Daphne Kinard

My name is Daphne Kinard. I’m an acting coach and teacher, as well as a working actor, based in New York City. I am a graduate of Columbia University’s MFA Acting program. I also attended the BFA Acting program at Carnegie Mellon, and the Chautauqua Acting Conservatory. I'm trained in Meisner, Feldenkrais, Alexander technique, Suzuki, and Viewpoints. I also have a BA in literature, with a focus in Shakespeare.

As an actor I recently guest starred on Dickinson (Apple TV+), as well as appearing in dozens of productions over a 17 year career in regional and New York theatre, including plenty of work in Shakespeare and other classical productions. I was recently cast as the lead in the upcoming Brian de Palma film "Catch and Kill."

As a teacher, I have worked as a Teaching Assistant at Columbia, and have guest taught at workshops around New York, Los Angeles, and DC. I have two years of experience as an assistant to a Broadway casting director. As a college audition coach, my clients have been accepted into many top BFA acting programs including UNCSA, NYU, Rutgers, USC, DePaul, Boston, and Minnesota.

These programs only have a few minutes to get to know you and decide if they want to spend four years working with you. They are looking for unique actors with a strong sense of self. My goal is to make sure the real you, everything that makes you singular as both an actor and a person, comes through in those few minutes. I know that sounds like a lot of pressure, but I will make sure that you feel confident and supported through that process. 

I start by helping students find material that excites them and reflects their taste and personality. From there, we focus on how you naturally work as an actor: how you think, move, speak, and connect to the material. The goal isn’t to match what you think these programs want, or to cater to my personal taste, but to build a way of working that feels honest, repeatable, and fully your own.

In our sessions, we’ll work the monologues on their feet, paying attention to what first moved you about each piece and letting those feelings guide your performance. Through exercises, conversations, and movement-based work, we’ll get precise about how to access your emotional life in these pieces. By the end, you’ll have work that’s repeatable but never stale; alive, felt, and specific, free of line readings or tricks. Audition panels want to know who you really are, and my goal is to help you find your own instrument, voice, and process so they can truly see you. 

College auditions can feel really stressful, and acting itself is vulnerable work. I’ll make sure you feel confident, safe, and supported throughout this process. I’ll be with you every step of the way, advocating for you, answering questions, and available whenever you or your parents need guidance. By focusing on being yourself instead of trying to fit someone else's mold, we take a lot of the pressure off, and we build a personal technique that you can carry with you. This work is just the beginning of your professional life.