Ronald Rand
Ronald Rand is an American stage and film actor, educator, director, playwright, librettist, producer, and newspaper publisher. A U.S. Cultural Goodwill Ambassador, founder and publisher of the newspaper, The Soul of the American Actor, he is also the author of Create: How Extraordinary People Live to Create and Create to Live, Acting Teachers of America, "The Marsh in May and 30 Poems with 29 Paintings by Ronald Rand, and Solo Transformation on Stage: A Journey into the Organic Process of the Art of Transformation.
Early life and education
Rand was born and raised in Coral Gables, Florida, and began performing at the Merry-Go-Round Playhouse in Coral Gables at age six, appearing in over 200 children's theatre plays over ten years. Rand graduated from Coral Gables Senior High School. A graduate of New York University Tisch School of the Arts in New York City, he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts, studying with Stella Adler. Two of Rand's classmates were Bill Paxton, for whom Rand wrote monologues to perform in class, and Kate Valk. Subsequently, Rand also studied with Harold Clurman, Robert Lewis, Joseph Chaikin, with Jerzy Grotowski at Columbia University, and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art's summer program in London. Rand began developing his one-man show in 2000, for which he is best known, called "Let It Be Art!"Career
Rand's odyssey as Harold Clurman began with his first performance of his play, "Let It Be Art" directed by Gregory Abels, at the Sande Shurin Theatre in New York City in 2001. Rand performed his play in three productions Off-Broadway, first at the Sande Shurin Theatre, at the Century Center Theatre under the play's previous title, Clurman, produced by J.C. Compton, the second wife of Harold Clurman, and then by the Mirror Repertory Company at the ArcLight Theatre. Rand made his New York debut in 1978 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music as a member of the cast of Julius Caesar with Richard Dreyfuss, George Rose, Austin Pendleton, René Auberjonois, and Tom Hulce.Rand's transformation into a 79-year-old Harold Clurman in his play, Let It Be Art! comes through a two-hour transformation process in his dressing room, based on Konstantin Stanislavski's Method of Physical Actions.
Rand has performed in Let It Be Art! in 28 countries and represented the United States in the 8th Theatre Olympics performing in his solo play at the Kamani Auditorium in New Delhi, and Tagore Theatre in Thiruvananthapuram. Rand received the Best Actor Award from the Jury at the 26th International Monodrama Festival representing the US in Bitola, North Macedonia in 2025. Rand is the first American to perform in a solo play at the International Bafa Arts Festival in Harare, Zimbabwe, Kenya International Theatre Festival at Nairobi's National Theatre, Voices of History International Theatre Festival in Vologda, Russia, MerCoSur Interior Althuapua De Cioppo International Festival in Paysandú, Uruguay, Bareilly International Theatre Festival, India, Baptizer International Theatre Festival in Bangalore, India, San Vicente del Caguán Cultural Arts Center in northern Colombia, Patravadi Theatre in Bangkok, Trade Unions Palace of Culture in Minsk, Belarus, Palace Dar el-Makhzen in the Kasbah, Tangier, Morocco, and Cayman National Cultural Foundation Harquail National Theatre, Grand Cayman in the British West Indies. Rand has performed his solo play in the International Theatre Festival for Peace in Barrancabermeja, Colombia, Kathmandu International Theatre Festival in Nepal, Act Alone Festival in Suðureyri, Iceland, performed and was a Festival judge in the M.E.S.S. International Theatre Festival at the Chamber 55 Theatre, Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina, WAAE Global Arts Education Summit Athens 2024Colombo International Theater Festival in Sri Lanka, HIGH FEST International Performing Arts Festival in Yerevan, Armenia, International Winter Festival in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Chevolek International Theatre Festival in Chelyabinsk, Russia, Georgia International Theatre Festival in Tbilisi, Georgia, Slavija International Theatre Festival in Belgrade, Serbia, Lithographeion Theatre, Patras, Greece, and in the Inaugural Harold Clurman Festival of Arts in New York City. Rand has completed five goodwill tours across India, performing his solo play and teaching his master acting workshop at universities and festivals including Rangayana Theatre in Mysore, Manipal University in Jaipur, at Christ University as a Festival judge and performed in Baptizer International Theatre Festival in Bangalore, AddLife Caring Minds Wellness Centre in Kolkata, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Chilsag Chilies Acting Academy, and R.K. Film and TV Media Academy in New Delhi, Anupam Kher's Actor Prepares Academy in Mumbai, University of Calicut, Pondicherry University, Sri Aurobindo Auditorium in Auroville, and appeared in Great Mind at Work, a play by the India playwright, Sachin Gupta, at L'Alliance française de Delhi, performing in Hindi, a language he does not speak.
Rand starred as Harry in Luv at The Barnstormers Theatre in Tamworth, New Hampshire, as The Stage Manager in the 75th Anniversary production of Our Town, as Captain Keller in The Miracle Worker opposite Marla Schaffel, and as Polonius in Hamlet opposite Nicole Ansari, in Vermont at the Greensboro Arts Alliance Summer Stock Theatre in Greensboro, Vermont. Rand brought to life Charles Dickens in "An Evening With Charles Dickens Reading A Christmas Carol at the 8th Annual Dickens Feast at the Tuscumbia Roundhouse in Tuscumbia, Alabama, acting as more than a dozen characters in a new adaptation he created and directed. Rand performed in a new solo play he created, "The Tuscumbia I Know: A Talk by Captain Keller" playing Captain A.H. Keller at the Helen Keller Library as part of The Helen Keller Festival in Tuscumbia, Alabama, Helen Keller's birthplace. Rand's film appearances include opposite Yoko Ono in her film Homeless, Family Business, Reversal of Fortune, "The Return of Superfly", The Hard Way, The Super, Six Degrees of Separation ''The Jerky Boys, The Royal Tenenbaums and Garden State. Rand was cast by Peter Bogdanovich as an Executive in Another You opposite Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor, by Aaron Russo as President Richard Nixon in Rude Awakening, by Robert Redford in Quiz Show opposite Ralph Fiennes and Paul Scofield, and as a business magnate opposite Anjelica Huston in When in Rome. Rand appeared as Milton Sterns in A Marriage: Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz opposite Christopher Plummer and Jane Alexander on PBS American Playhouse'' Rand appeared opposite Yoko Ono in her film, "Homeless", appeared in several sketches on Saturday Night Live opposite Joe Piscopo, Martin Short, Dana Carvey, Jon Lovitz, Will Farrell, and Phil Hartman, and as the Judge in a KRS-One video produced by Boogie Down Productions.
Educator
The J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board and The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs chose Rand as a Fulbright Specialist Scholar during 2021–2025.Rand was also chosen as a Fulbright Specialist Scholar during 2013–2018. Rand has received four Fulbright Awards.
In 2013 he became the first Fulbright Specialist Scholar to teach for six weeks at the University of Sarajevo's Academy of Dramatic Arts, University of Tuzla Academy of Dramatic Arts, Mostar Youth Theatre, and the Druga Gimnazija, an IB World School in Sarajevo. In 2015, he became the first Fulbright Specialist Scholar to teach for six weeks at the University of Malaya Cultural Centre Drama Department in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Rand was the first American invited by the Jabatan Kebudayaan dan Kesenian Negara, known as the Malaysian Ministry of Tourism and Culture – National Department for Culture & Arts to teach and perform at Malaysia's JKKN State Theaters in Ipoh, Alor Setar and Kuala Terengganu. In Kuala Lumpur, Rand was invited to teach and perform at the National Arts Culture and Heritage Academy Aswara, Islamic International University Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi MARA, and to teach at the Penang Temple of Fine Arts Academy. In 2017 he became the first Fulbright Specialist Scholar to teach four 7-hour master acting workshops using Constantin Stanislavsky's "Method of Physical Actions" chart for five weeks at the Taller de Teatro in Paysandu, Uruguay, and taught two workshops for ages nine to fifteen at the Family Instituto y Colegio de Inglés in Paysandu, performed in his solo play, and directed an adaptation of the play, Our Town by Thornton Wilder in Spanish with Spanish actors. In 2024, Rand was invited as the first Fulbright Specialist Scholar to teach for six weeks in seven different classes at the Department of Theatre Studies at the University of Patras, Greece. Rand taught his master workshop at the Drama School of Patras, and at the Lithographeion Theatre in Patras. He was an adjunct professor of Acting and Directing at Pace University in New York City for four years, an Adjunct professor of Acting at Northern Illinois University, and adjunct professor of Theatre History at the University of North Alabama. He has brought his solo play and Art of Transformation Master Acting Workshop to 28 countries and 21 states, including Gonzaga University, Western Washington University, University of Missouri in Columbia, University of Alaska, Syracuse University, Lycoming College, Louisiana State University, University of Zagreb Academy of Dramatic Art, University of Zagreb Academy of Dramatic Art – Zagreb, Croatia, Anadolu University – Eskişehir, Turkey, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens – Athens, Greece, Yerevan State Institute of Theatre and Cinematography – Yerevan, Armenia, University of the Visual and Performing Arts – Colombo, Sri Lanka, Shota Rustaveli Theatre and Film University – Tbilisi, Georgia, Belarusian State University – Minsk, Belarus, National Theatre of British West Indies – Cayman National Cultural Foundation, IB World School – Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina, National School of the Arts in Johannesburg, South Africa, Auroville – India, and taught his workshop at the 37th International Festival of University Theatre FITUC, Casablanca, Morocco, when he was the President of the Jury for the festival, in The Business School at the University of North Carolina Asheville, The InterBeing Festival at the Samasati Sanctuary Wellness Center in Weaverville, North Carolina, at several community theaters across America, and at the Joint Personnel Recovery Agency – Fairchild U.S. Air Force Base. Rand, an acrylic painter, had originally studied at the Arts Students League in New York City in the late 1970s, gave a talk and painting demonstration on bark for The Shoals Artists Guild at the Kennedy Douglass Center for the Arts, in the Arts Alive Festival, Florence, Alabama in 2019. His artworks were on display in the Annual Art Students League of New York Salon in New York City, Mostly Blues Exhibit at Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts, Florence, Alabama, in the ArtWorks Exhibit at The Tennessee Valley Art Museum in Tuscumbia, Alabama, and in The Art Guild's Art Shows at the Hendersonville County Public Library, North Carolina in 2025.