Acting Major

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About the Major

Elon’s acting program offers conservatory-style training in a liberal arts setting. Featuring an intensive course of 21st century-focused study and performance-based curriculum, it is designed to give students the knowledge, experience and professional exposure needed to build a successful career on stage, on-camera or in graduate school. A semester in London is built into the four-year curriculum, along with screen acting, Shakespeare and opportunities for Study USA programs in Los Angeles and New York.

Jobs in Acting

• Actor in stage/theater, film/TV, commercials
• Agent/casting director
• Director
• Content creator
• Acting coach

Past Elon Acting Internships

• BBR Talent Los Angeles
• Avalon Talent Agency
• Roundabout Theatre Company
• Clear Talent Group
• Marissa Ross Casting

Related Majors

• Arts Administration
• Cinema & Television Arts
• Drama & Theatre Studies
• Music Theatre
• Theatrical Design & Technology

‘Gilded Age’ actor uses passion for storytelling on stage and screen

When Nicole Brydon Bloom first arrived at Elon University in 2012, she had her sights set on a career in journalism, following in the footsteps of her father, David Bloom, an NBC journalist who died while covering the war in Iraq in 2003.

“I grew up watching him, and he was exceptional in his field,” she said. “I thought it was a really noble profession, and there was something that felt special about potentially walking in his footsteps.”

She chose Elon for its excellent School of Communications — but she had also noted in the back of her mind that the university had a stellar performing arts department and acting program. Bloom had grown up acting in community theater with her twin sister and had attended a theater camp every summer in middle and high school. She loved acting; she just wasn’t sure it was in the cards for her to be a professional actor.

I wanted to be exposed to a lot of different things, and Elon really provided that opportunity. I think for acting, learning about the world, learning about how people think or work is far more valuable to me as an actor.

Then, not long into her first year, she saw an Elon production of “August: Osage County,” and it hit her: Her dad’s passion was journalism, and while she admired it, her passion had always been acting. Father and daughter both were storytellers — they just found joy in different mediums.

“Just seeing [the play], I was like, ‘Oh, those are the kinds of stories I want to be telling,’ and I want to be a part of that process,” said Bloom, who graduated from Elon in 2017 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting. “There’s just something so magical that happens when you’re on stage and you’re with your cast and responding with the audience. It’s just really special, and I was envious of the people up on stage. I was like, ‘Maybe that’s a good sign that I should try my hand at that again.’”

Following her passion paid off. Today, Bloom is making a name for herself on television: She recently appeared in two episodes of Hulu’s World War II limited series “We Were the Lucky Ones” and as the recurring character Maud Beaton in season two of HBO’s “The Gilded Age,” for which she shared a 2024 SAG Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. And she’s currently filming a new Hulu series, “Paradise,” playing opposite actor Sterling K. Brown.

Because Elon’s acting major is by audition only, and the slots are limited, Bloom needed to wait until her sophomore year to audition for the program. She was accepted and went into her major with a solid background: two musicals a year in local community theater since the age of 7 and summer theater camp at Stagedoor Manor in New York from ages 12 to 18. It was at that camp, during her run as Liesl in “The Sound of Music,” when she was discovered by an agent, who sent her on auditions for film and television throughout high school and college.

Still, there was plenty to learn at Elon, plenty of opportunities on campus to take advantage of, and Bloom says she is grateful for receiving such a broad education, which has helped in her acting.

“I loved taking psychology classes and literature and history courses, and I just think it really offered a very well-rounded education,” she said. “I have a lot of friends who went to conservatory for acting, and that’s an incredible but very specific program. Particularly coming from somewhat of a journalism background, I wanted to be exposed to a lot of different things, and Elon really provided that opportunity. I think for acting, learning about the world, learning about how people think or work is far more valuable to me as an actor.”

Elon’s monthlong Winter Term gave Bloom the chance to study abroad in Italy, where she learned the origins and archetypes of “commedia dell’arte,” or comic acting. She also took advantage of the “Elon in LA” program, interning in the summer of 2015 for Echo Lake Entertainment, a management and production company, where she read scripts, and Good Clean Fun, a reality television production company, where she worked on the casting side.

“Just learning the other side of this industry was really valuable,” she said. “Any opportunity you can have to see behind the curtain, the operation side of things, whether you’re interning on set or in casting or with a management company or whatever, it’s really, really helpful.”

Bloom also found opportunities through Elon’s School of Communications to act in student short film projects, which gave her the chance to see herself on camera and learn the elements of acting not encountered in stage productions. She was also a member of Elon’s sketch-comedy show, “Elon Tonight.”

She still finds herself using the lessons she learned inside Elon classrooms in her work, particularly at auditions. For one course on script analysis, she had to dissect a short play down to the punctuation. It was an interesting, though monotonous, task. But it made an impression on her.

“Punctuation has been one of the most important things for me when I look at a script now, and I think a lot of that came out of that class,” she said. “Sometimes you don’t want to look too deep into lines because sometimes [the punctuation] is just a throwaway, but particularly for auditions, I think punctuation is really important. The difference between a period or a comma or a question mark can change the status of your character or the confidence of your character.”

Bloom said she remains grateful for everything Elon and the acting program contributed to her education, particularly the mentorships. She is still in touch with one of her professors, Kirby Wahl, who directed her in her first university shows.

“He taught us dialects and a few other classes, and I still text him and am like, ‘Hey, I have questions about this Southern dialect, can I run it by you?’ I really love chatting with him and picking his brain about different roles or auditions.”

She said she felt incredibly supported by her professors, who were flexible when she needed to be away on an audition or if she booked a show, like she did her senior year, when she filmed an episode of Showtime’s “The Affair.”

Getting that part was particularly special to Bloom, as she had auditioned for the role of the daughter years prior, got really close, but didn’t get the part. “It was such a disappointment then, but it was great when they circled back and I got to be a part of the show for an episode,” she said.

Something similar happened with “The Gilded Age.” While still at Elon, Bloom had heard that Julian Fellowes — the creator of “Downton Abbey” — was looking to develop a similar show about New York City. As a huge fan of “Downton,” she told her agent, “If this comes up, I would love the opportunity to read for them.”

About two years after graduating from Elon, she got an email from her new agent about an audition for the show and thought, “Oh my gosh, this is the show that I’ve been dreaming about.” She didn’t get a role in season one but was ultimately cast in season two for five episodes.

“It’s always a good reminder that there are a lot of disappointments that come in any career, but people are always saying it’s not the job itself that you’re auditioning for when you go into a casting office or you’re meeting with producers or directors,” she said. “You’re really just in front of them to be like, ‘OK, here I am. If it’s not this job, I hope it’s something else.’”

While Bloom has been fortunate enough to have found momentum with her work, it wasn’t always easy. There were struggles and times when she wondered if she had made the right decision choosing the acting route. But she always carried with her the advice from her Elon professors and mentors.

“They were so encouraging of me taking risks as an actor,” she said in a 2022 interview after landing her role in “The Gilded Age.” “In auditions, it is really easy to fall into, ‘What do I think casting directors are looking for and how do I fit into that?’ And that can be very limiting. Elon was so good about emphasizing finding a way to make the character you, instead of what you think it should be.”

Curriculum & Degree Requirements

• Acting B.F.A. (opens a new window)