Artist Spotlight – Peter Kalos
Peter Kalos the founder and the sole teacher at THE LAB has studied with some of the world’s most prolific acting teachers. At age 19 he moved to the USA and commenced his acting journey with master teacher Stella Adler for four years, following which he went on to study full time at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute under the tutelage of Anna Strasberg for over ten years.
There he trained in the tradition now known as “the method”. Whilst at the Institute he studied with acclaimed teachers Mark Marno, Hedi Sontag, Doug Dirkson, Suzan Peretz, Dominic DeFazio, and Sharron Chatten.
For almost 20 years, Peter honed his craft and worked as an actor and director in the USA and Australia. When he returned to Australia to raise his family he founded THE LAB. In doing so it was his desire to create a safe, nurturing environment for actors of all levels of ability to study in the tradition he did; a studio striving for artistic excellence in the style of the great master teachers of a bygone era.
Towards his later years in Hollywood Peter worked with actor/director Barry Primus where Peter says he learned all about being an actor’s actor. It’s through Barry Primus that Peter was exposed to some of the world’s most prominent actors, directors and writers. This opportunity allowed Peter to watch actors like Eli Wallach, Robert DeNiro, Martin Landau, Christopher Walken, Al Pacino, Mark Wahlberg, and many many more. It was Primus who took Peter to the Actors Studio where Peter met and studied with the acclaimed Suzan Peretz.
Peter also branched out into screenwriting. He has worked as a script doctor for many years in Hollywood – working with such producers as Jason Shuman (Role Models, Darkness Falls), Joe Wolf (Halloween, Nightmare on Elm St) and Stratton Leopold (Mission Impossible, Star Trek). He has also taken classes in Stand Up Comedy with Judy Carter and performed at the LA Cabaret and at the Improv in Hollywood.
You can find out more about The Melbourne Actor’s Lab at https://melbourneactorslab.com/