TOMMY FOSTER
Actor, Director, Teacher
"I loved teaching with Tommy! He was devoid of ego- equally willing to defer as he was to lead. We had great rapport and loved watching one another work with our students. His energy and generosity in the classroom is infectious."
Steven Levine
Director of Production, Children's Theatre of Charlotte
Former Co-Teacher of Pre-Professional Company
“Tommy teaches not how to be an actor, but how to be an artist. I feel so lucky to have met him when I was just beginning because he gave me tools that helped me approach my acting work freely and relentlessly throughout the next decade. I’m still able to go to him for professional references when pursuing work, encouragement when it gets hard, and support when my soul needs it. He’ll always be a champion in your corner.”
Emily Absher
Former Student
Actor in EVITA (Eva Peron),
HELLO, DOLLY! (Dance Captain)
Texas State University, BFA Acting
University of NC School of the Arts, HS Graduate
"Besides being my absolute favorite artist to work with collaboratively, Tommy is a stunning performer whom I never pass up a chance to see live. He is constantly reinventing himself in terms of his cabaret presence and his level of commitment to artistry is unparalleled. He is a generous actor who brings his own story along into the storytelling of each character he portrays. I have personally worked with, for, and alongside Tommy many times over and find him to be a kind, caring, and compassionate teacher who is able to get his students to achieve new levels of artistry that even they didn’t know they had within themselves."
Kelly Price
Director & Teacher
Owner, Acting Up! Children's Theatre
"Tommy Foster has been a light in my life as a teacher and as a director. I had the opportunity to work with Tommy at Children’s Theatre of Charlotte where he directed me in one of the most challenging roles I’ve played to date: Eva Peron. With his guidance I was able to breath life into a complicated historical figure, and the tools he gave me during this process I still use regularly. Tommy’s passion to create and teach drives not only his peers to work harder, but his students as well."
Meg Gwyn
Former Student
Actor in CHICAGO (Mama Morton)
& EVITA (Eva Peron)
The Hart School, BFA Acting
"When you say the name Tommy Foster, people know they’re going to get someone insanely talented, dedicated, passionate, and loving. I have never known someone to give as much love and support as he does. I wouldn’t even have considered pursuing this dream if it weren’t for him during Sweeney Todd. When I got that role, after one of the most professional auditions I’d been through, I felt like I could actually pursue this dream. And throughout that rehearsal process, he even gave us his personal time on the weekends to teach us about active listening and how to create an emotionally available performance."
Caroline Kirk,
Former Student
Actor in SWEENEY TODD (Beggar Woman),
THE CHILDREN'S HOUR (Karen Wright),
ANYTHING GOES (Angel), & HAMLET (Gertrude)
Catawba College, BFA Musical Theatre
"...Foster’s performance sizzles and electrifies on its own. Forget the power ballads that he torches...what Foster does with the demonic energy of “Alive!” as Act I ends is riveting."
Perry Tanenbaum, Art On My Sleeve
Review of JEKYLL & HYDE
"If Tommy Foster's Billy Bigelow is less than charismatic...he more than makes up for it in the intensity of his acting, which is slowly revealed as the play progresses. The seminal, wonderfully woven "bench scene" culminating in "If I Loved You" is played with enormous sensitivity, and his delivery of the soliloquy is mighty and ardent, moving the heretofore fairly simple story into another more substantial dimension."
Lee Davis, The Southampton Press
Review of CAROUSEL
"A volatile Tommy Foster inspires contempt, fear and pity as the doomed Pagliacci-type clown and pathologically jealous lover, Burrs. Sporting a bulbous red nose, Burrs's self-destructive tendencies and brutish temperament mask a neurotic, childlike need for love."
Fran Heller, Cleveland Jewish News
Review of THE WILD PARTY
"Foster has it all: a great voice, full of emotion, power and tenderness. He can dance, too, and he so inhabits the character that you will believe his tall tales and wonder why his son is so disbelieving."
Deirdre Parker Smith, The Salisbury Post
Review of BIG FISH