dead..
Currently, Denise is a Private Audition Coach, worked on Girlfriends as their dialog/acting coach for 4 seasons, teaches an ongoing Adult Acting Class and is the Resident Director at Amazing Grace Conservatory, (AGC) a Performing Arts School for inner city youth ages 7-18; recently closing their production of Sarafina. During the fall of 2001 AGC raised the stakes and produced (Exec. Producer Wendy Raquel Robinson, written by Tracy Coley and directed by Denise) their first short film, What About Us? and their Fall 2003 Mixed Media production of The Chocolate Factory, also directed by Denise.
