Markus completed the full two-year program and graduated from The Neighborhood Playhouse in New York under Sanford Meisner’s direct instruction, near the end of Mr. Meisner’s 56-year teaching career. This timing meant learning from the most refined version of the technique—shaped and perfected over more than five decades of working with actors. Markus teaches the work as he learned it, using those proven exercises and principles to help actors achieve authentic, spontaneous, and repeatable performances.
Beyond the technique itself, Markus believes that anyone courageous enough to pursue acting deserves genuine support. His classes are built on exploration, risk-taking, and mutual encouragement—never competition or harshness.
Markus has worked as an actor for over 40 years. Stage credits include the New York production of Bus Stop (which later transferred to London) and the world premiere of Lee Blessing’s Down the Road at the Humana Festival in Louisville, Kentucky.
Markus’s television work includes series regular roles on ABC, NBC, and Nickelodeon, with over 150 episodic appearances on shows including The Morning Show, Better Things, The Rookie, Seinfeld, Friends, CSI, and NCIS. Film credits include Born on the Fourth of July, Biloxi Blues, Blue Steel, and Life As We Know It. He has also directed episodic television for Nickelodeon.
As a writer, Markus has seen seven of his stage plays produced, sold screenplays to Fox and Hallmark. He is the author of One Less Bitter Actor, an mentoring handbook for actors trying to make it today. The book is constructive dialog from a career working actor with smart advice on the daunting task of reconciling the actor’s ego with the harsh edge of show business.
In addition to directing the Westlake Acting Studio, Markus lectures and guest teaches at theater programs all over the country. Watch Markus Flanagan on Good Morning Colorado discussing his experience in the industry. Find him on the Internet Movie Database.
Markus has taught Meisner Masterclasses in Dublin, London, Manchester and Bristol.
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