We first met Ryan Kitley in a class at the Actors’ Training Center in Wilmette where we enjoyed and learned from him to such an extent that we took a second class with him at ATC and then discussed creating a performance class for an original one-act play that would be written specifically for the class. New Year’s Eve at Grandma’s House is the result of this creative collaboration.
Ryan has worked in Chicago and Los Angeles for nearly 20 years as an actor, an improviser, a director, and an acting teacher. He is a member of SAG, AFTRA, and AEA with his MFA in acting from the Theatre School at DePaul University.
Film and television credits include Boss, Detroit 1-8-7, Turks, Early Edition, Miss March, Soul Survivors, A Short Break, Barbershop II, San Gabriel, Dream Slashers, Laqueus, The Heart of the Matter, and Jimmy Kimmel Live, in addition to many commercials and industrials.
Ryan also works as a voice-over artist and has voiced nearly 20 characters for the Lucas Arts video game The Old Republic.
Theatre credits include major roles at Writers’ Theatre, Provision Theatre, Drury Lane, The Matrix Theater, Colony Theater, The Organic Theatre, Mercury Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Shattered Globe Theatre, Goodman Theatre, The Piven Theatre Workshop, Theatre at the Center, Meadow Brook Theatre, Journeymen, Free Associates, and Talisman Theatre
He received two Jeff Citation nominations for his role as Nick in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Austin in The Big Funk.
As an improviser Ryan has studied and performed at IO, The Second City Training Center, The Piven Theater Workshop, and The Westside Eclectic.
He is also the published author of his new book Acting with Integrity. Ryan has worked as a teaching artist for many acting schools and programs in Chicago and LA. He was born and raised on the Jersey Shore – exit 109. Ryan and his wife Kelley have four kids, Connor, Maggie, Murphy, and Emma who always seem to make life a little bit more interesting!
Chicago and LA. He was born and raised on the Jersey Shore – exit 109. Ryan and his wife Kelley have four kids, Connor, Maggie, Murphy, and Emma who always seem to make life a little bit more interesting!