Sam Kogan

Sam Kogan died of a rare form of cancer on November the 11th 2004. A funeral service was held at The Russian Orthodox Church in South Kensington attended by family and friends as well as many of Sam's students.

Accordingly, the technique evolved with the creation of realistic, audience-enlightening theatre as one of its guiding principles. For the rest of his life he worked to develop The Science of Acting into a stand-alone technique that would establish points of reference for good acting, opening his own school in 1991 where he served as both principal and head teacher. In the year before his death Kogan described The Science of Acting as a 'complete work...a totality, they now have everything they need.'

In 1991 Kogan set-up The School of the Science of Acting in Holloway, North London, offering a two-year diploma in acting and a three-year diploma in acting and directing. After his death in 2004 the school moved premises to Archway and became The Academy of the Science of Acting and Directing. As of 2014 it was known as The Kogan Academy of Dramatic Arts, offering full-time and part-time acting courses and a directing course as well as a three-year BA Honours degree in Acting in association with Kingston University. In 2019 the school reverted to the name The School of the Science of Acting.

Kogan was born to a Jewish family in Sokyriany, a small city in Chernivtsi Oblast in the then USSR, but he grew up in Chernivtsi. In his youth he was an accomplished folk dancer and wrestler, competing in both at a national level. In 1966 he gained entrance to GITIS - the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts, where he studied for five years under the tutelage of Maria Knebel. Knebel was herself a former student of Konstantin Stanislavski, Michael Chekhov, Yevgeny Vakhtangov and Vsevolod Meyerhold as well as a colleague of both Stanislavski and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko. Kogan graduated in 1971. He sought an environment conducive to his creative work, eventually arriving in London in 1974.

Sam Kogan (22 October 1946 – 11 November 2004) was a Ukrainian actor, director, and acting teacher. He is best known for developing and establishing an acting technique that he called "The Science of Acting." He founded The School of the Science of Acting (formerly 'The Kogan Academy of Dramatic Arts' and 'The Academy of the Science of Acting and Directing'), in London in 1991. He also wrote the book The Science of Acting, which was edited by his daughter, Helen Kogan.