Mary McCusker is one of the most respected acting teachers for children, young adults and adults in the Los Angeles area. Born and raised in Boston, Massachusetts, Mary studied acting, dance and musical theatre at the Boston Conservatory of Music. She moved to New York and studied method acting with the renowned teacher, Sanford Meisner in his two year program at the Neighborhood Playhouse. In the late 70's, she moved to San Francisco with her husband, Joe Roth and joined the improvisation company, The Pitschel Players. Joe produced the show when they moved to Los Angeles and rented (what is now the Improv On Melrose) a theatre where she starred in the show "Big Time Bullies", a satirical review of politics and the Nixon Administration.
Her acting career includes such:
Films and TV as: Incredible Shrinking Woman, Circle of Power, Blood Barrier, The Client, Turner and Hootch, Ordeal of Patty Hearst, Choices of the Heart, Amateur Night, Missing Children and Memorial Day.
Theatre: Miss Firecracker Contest, Al Franken & Tom Davis Show, Art of Self Defense and Twenty- Four Hours.
In the 1990's she switched careers with a film called THE CLIENT . Hired by Joel Schumacher, she coached the two young boys who had the lead roles in the film, focusing on Brad Renfro. She coached Brad on his next 3 films: THE CURE, TOM & HUCK and SLEEPERS . A series of coaching jobs followed, OPERATION DUMBO DROP, FIRST DO NO HARM , and MAFIA . On the 1997 film, FOXFIRE , she was hired for the rehearsal period to work with the lead actresses. One of the actresses was Angelina Jolie, 19 years old, starring in her second film.
Later in 1995, she met director Todd Holland, and worked as on set coach for KRIPPENDORF'S TRIBE. That led to her coaching on the television show "MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE." She was set coach for the series for 7 years. She went on to work with Ken Kwapis on "SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS" coaching the lead actresses and the children on THE BERNIE MAC SHOW . Currently, she is an on set coach for NIP'TUCK .
In addition, She regularly coaches adult and young actors for auditions and callbacks for feature films, theatre, episodic television, and worked with casting directors preparing actors for their screen tests. She also teaches classes privately in the Los Angeles area. Also, She is currently a professor at Loyola Marymount University, teaching "How to create character through Improvisation" and regularly travels to Sacramento to teach workshops in "Acting for the Camera" and "Improvisation" at STUDIO 24.
Mary's former students have gone on to star in countless television and film projects including, but not limited to the following:
TELEVISION: Quest star: CSI: New York, Prison Break, Zoey 101, Desperate Housewives, House of Payne, Madmen, Arron Stone, Nip'Tuck, : First Do No Harm, Indictment: The McMartin Story/HBO, Common Ground/Showtime, Bernie Mac Show, About a Boy, J.O.N.A.S Brothers, Julie Reno, Bounty Hunter, Days of Our Lives.
FILM: Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Por Vida, The Nutcracker: the Untold Story, Dance Flick, Jack & the Beanstock, Stitches, Next Best Thing, Speedway Junky, The Client, The Cure, Operation Dumbo Drop, Sleepers, Mafia, Krippendorf's Tribe, Paulie: A Parrot's Tale, Tom and Huck, Foxfire, Trojan War, Wild Kingdom, I know What You Did Las Summer 2, Land of the Free.
