About Us

 Linda Ann Watt is an award-winning American acting coach, author, producer and SAG-AFTA, AEA actor. She is the owner of Academy of Acting, LLC and Charlotte Acting where she trains actors in-person and online. Watt owns Corlin Productions, LLC, a SAG-AFTRA Signatory production house that produces and directs film, television, documentaries, commercials and educational programs. Watt directed Betty White, Nell Carter, Dom DeLuise, Aaron Neville, and Tippi Hedren for Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member stations. Watt also produced the educational DVD, Method Acting with Stanislavski and Strasberg with Cloris Leachman, Martin Landau and Shelley Winters. 

As an executive board member of Women in Film in Los Angeles, Watt chaired and produced the largest Academy Awards Party four consecutive years which became an annual Hollywood event with over 1,000 attending including the Oscar winners and nominees. 

Watt relocated to Charlotte to produce her television series with PBS member station WTVI, and she was invited by Blumenthal Performing Arts Center to teach acting in 2010. Watt, through her not-for-profit organization Learn with Laughter, was the recipient of a Grass Roots Arts Project (GAP) Grant to develop classes for acting and filmmaking as an enrichment arts program from 2008-2014, awarded through the Union County Community Arts Council and the North Carolina Arts Council.  Most recently, Watt received a grant from the North Carolina Arts Council to publish her book The Actor's Manifesto: Create a Successful Acting Career which is available on Amazon Books and Ingram Spark. 

Watt presently serves as SAG-AFTRA National Convention Delegate, Board Member of SAG-AFTA Atlanta Local, and she served on the Nominating Committee for the 2026 Actor Awards presented by SAG-AFTRA.

Training
At the age of 14, Watt received a scholarship to The New York Academy of Theatrical Arts, where her teachers who were in their later years were students of Stanislavski and Strasberg. She then attended the Stella Adler Conservatory, American Theatre of Actors (ATA) with James Jennings. She studied voice at Herbert Bergdorf (HB) Studios and with speech pathologist Gertrude Orion Ph.D., Watt attended the State University of New York (SUNY) Nassau Community College, majoring in theatre, while appearing in commercials, daytime television, film and theatre. It was during this time, Watt produced her first documentary, Unicycle for national PBS television. Watt later graduated magna cum laude from UNC Charlotte, majoring in Theatre and she holds an MFA in Theatre Performance Pedagogy from VCU. 

In Los Angeles, Watt studied extensively with Milton Katselas (director, Butterflies are Free, for film and Broadway and the protégé of Elia Kazan). While in Katselas’ class, Watt also had the privilege of taking classes with Jeffery Tambor, Joe Santos and Richard Larson. She studied voice with leading voice specialist Bob Corff and she took Comedy Improvisation at the Skylight Theater with Walter Olkewicz. Watt later enrolled in Standup Comedy with Greg Dean and she performed standup at the Santa Monica Improv. She continued to study “Method” acting with Lorrie Hull, Ph.D. (master teacher for Lee Strasberg). 

While in a university setting studying the disciplines of Stanislavski, Meisner, Adler, Strasberg, Hagen and Practical Aesthetics, Watt also studied physical techniques of Bogart, Landau and Lecoq.

Cory Riback is an actor, director, variety artist, filmmaker and puppeteer. He has appeared in film and television including Entourage-HBO, The Inspectors-CBS and Jimmy Hollywood-Paramount Pictures. Riback has also appeared in many national commercials including beer commercials for Bud Light, Budweiser, Coors and Fosters Beer. Riback offers 35 years of expert experience in performing and production. Riback worked as producer, director, director of photography, and editor on feature films, television and commercials. Riback wrote and produced Unicycle, a documentary for national Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). He was a producer and the director of photography on Melvin Goes Disco, a 35mm film for HBO. He went on to create the series, Cory’s Learning Corner with robotic puppets for PBS member stations nationally, working with Betty White, Nell Carter, Tippi Hedren, Dom DeLuise, Sid Caesar and Aaron Neville.

Riback, a member of Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and through his company Corlin Productions, LLC he has also produced SAG-AFTRA Signatory Productions. He created a live show and performed nationally with the best variety performers in the world. Riback has lectured at the School of Art and Design and University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He teaches a filmmaking course for professional filmmakers and has trained students from major universities on production, robotic puppet building, editing and animation.

Training 

Riback attended School of Art and Design, The Leonard Davis Center of Performing Arts and the School of Visual Arts where he majored in film production and editing. For fluid camera movement, he studied mime with Keith Berger and master teacher, Marcel Marceau. He also attended Beverly Hills Playhouse under the direction of, Milton Katselas (director, Butterflies are Free, for film and Broadway, protégé of Elia Kazan), Lorie Hull (master teacher for Lee Strasberg) and HB Studios.