The TKS Faculty have named our Notable Students of the Season! I’d like to officially announce and congratulate TK Actors: Tyler Alvarez, Dominique Wilson, Ellington-Blue Chapman, Kennedi Humphrey, Anna Riggins, Romeo Torres, Ana Sevilla, Derek Uy, Sonny Daniel, Elissa Goonan, Saeed Malami, Eliza Kamerling-Brown, Jingsia Hathorne, Ayleen Rojas, Joaquin Garcia, and Rhianna Jones on being selected as the Notable Students for Spring 2026.
These 16 students are truly inspiring – meeting the moment with enthusiasm, courage, and playful curiosity. They embody what it means to be “committed to excellence.” After notifying these students of their nominations, we asked them to share some insights on their time at TK Studio with the following prompts:
- How has your training here at TKS supported your understanding and pursuit of artistic excellence?
- Describe a moment in your training journey that you recall as having had a clear and lasting impact on you?
- What does being a part of the TKS community mean to you?
Let’s celebrate these exceptional students and send them lots of love and congratulations. We are so lucky to have them and all of you as integral members of our TKS Community!
Ellington-Blue Chapman2 Year Conservatory, Second Year, Terry Knickerbocker
How has your training here at TKS supported your understanding and pursuit of artistic excellence?
When I first arrived at the studio for an open house in 2024, I had no idea what I was stepping into, and I never thought acting was a possibility for me in my life. But in my two years of training with Terry, I’ve completely changed, found who I am, and have come to a place of owning my true artistry as an Actor. I will be graduating TKS hungry for craft, hungry for the work. And I know where I’m going.
Describe a moment in your training journey that you recall as having had a clear and lasting impact on you?
At the end of my first year, I was left with so much curiosity. And wondered how can I continue to dive deeper into myself and understand the full being of my instrument. And I told Terry, “I want to be taken seriously as an artist.”
What does being a part of the TKS community mean to you?
Being a part of TKS, is being part of a family of artists who are passionate and dedicated to truth and authenticity. The connections I’ve made with my ensemble will last a lifetime. Nothing will ever beat that.
Tyler Alvarez2 Year Conservatory, First Year, Terry Knickerbocker
How has your training here at TKS supported your understanding and pursuit of artistic excellence?
I came here to learn a reliable craft so I could bring consistency to my work, but I’m learning so much about myself and my habits—it’s changing the way I move through life.
Describe a moment in your training journey that you recall as having had a clear and lasting impact on you?
It’s hard to pinpoint any one thing—each day feels like an ego death in the best way possible.
What does being a part of the TKS community mean to you?
It’s a home—a padded cell where I can fail and learn, fall on my face, and get back up again.
Dominique WilsonOnline Intensive, Isabella Minter
How has your training here at TKS supported your understanding and pursuit of artistic excellence?
TKS shifted my mindset from just “feeling” to doing. I’ve learned to be as specific as possible with the role, the circumstances, and my own viewpoints. That’s made my work more grounded, intentional, and real.
Describe a moment in your training journey that you recall as having had a clear and lasting impact on you?
A big moment for me was realizing I didn’t have to perform. I was already interesting as me…I just had to be present and respond honestly. Once I let go of trying to be “interesting,” everything became more real.
What does being a part of the TKS community mean to you?
It means having a space to take risks, grow, and be supported. Everyone’s serious about the work, and that pushes me to keep leveling up and showing up.
Kennedi Humphrey2 Year Conservatory, Second Year, Terry Knickerbocker
How has your training here at TKS supported your understanding and pursuit of artistic excellence?
Training here at TKS has supported my understanding and pursuit of artistic excellence by showing me what it truly means to be free. The work has shown me how to play and within that playing I found the ability to add meaning and emotion and create something very real and truthful…it’s magical honestly.
Describe a moment in your training journey that you recall as having had a clear and lasting impact on you?
A moment in this journey that has had a lasting impact on me is this current moment while I’m typing this out. I came into this program not knowing fully what I was getting myself into and there have been many ups, downs, confusion, and understanding all wrapped in a beautiful two year ball. Looking back on everything I’ve done and knowing that all of those things were the perfect tool I could add to my actor toolbox, though I didn’t know it at the time; it makes me take notice of how amazing this program is and how all the “pieces” of the puzzle fall together in the most beautiful way. In this moment I feel capable, I feel seen and ready to be seen. Of course there’s still nerves about “what happens after…” but I’ve got a tool kit and I know how to use it ;).
What does being a part of the TKS community mean to you?
Being part of the TKS community means FAMILY. Point blank. I’m part of a very generous group of people and I wear that proudly. I started this program excited but feeling like an outsider and now I’m finishing my second year with such deep emotional bonding that’s unbreakable. I love my TKS Family!!!
Anna Riggins2 Year Conservatory, First Year, Terry Knickerbocker
How has your training here at TKS supported your understanding and pursuit of artistic excellence?
Training at TKS has helped me to refocus and deepen my work in ways that I was longing for, but didn’t know how to reach on my own. The training has taught me about the importance of showing up week after week, no matter how I am feeling about the work. Mastering the craft does not happen overnight, it takes years of consistency and practice, and TKS has helped me to recommit to the lifelong pursuit of artistic excellence. Before TKS, I had several different training experiences and techniques under my belt, but I still didn’t feel confident when I got a script. I didn’t even know where to begin or what works for me. Now, I have a tried and true approach that helps me reach an honest, full, emotional depth and connection within my work.
Describe a moment in your training journey that you recall as having had a clear and lasting impact on you?
How can I pick just one? Each class seems to uncover something new, revealing layers of the work, and of myself, that I hadn’t yet accessed. One big lesson that I have learned from Terry is the importance of consistently showing up to do the work. I have learned to trust that the work takes time, and you just have to fully commit and show up. Satisfaction comes from the hard work and moments of failure that eventually leads to moments of growth. Something that really stuck with me was early on when I had a class where I felt completely overwhelmed and like I failed, it wasn’t making sense and I wanted to cry. Then the very next class, something clicked, and I felt more connected and present in my work than I ever had before. It is scary and vulnerable to fail and take risks, but I believe that’s what it takes to be a truly free actor and I am learning how to allow myself to do that at TKS!
What does being a part of the TKS community mean to you?
Being a part of the TKS truly feels like a privilege. Having a place where I get to practice my craft every week with other like-minded, committed actors has helped me feel supported and excited about the work. TKS serves as a reprieve from the highly competitive, business-driven nature of the NYC casting landscape and helps remind me what it truly means to be an artist.
Romeo TorresSpring Intensive, Onye Eme-Akwari
How has your training here at TKS supported your understanding and pursuit of artistic excellence?
It is such a gift to have this space and support to access my true self. Who we are changes through the seasons of our lives, and the last time I had an environment like TKS was years ago. My training here has given me the space and time to ask who am I? What comes up for me *today* in this work? What do I carry with me and how am I affected?
Describe a moment in your training journey that you recall as having had a clear and lasting impact on you?
It’s actually the moment I felt most stuck that has had the greatest impact. It required me to focus on the foundation of the technique again. What did we discuss on day 1, and how do I need that in a new way on class 11?
What does being a part of the TKS community mean to you?
As a working actor, it’s critical to surround yourself with passionate and driven artists, who hold themselves to as high a standard as you do. The TKS community exemplifies this, creating actors who support themselves while supporting each other.
Ana SevillaOnline Intensive (Full Year), Meghan Mulcahy
How has your training here at TKS supported your understanding and pursuit of artistic excellence?
I’m a hybrid student so I have a class online as well as classes in person. Being able to have the duality of online and in person has not only supported my work, but has given me a better understanding of how to work in different spaces. It has completely shifted my outlook on how to work from online auditions, in front of a camera or in person.
Describe a moment in your training journey that you recall as having had a clear and lasting impact on you?
I think a moment that’s had a lasting impact on me would have to be in my Clown class right before soul jam. I can be rather shy and timid when it comes to things that use my body and not my voice. There was an exercise where we were connecting with people just with our eyes and movement, where we had to have one form of contact and it changed my entire perspective of acting throughout my body and how I can work as well as connect with other actors trying to leave that inner critic at the door before you step into a working space.
What does being a part of the TKS community mean to you?
I’m so unbelievably grateful to be a part of this community. You can tell how passionate and driven all of these people are and it makes you just as passionate and makes you push to be better in the craft while supporting the people around you in their journey. It’s an amazing atmosphere to be around and you can tell from the people who are currently here to alumni that this is experience and community follows you after you graduate.
Derek Uy2 Year Conservatory, First Year, Terry Knickerbocker
How has your training here at TKS supported your understanding and pursuit of artistic excellence?
My training at TKS has both reinforced my confidence in myself as an artist capable of excellence while also giving me a fresh definition of what it even means to be an artist in the first place.
Terry tells us that the artist holds a mirror up to nature. Under his instruction and through the Meisner technique I have shed my preconceived notions of what it means to be an “actor” and found myself getting in touch with a deeper meaning of the craft: being the most human artist possible. Not the greatest artist or the most renowned, but the most truthfully human. This reframing of the pursuit of excellence in art has shifted my entire perspective on what happens both inside and outside the classroom.
Describe a moment in your training journey that you recall as having had a clear and lasting impact on you?
During one of my exercises in class I was driven to an emotional state that I haven’t experienced since childhood – a state that I have been unconsciously doing THE MOST to avoid for my entire life. After the exercise was over, I walked back into the classroom not as my 23 year old self, but as a little 7 year old who had been humiliated. It wasn’t until several minutes went by while Terry was talking to my partner that I had this AHA moment: I wasn’t this humiliated, powerless child. I was in an acting studio, a safe space to work. I’d been avoiding accessing this emotion out of fear, but when it was accessed, I was totally fine. I didn’t travel back in time, but my nervous system had. And, through genuinely experiencing the emotion, not pretending to, I did my best work as an actor. The juice of TKS really clicked for me in this moment. Not only did this open up my work, but my daily life as well. Terry says that every problem is an opportunity, and that mindset extended out from me to my work and personal life. And when you live in this mindset, it quite literally transforms problems from stressors of anxiety to a legitimate opportunity to enhance your acting self.
And that’s when it clicked for me: the idea of “acting” I’d been holding onto was all wrong. The key is in experiencing these emotions truthfully and legitimately, not pretending to, and this work allows us to become familiar with the emotions that we unintentionally keep out of our palette, in order for us to access our full artistic instrument.
What does being a part of the TKS community mean to you?
The student body at TKS is so diverse in the ages, professions, and life experience. I am always in contact with folks who have different perspectives, approaches, and motivations to the work who are also so honest and vulnerable in a way that I’m not sure would be possible outside of this setting. Being in class with them almost daily seriously informs me about the world more than any other space I’ve ever been in.
Then there’s the attitude/climate of the school as a whole that truly promotes a culture of authenticity and strength in vulnerability that I have found SO refreshing. From my first call with Marena I felt welcomed and encouraged to be my full self, and that feeling has extended through my acting, movement, and emotional processing courses where my big risks in vulnerability and trust have been rewarded every single time. It’s a blessing to be both held and empowered like I am in this studio, and I’m very grateful to have the opportunity to work here.
Sonny Daniel2 Year Conservatory, First Year, Terry Knickerbocker
How has your training here at TKS supported your understanding and pursuit of artistic excellence?
The training at TKS has provided me a pathway to funnel my creativity into not only learning, but to developing confidence as an artist. Prior to TKS I had no formal training and now I have learned so much more about acting and myself as a person.
Describe a moment in your training journey that you recall as having had a clear and lasting impact on you?
The first time I expressed true emotions and feelings instead of overthinking and second-guessing myself was incredibly impactful. It is still an ongoing battle but it’s not something I feel ashamed of anymore it’s just a part of the learning process.
What does being a part of the TKS community mean to you?
Being a part of TKS has been an incredible experience for me. I’ve never been a part of anything that means truly so much. I’ve made close friends with people from all of the world and not only have they helped me become a better actor but I’ve become a better person.
Elissa Goonan2 Year Conservatory, First Year, Celestine Rae
How has your training here at TKS supported your understanding and pursuit of artistic excellence?
I’ve really appreciated being surrounded by a community of faculty and students that prioritize artistic excellence. In life it can be easy to get distracted by appearances or surface level “successes,” but in class at TKS the focus is always bringing all of yourself to the table to do the best work possible. Sometimes that means sitting in discomfort, having to release habits that no longer serve you, putting aside ego, and being truly vulnerable. It’s rarely easy and almost never glamorous, but when you are surrounded by other people dedicated to doing the same thing above all else, ease and glamour don’t matter, and it becomes all about the hard work required to achieve excellence. It’s an inspiring atmosphere to work in.
Describe a moment in your training journey that you recall as having had a clear and lasting impact on you?
The “moment” that comes to mind is actually three moments strung together. My first experience at TKS was in Terry’s Masterclass. Throughout the scenes I worked on, Terry pointed out an unhelpful tension that I seemed to be holding onto in my body, specifically when big feelings came up. Try as I might, I had a really hard time just allowing the feelings to pass through my body; something in me was holding them back.
After the Masterclass, I decided to join the two-year program, as well as enroll in Alexander I with Belinda. She invited us to just notice our day-to-day bodily habits (“bodily” meaning mental, emotional, and physical)- when we’re feeling at ease, when we are or aren’t feeling grounded, when we are holding tension that isn’t helpful versus tension that might be necessary. Through various exercises, I began to clearly notice the signs of how I felt when I was grounded, flexible, and free, as opposed to the alternative. As my understanding of the Alexander work deepened, I was able to bring it into my acting class with Celestine.
I began checking in with myself at the top of my work to ensure I was starting from a state of readiness – feeling grounded, flexible, and free – which led me to really begin to open up more. However, I continued having the common experience that I either still felt some unhelpful tension in my body by the end of the exercise, or it was only once the scene was over that I was able to fully release any big feelings. One class, Celestine asked my partner and I to run our scene a second time, and to really let go of any need to do things “right;” she invited us to be messy and big and do what might feel like “bad acting.” We went through the scene and really let things fly; it felt a little crazy and over-the-top as I was doing it, but it was also incredibly freeing, and I felt extremely connected to my partner and the circumstance. When we finished, I noticed that my body still felt entirely at ease as opposed to holding onto anything that came up throughout the scene. Everything had been fully released. The way that the instruction and guidance of three different teachers led me to such a meaningful breakthrough, I find very profound. I am so grateful to all three of them for getting me to this place in my work, and I’m so eager to see what else this opens up within me.
What does being a part of the TKS community mean to you?
The community at TKS is one of the best and most impressive things about the studio. Every faculty member that I’ve had the pleasure of being instructed by has not only been a master in their field but also has the earnest and palpable desire to see their students succeed. The other students here are incredible. In classes I’ve taken elsewhere, there has sometimes been a feeling of competition between classmates, but I have not seen that at TKS. In my time here I have only ever felt supported, encouraged, and lifted up by my fellow students, which provides me with the comfort to be as fearlessly vulnerable as I can in the work. Everyone looks out for each other and has each other’s backs.
Saeed Malami2 Year Conservatory, First Year, Meghan Mulcahy
How has your training here at TKS supported your understanding and pursuit of artistic excellence?
I don’t fully know yet but a few things have become clearer. The work is work. Preparation, or lack thereof, will show. I can leap. I can jump. I will fall. All are necessary. There is hardness in the craft only softening can reveal. If you’re making fish stew, put the fish in the stew. Be swallowed whole by the realities you construct. Let the work eat you.
Describe a moment in your training journey that you recall as having had a clear and lasting impact on you?
Baby powder.
What does being a part of the TKS community mean to you?
Running towards, jumping into, playing with, yearning for, flying out of, lighting up, seeking out, bedazzling, beginning, becoming, the cannons.
Eliza Kamerling-Brown2 Year Conservatory, Second Year, Celestine Rae
Describe a moment in your training journey that you recall as having had a clear and lasting impact on you?
I will never forget a moment during our first scenes of second year, when I was struggling to truly unlock my character. My partner and I had restarted our scene three times that day and never managed to crack it. Every time I needed to go further, to surrender, I seemed to put on a break pedal. I walked away feeling frustrated, defeated and like I had let my partner down. A conversation with Celestine helped me reframe what had been eating at me; she pushed me to find my way in through new methods and take more ownership of the kind of artist I want to be.
In the end, I never fully felt satisfied with my work on that scene, but I came away from it with a new understanding: the failures we have are oftentimes more valuable than the moments we nail it. And sometimes, the characters that have the longest lasting impact on us are the ones we never quite solve.
I am grateful to have had this opportunity to learn from peers and a teacher who have such big hearts. Who truly care about and are committed to this craft. Each week they challenge and inspire me to become the kind of artist I admire: raw, visceral, honest, always searching — someone who moves from a soul place, an embodied place, a place of ferocity and passion and deep love. May we continue coming up together!
Jingsia Hathorne2 Year Conservatory, First Year, Meghan Mulcahy
How has your training here at TKS supported your understanding and pursuit of artistic excellence?
TKS has supported my understanding by helping me come to terms with the challenge many actors face (I think): finding authenticity within oneself and in the truth of what we’re doing. Great acting and performance art often seem simple and real, but within that simplicity lies a difficulty, the challenge of expressing it in a way that makes a scene, a task, or whatever you’re doing feel genuinely meaningful for both yourself and the audience. That kind of truth is difficult to find and sustain.
TKS has also helped me understand what I need to be curious about in order to continue growing as an artist in my journey and “pursuit of artistic excellence.” So regardless where that curiosity comes from, frustration, inspiration, or a myriad of emotions, it will always guide me in my search to create art…hopefully excellent art hehe.
Describe a moment in your training journey that you recall as having had a clear and lasting impact on you?
Aw, well, there are so many golden eggs I’ve collected from my first year at the conservatory, I feel like the Easter Bunny every day in class with Meghan and my cohort. One thing that has really impacted me is the various anecdotes and metaphors my class has come up with as we’ve struggled and grown together in the program.
One particular metaphor was shared by a former classmate, Lance, who said that acting can feel like “touching a hot stove.” When we’re emotionally preparing for a scene, about to step into a particular emotion, or in the middle of a scene, it can feel exactly like that. Sometimes, as with a real stove, we become timid and pull away. But it’s about learning to embrace that feeling and getting used to the heat until you’re no longer afraid of it. Instead, you’re fully in it on fire, and honestly cooking at that point, haha. So cheers to that, and always reaching for that stove.
What does being a part of the TKS community mean to you?
A safe and vulnerable place to constantly fail and grow. As a second-year student, Colleen, reminded me, the shortcut to being a great actor is being a bad one. So, there are no shortcuts, the only way out is through.
Ayleen Rojas2 Year Conservatory, First Year, Celestine Rae
How has your training here at TKS supported your understanding and pursuit of artistic excellence?
TKS has taught me to create more discipline in myself, which has helped me on my way to achieving artistic excellence. It has also motivated me more and helped me realize when I love what I do and that this is what I want to do for my whole life.
Describe a moment in your training journey that you recall as having had a clear and lasting impact on you?
A moment that I remember that impacted me a lot was when Celestine asked us to write our experience after each exercise. At first I must admit that I didn’t, but there was a day when I felt very bad about my performance in class and decided to write down everything I was feeling. When I saw what I had written in my notebook, I realized that it helped me free myself from the pressure to make everything perfect. From that moment on I began to trust the process more, leaving aside the result I hoped to obtain and focusing more on what I could learn.
What does being a part of the TKS community mean to you?
It’s meant a lot. I feel like I finally found a space where I can be myself. I’m a foreign student but here I felt like home
Joaquin Garcia2 Year Conservatory, First Year, Terry Knickerbocker
How has your training here at TKS supported your understanding and pursuit of artistic excellence?
Dedication, focus, and commitment to pushing myself past my barriers is essential.
Describe a moment in your training journey that you recall as having had a clear and lasting impact on you?
It’s not just one moment but every individual learning moment that has been the most impactful for me.
What does being a part of the TKS community mean to you?
It means so much to be part of a community of people who I can trust to support me and count on to help me be my best and achieve my goals.
Rhianna Jones2 Year Conservatory, Second Year, Celestine Rae
How has your training here at TKS supported your understanding and pursuit of artistic excellence?
Committing to this program is one of the first times I’ve truly bet on myself and my own artistic excellence. I’ve always been an artist and storyteller at heart, I live in color with boundless imagination…but have chosen more adjacent paths vs going all in and believing I could truly pursue it. TKS has shown me moments of passion and purpose I’d never experienced, as well as gutting moments of vulnerability – but the emotional throes of this training are proof of the dedication – pouring your heart and soul into the work – uncertain if it will land…but taking everything as a lesson with curiosity. Witnessing my cohort take those same leaps of courage, each on their own artistic journey has inspired my own excellence too. Since starting, I’ve said yes to taking stages and various solo opportunities that would’ve scared me in the past. But you never lose…you only learn!
Describe a moment in your training journey that you recall as having had a clear and lasting impact on you?
Everyone has called me “sunshine” for as long as I can remember, my gummy smile, vibrant style and literal golden fro – I’m basically a walking sunflower. And yet when I took that to TKS – my first 4 classes Celestine called out my sunshine in a way that initially felt like an attack on this identity I’d cloaked myself in – but I realized it was long overdue permission to unravel, to be messy, to be mad, to take up space and reveal the many facets of ME. My repetition partner and I were in a deeply heated confrontation – he literally slammed the door in my face and I was frozen in a giant smile. That was the aha! My dad was a comedian, and had to smile his way through a lot of pain. He’s watching me from above, but is a deep motivation for me and this work. This also surfaced in Clown, when I was unconsciously smiling and trying to relax my jaw through the “Look & Breathe” exercise. Justin gave me the line of text “everything isn’t always sunshine,” and I immediately started bawling. I am actively unlearning these defense mechanisms and working towards standing in my power, trusting that I am enough, advocating for my feelings and holding my ground in confrontation. It’s been instrumental to my growth as an actor and a woman.
What does being a part of the TKS community mean to you?
This is the most challenging and transformative experience I’ve had as an adult, and has spilled over into many other lanes of my life. I am in constant awe of my peers, and their breathtaking brilliance. It has been such a gift to watch us all grow, shed, express, cry and laugh together. Our endless suitcases bursting with props, circumstances, costumes, one-liners, and activities – its been a tremendous privilege to witness and I hope the acting gods bring us together again as our creative futures blossom. I love Celestine and my cohort SO SO much!!!
Are you looking for supportive and explorative acting lessons?
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is “Students of the Season” at Terry Knickerbocker Studio?
This student spotlight celebrates individuals who demonstrate exceptional growth, artistic bravery, and commitment during their time in the studio’s rigorous acting programs.
How are Students of the Season selected?
Students are chosen for their openness, courage, and growth inside and outside the classroom: qualities often revealed in the deep process of acting lessons at TKS.
Which TKS programs are represented in the Spring 2026 list?
This season’s honorees represent several of our training paths, including the 2-Year Acting Conservatory, Fall/Spring/Summer Intensive, and Online Intensive.
What kinds of questions do featured students answer?
Featured students reflect on how their training has supported their pursuit of artistic excellence, share pivotal moments in their journey, and describe what it means to be part of the TKS community. Their student stories give insight into the impact of acting classes, scene study, and the Meisner technique at TKS.
What acting approach does TKS teach?
TKS specializes in the Meisner Technique, an acting method that trains artists to respond truthfully and spontaneously to imaginary circumstances. This approach is deeply embedded across all actor training, from acting lessons to scene work, and is supported by a faculty of experienced acting coaches.
Do you need Meisner experience before applying to TKS training programs?
No. Prior Meisner experience is not required to apply. Many students begin their Meisner journey at TKS through the Foundations, Intensive, or Conservatory programs. The training meets each actor where they are.
