UVA MFA Professional Actor Training Program

Brian Willis

Brian Willis, originally from Richmond, IN, received his B.A. in Theater Studies at Swarthmore College, with concentrations in acting and directing. After attending the Master of Arts in Teaching program at Earlham College, Brian worked in the educational field as a teacher, speech and debate coach, and grant writer. In May of 2023, Brian will complete the three-year Professional Actor Training Program and earn his Master of Fine Arts in Drama from the University of Virginia, where he has appeared as Orsino in the musical adaptation of Twelfth Night, Colonel Brandon in Sense and Sensibility, Rick and Robert in How to Live on Earth, J. Trumbull Sykes in Death of the Author, and Gabriel York in When the Rain Stops Falling. Other credits include six years as a company member with the Richmond Shakespeare Festival, where he performed as Leontes in The Winter’s Tale, Horatio in Hamlet, Edmund in King Lear, and Demetrius in Titus Andronicus. He also has spent several summers in the Czech Republic as an ESL lecturer, director, and guest musician.