More about Ed
Ed Hooks was born and raised in the American south. In 1969, was accepted to study at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City, and so he migrated to Manhattan. Between 1969 and 1976, he appeared in over 30 stage plays off-Broadway and off-off Broadway, in addition to regional theatres such as McCarter Theatre at Princeton University and the Penn State Theatre Festival State College, Pennsylvania. He also appeared in various television shows, soap operas and nearly 100 television commercials.
In 1976, Ed moved to Los Angeles and began working mainly on TV shows. He was an in-demand character actor for many years, on shows such as Golden Girls, Hart to Hart, The Fall Guy and Knight Rider.
Ed Hooks complete TV / Film credits on IMDb
In 1980, he began teaching professional level acting classes, and he ultimately operated his own acting studios in Los Angeles and San Francisco. He also wrote several well-received books for actors, including the still-in-print Ultimate Scene and Monologue Sourcebook (Backstage Books/Penguin-Random House).
In 1996, Ed was invited to teach animators for the first time, at DreamWorks/Pacific Data Images in Palo Alto, California. PDI was, at that time, in production for the animated feature film Antz, starring Woody Allen. As it evolved, Antz was only the second CG feature film ever, the first being Pixar’s Toy Story, so one could say that Ed Hooks has grown up with CG animators as his primary students.
In 1996, Ed was invited to teach animators for the first time, at DreamWorks/Pacific Data Images in Palo Alto, California. PDI was, at that time, in production for the animated feature film Antz, starring Woody Allen. As it evolved, Antz was only the second CG feature film ever, the first being Pixar’s Toy Story, so one could say that Ed Hooks has grown up with CG animators as his primary students.
In 2001, the first edition of Acting for Animators was published by Heinemann. It was immediately embraced by the animation industry, and Ed began presenting his Acting for Animators masterclass at animation studios and schools internationally. Additionally, he has expanded his work to include script development and character consultancy.
An example for this is the Indian movie Eega, directed by S.S. Rajamouli
Ed and his wife of 40 years, Cally, currently live in Lisbon, Portugal. Although his primary focus is acting training for animators, he keeps his hand in the theatre world. In 2020, he directed a stage production of Harold Pinter’s The Lover for The Lisbon Players, the only English-language acting company in Portugal. And he coaches stage actors privately on monologue preparation, audition technique and character analysis.
The Ed Hooks’ Acting for Animators Masterclass has been presented for the following companies, conferences and schools:
Companies Ed worked with:
