The Department of Acting has a strong faculty team comprising both (associate) professors conversant with theory, experienced in practical work and skillful in teaching, and enterprising young instructors.

The Department of Acting offers training at B.A., M.A., PhD. and post-doctoral levels. Currently, B.A. programs on Acting for Theatre, TV & Film, and Quyi (Chinese Melodious Art) are offered. The former is subdivided into three specializations: Acting for Theatre, TV & Film; Acting & Design for Puppetry; and Martial Art Acting. The latter features Xiangsheng (Cross Talk) Creation & Performance as the focus of study. The Department aims to train students to become highly professional actors with solid theoretical foundation, a good command of acting techniques, virtues as artists, and artistic competency.

The Department consists of 4 teaching and research sections respectively for Acting Training, Vocal, Speech and Body Movement Training, Postgraduate Students Affairs, Puppetry Training, and Quyi Training. The secretarial office of the Department is responsible for the coordination of academic affairs and daily administration.

In more than 80 years, since the establishment of the CAD, the Department has cultivated a host of excellent actors, some of whom have become household names such as TIAN Hua, YU Lan, WANG Tiecheng, YAN Shunkai, and LIN Liankun. Plenty of alunmi are competent practitioners who play active roles in the fields of theatre, film and TV, receiving worldwide acclaim and various awards, such as: CHEN Baoguo, ZHAO Kui’e, CHEN Daoming, JIANG Wen, CONG Shan, LV Liping, GONG Li, Coco SHI, XU Fan, JIANG Shan, CHEN Xiaoyi, TAO Hong, LI Yapeng, WANG Xuebin, TAO Hong, SUN Honglei, XIA Yu, ZHANG Ziyi, YUAN Quan, Amanda QIN, LIU Ye, CHEN Hao, JIA Lin, JIN Dong, Tiffany TANG, WANG Kai, Liliya TONG, CHEN Xiao, DONG Zijian, Turbo LIU, Landy LI, Jackson YEE, LUO Yizhou, HU Xianxu. They have won honors for their Alma mater in various domestic and international drama and film awards.