The Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique (; "National Academy of Dramatic Arts"; abbr. CNSAD) is

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

's national drama academy, located in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and a constituent college of University PSL. It is a higher education institution run by the

French Ministry of Culture The Ministry of Culture () is the ministry (government department), ministry of the Government of France in charge of List of museums in France, national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and pro ...

and has an acceptance rate of two to three percent and an average graduating class of thirty students. Its alumni include:

Jeanne Moreau Jeanne Moreau (; 23 January 1928 – 31 July 2017) was a French actress, singer, screenwriter, director, and socialite. She made her theatrical debut in 1947, and established herself as one of the leading actresses of the Comédie-Française. Mo ...

Gérard Philipe Gérard Philipe () (born Gérard Albert Philip, 4 December 1922 – 25 November 1959) was a prominent French actor who appeared in 32 films between 1944 and 1959. He came to prominence during the later period of the poetic realism movement o ...

, Isabelle Huppert, Carole Bouquet, Sebastian Roché,

Jean-Paul Belmondo Jean-Paul Charles Belmondo (; 9 April 19336 September 2021) was a French actor. Initially associated with the New Wave of the 1960s, he was a major French film star for several decades from the 1960s onward, frequently portraying police officer ...

, Louis Garrel, Celine Sallette and Olivier Martinez.

History

The CNSAD was founded as a part of the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...

in 1795, making it the oldest acting school in

Continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous mainland of Europe, excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as the European continent, – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by som ...

. The Conservatoire de Paris split in 1946, with one school for the dramatic arts, and the other for

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

and

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

, the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP).

Admissions

The CNSAD offers a degree, three-year study program, with the CNSAD diploma awarded on completion. The school admits approximately thirty students per year (usually fifteen men and fifteen women), as well as some invited foreign trainees (''stagiaires étrangers''). The school has a rigorous three-round competitive selection process, with only two percent to three percent of applicants gaining admittance. A stage-directing program was launched in 2001.

Location

The school's main building, is located on the rue du Conservatoire in the

9th arrondissement of Paris The 9th arrondissement of Paris (''IXe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, it is referred to as (; "ninth"). The arrondissement, called Opéra, is located on the right bank of th ...

. Its famous theatre, built in 1811 by the architect Delannoy, was the site of

Hector Berlioz Louis-Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer and conductor. His output includes orchestral works such as the ''Symphonie fantastique'' and ''Harold en Italie, Harold in Italy'' ...

's debut symphony, the ''

Symphonie fantastique ' (''Fantastic Symphony: Episode in the Life of an Artist … in Five Sections'') Opus number, Op. 14, is a program music, programmatic symphony written by Hector Berlioz in 1830. The first performance was at the Paris Conservatoire on 5 December ...

'', as well as the first French performances of Beethoven's Third and Fifth Symphonies.

References

External links

cnsad.psl.eu
official website (in French—with one introductory page in English) {{DEFAULTSORT:Conservatoire National Superieur d'Art Dramatique 1795 establishments in France Conservatoire de Paris Drama schools in France Education in Paris Educational institutions established in 1795