If you plan on majoring in acting, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #323 in the country in terms of popularity. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 8 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Acting Schools in California ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 381 degrees in acting to qualified students.
Your choice of acting school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for acting schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Acting Schools in California list to help you make the college decision.
More interested in schools in a specific area of the country? Filter this list by region or state.
To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you.
Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
Although we recommend filtering by degree level first, you can view the list below to see which schools give the educational experience for the acting degree levels they offer.
Every student who is interested in acting needs to check out University of Southern California. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #13 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means USC is a great university overall.
There were about 45 acting students who graduated with this degree at USC in the most recent year we have data available.
Every student pursuing a degree in acting has to check out Chapman University. Located in the midsize city of Orange, Chapman is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population. This university ranks 24th out of 161 colleges for overall quality in the state of California.
There were approximately 17 acting students who graduated with this degree at Chapman in the most recent data year.
It's hard to beat American Academy of Dramatic Arts - Los Angeles if you want to pursue a degree in acting. Located in the city of Los Angeles, American Academy of Dramatic Arts - Los Angeles is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
There were roughly 89 acting students who graduated with this degree at American Academy of Dramatic Arts - Los Angeles in the most recent data year.
University of California - San Diego is a wonderful choice for students pursuing a degree in acting. Located in the city of La Jolla, UCSD is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #49 out of 2,152 colleges nationwide means UCSD is a great university overall.
There were roughly 8 acting students who graduated with this degree at UCSD in the most recent data year.
Pepperdine is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Malibu. This university ranks 11th out of 161 schools for overall quality in the state of California.
There were approximately 6 acting students who graduated with this degree at Pepperdine in the most recent data year.
Academy of Art University is a moderately-sized private for-profit university located in the city of San Francisco. This university ranks 47th out of 161 schools for overall quality in the state of California.
There were about 17 acting students who graduated with this degree at Academy of Art University in the most recent data year.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
Credit for the banner image above goes to Donald Judge.
Your choice of acting school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for acting schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each level.
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