Hi, I’m Aris Athanasopoulos.

Maybe you’ve just discovered your passion for acting and storytelling. Maybe you’ve been acting professionally for decades. Whatever your experience level, my weekly acting classes provide a framework to help you get practical with your actor.

The Character Creation Approach uses Laban’s working actions and Jung’s theory of personality types to help you analyze and break down a role.

My aim is to cultivate free flow and flexibility in your instrument so you can embody characters with ease and have access to the greatest range of your creative expression. This approach will empower you and take your work to another level.

My Approach

The foundation of this approach is called “effort in action” and uses the concepts and framework of the Laban-Malgren System of Movement Psychology.

Monologues, monologues,
monologues,
And Scenes…

In classes you’ll prepare and work on a selection of monologues tailored to your development. We draw material from film and TV scripts, as well as contemporary plays and the modern classics — from Guirgis and Mamet to Chekov and Tennessee Williams. As your understanding of this approach grows we’ll include scene work to continue to stretch and challenge you.

Penelope Chater,
Yat Malmgren, Rudolf laban, William Carpenter, And Carl Jung…

Character Creation was developed by the late Penelope Chater. She studied character analysis and movement psychology under Yat Malmgren at Drama Centre London. Malmgren augmented the work of William Carpenter and Rudolf Laban, by synthesizing key principles of acting established by Konstantin Stanislavski with Carl Jung’s character types and Laban’s theory of movement expression, creating a diagnostic tool for actors to analyze and explore character.

Meet the Team

  • Actor, Writer, Filmmaker, Acting Coach

    Aris is a graduate of York University’s esteemed acting conservatory. In a career spanning three decades, he’s studied with renowned voice, movement, and acting coaches across North America, including: Rae Ellen Bodie, Eric Armstrong, David Smukler, Erika Batdorf, Michael Greyeyes, Ines Buchli, Paul Lampert, Tom Bentley-Fisher, and David Rotenberg. Aris learned the foundations of Character Creation under the mentorship of master teacher, Penelope Chater.

    Aris is a professional actor, writer, filmmaker, and acting coach. He is based in Toronto.