Don’t wait for lights to shine on you- bring The Light on with you.

LIVE The Imagined Life

The best kept secret of award winning actors, recognizable faces and up and coming “diamonds in the rough”. Together we transform written words into worldviews. If you can see it- you can be it. How you see determines what you see. Empathy is the heart in art.
You create the world you play in®

®

If you’re an actor looking for a method and you’ve landed here- it’s time to look for a mission.
If you’re an actor looking for a product- it’s time to seek a purpose.
If you’re preoccupied with a need to be good, right and liked- 
it’s time to be authentic, experiential and engaged.


If you’re looking for an acting workshop -



it’s time
to LIVE your Imagined Life

®

guide you with the tools you need for practical application and gift you with a daily creative practice in our workshops. Our classes are for those who have decided to stop “acting” and to start empathizing. It’s time to stop “performing” and to start transforming. You create the world you play in®!
We look forward to the adventure together with you!

We’ll share our philosophy,

about

diana
castle

get to know

35 years of teaching and coaching. Countless actors transformed, experiencing freedom and authenticity in their work and play. Diana Castle’s acting philosophy is rooted in “acting as the art of the empathetic imagination” and her passionate teaching is fueled by her mission to awaken empathy in our world by mirroring back diverse human stories- one actor at a time. 

Her father survived Hitler’s holocaust, her mother, the blitz of London. Born in Manhattan, raised in South Carolina, Diana is the first born child of The American Dream. Diana’s dream became a reality when, in 1995, alongside her husband Steve Tietsort, she opened the doors of their 5000 square foot building and The Imagined Life® studio. A labor of love, Diana and Steve worked together to create the warm and welcoming place that currently houses two studios, along with a 70 seat theatre space - the Los Angeles homebase of The Imagined Life acting school.

Their yearly SOLO Festival featured the talents of 7 time Emmy Award winner Lily Tomlin and 6 time Tony Award winner Julie Harris. Their production of Split Second, won an NAACP Award and the world premiere of Asylum directed by Diana, garnered more critical acclaim and awards. 

Diana recurred on the hit comedy Seinfeld (Mrs. Zanfino), guest starred on numerous television shows and gets a kick out of the yearly Thanksgiving airing of her very first film role in the iconic Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Diana is honored to have played with Julie Harris in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman alongside Vincent Gardenia and directed by Charles Nelson Reilly. She starred in the critically acclaimed NYC productions of Romulus Linney’s Holy Ghosts (Nancy Shedman) and Seesaw (Gittel Mosca) and she has played on stages worldwide, touring with Lion King creator Julie Taymor’s Juan Darien, and national tours of Evita (Eva Peron u/s) and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (The Narrator u/s). Other favorites include Hecuba (Hecuba/Workshop 360), Rita (Educating Rita/PA Stage Co.), Bodey Bodenhoffer (A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur/San Diego Rep), Audrey (Little Shop of Horrors/ San Diego Rep), and starring as Wilma in the world premiere of Big Love writer Will Scheffer's "Easter" directed by Steve Tietsort, winning best director and best actress awards. 

She’s a graduate of The Fine Arts Center of Greenville County S.C., a BFA graduate of Florida State University and apprenticed at The Burt Reynolds Institute for Theatre Training where she learned from and worked with many of the luminaries of the time, including Charles Nelson Reilly, Burt Reynolds, and Sally Field. 

For her innovative, self-styled, out of the box thinking, Diana received the Maverick Award by The Los Angeles Women's Theatre Festival, is featured on Deepak Chopra’s “30 Days of Intent” for the Chopra Well, and enjoyed presenting alongside neuroscientist Lisa Aziz-Zadeh for The Screen Actors Guild speaker series “Empathizing with the Enemy.” 

Diana worked as the onset coach for the celebrity guest stars on the long running hit television series Touched by an Angel, enjoyed being a guest professor at the Columbia College program at Raleigh Studios and she delights in being a guest teacher at Act- Escola de Actores in Lisbon, Portugal. She’s contributed to The Huffington Post and Edwin Rutsch’s Culture of Empathy, and mentors artists in the Creative Activist program at Creative Visions Foundation as well as for The Speranza Foundation. 

Her play “Carry the World: Women and Peace”, picked up for television development, starring Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winning actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, has been performed at The Museum of Tolerance, Pepperdine University, The California Institution for Women and The Imagined Life theatre space.

Diana is proud to have mentored two of her students, Faline England and Lacy Fisher, into amazing teachers and coaches. She is deeply grateful to them for their more than a decade of empathic teaching and for all of their heartfelt and committed efforts towards the studio and every TIL student. 

Diana will never be able to express the depth of love and gratitude in her heart for her husband of 30 years, Steve Tietsort, and his extraordinary wisdom, courage and compassion as a husband, partner and teacher of The Imagined Life. 

When Covid ‘19 hit, Diana moved TIL services online which has expanded the reach of the studio beyond Los Angeles in weekly classes and one on one coaching, with actors attending from NYC to Atlanta, from New Zealand to Canada and beyond. While she continues to offer in person classes and coaching at her theatre space in Los Angeles, this online expansion has turned out to be another expression of Diana’s mission to widen our collective empathetic embrace, creating community through the power of diversity in storytelling. 

diana
Castle

get to know

diana Castle

35 years of teaching and coaching. Countless actors transformed, experiencing freedom and authenticity in their work and play. Diana Castle’s acting philosophy is rooted in “acting as the art of the empathetic imagination” and her passionate teaching is fueled by her mission to awaken empathy in our world by mirroring back diverse human stories- one actor at a time.

Her father survived Hitler’s holocaust, her mother, the blitz of London. Born in Manhattan, raised in South Carolina, Diana is the first born child of The American Dream. Diana’s dream became a reality when, in 1995, alongside her husband Steve Tietsort, she opened the doors of their 5000 square foot building and The Imagined Life® studio. A labor of love, Diana and Steve worked together to create the warm and welcoming place that currently houses two studios, along with a 70 seat theatre space - the Los Angeles homebase of The Imagined Life acting school.

Their yearly SOLO Festival featured the talents of 7 time Emmy Award winner Lily Tomlin and 6 time Tony Award winner Julie Harris. Their production of Split Second, won an NAACP Award and the world premiere of Asylum directed by Diana, garnered more critical acclaim and awards.

Diana recurred on the hit comedy Seinfeld (Mrs. Zanfino),  guest starred on numerous television shows and gets a kick out of the yearly Thanksgiving airing of her very first film role in the iconic Planes, Trains and Automobiles. 

Diana is honored to have played with Julie Harris in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman alongside Vincent Gardenia and directed by Charles Nelson Reilly. She starred in the critically acclaimed NYC productions of Romulus Linney’s Holy Ghosts (Nancy Shedman) and Seesaw (Gittel Mosca) and she has played on stages worldwide, touring with Lion King creator Julie Taymor’s Juan Darien, and national tours of Evita (Eva Peron u/s) and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (The Narrator u/s). Other favorites include Hecuba (Hecuba/Workshop 360), Rita (Educating Rita/PA Stage Co.), Bodey Bodenhoffer (A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur/San Diego Rep), Audrey (Little Shop of Horrors/ San Diego Rep), and starring as Wilma in the world premiere of Big Love writer Will Scheffer's "Easter" directed by Steve Tietsort, winning best director and best actress awards. 

She’s a graduate of The Fine Arts Center of Greenville County S.C., a BFA graduate of Florida State University and apprenticed at The Burt Reynolds Institute for Theatre Training where she learned from and worked with many of the luminaries of the time, including Charles Nelson Reilly, Burt Reynolds, and Sally Field. 

For her innovative, self-styled, out of the box thinking, Diana received the Maverick Award by The Los Angeles Women's Theatre Festival, is featured on Deepak Chopra’s “30 Days of Intent” for the Chopra Well, and enjoyed presenting alongside neuroscientist Lisa Aziz-Zadeh for The Screen Actors Guild speaker series “Empathizing with the Enemy.” 

Diana worked as the onset coach for the celebrity guest stars on the long running hit television series Touched by an Angel, enjoyed being a guest professor at the Columbia College program at Raleigh Studios and she delights in being a guest teacher at Act- Escola de Actores in Lisbon, Portugal. She’s contributed to The Huffington Post and Edwin Rutsch’s Culture of Empathy, and mentors artists in the Creative Activist program at Creative Visions Foundation as well as for The Speranza Foundation. 

Her play “Carry the World: Women and Peace”, picked up for television development, starring Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winning actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, has been performed at The Museum of Tolerance, Pepperdine University, The California Institution for Women and The Imagined Life theatre space.

Diana is proud to have mentored two of her students, Faline England and Lacy Fisher, into amazing teachers and coaches. She is deeply grateful to them for their more than a decade of empathic teaching and for all of their heartfelt and committed efforts towards the studio and every TIL student. 

Diana will never be able to express the depth of love and gratitude in her heart for her husband of 30 years, Steve Tietsort, and his extraordinary wisdom, courage and compassion as a husband, partner and teacher of The Imagined Life. 

When Covid ‘19 hit, Diana moved TIL services online which has expanded the reach of the studio beyond Los Angeles in weekly classes and one on one coaching, with actors attending from NYC to Atlanta, from New Zealand to Canada and beyond. While she continues to offer in person classes and coaching at her theatre space in Los Angeles, this online expansion has turned out to be another expression of Diana’s mission to widen our collective empathetic embrace, creating community through the power of diversity in storytelling. 

Diana will introduce you to things that you didn't know existed. Trust Diana. Trust her gift. Trust her passion. Trust her experience.
Trust her intuition and her insight.
She is nothing short of a genius.

Sonequa Martin-Green 

You gotta have Diana Castle in your life. She knows how to take a person with pain and transform it into art. She has taken my career to another level.
You don't have to sugar coat anything with her.
The more you tell her the truth the better she is with you. You can appreciate that a lot.

Mike Epps

Diana builds a map of your craft with you! Working with her is an inspiration. Her insights have helped me to discover and bring deeper worlds to my work and play. Our work together has made my work and life so, so much better. Thank you Diana.

Lauren Cohan

I would never attend one of Diana's classes without a notebook. Her many lessons are an inspiration. Come with an open mind. Hear what she has to say. She’s got a lot of wisdom. She’s a gifted teacher and coach.

Tony Hale

Diana Castle: The name lives on in the multi- dimensional Imagined Lives we have co-created for over a decade. Diana watered my skills and blossomed a deep sense of adventure in my work. Her name will live on forever, her gift is unwaveringly true, she is my greatest creative partner and a friend.

Aml Ameen

Diana's brilliance is her peerless ability to comprehend the inner workings of the human spirit, and human relationships. She illuminates the intricacies of story with unmatched wisdom and clarity. Countless are the lessons Diana has taught me.

Matt Lauria

For those looking to make their work richer, deeper and more full, The Imagined Life is for you! Diana Castle is a master at introducing you to the depths of your imagination and helping you to truly CREATE.

J. August Richards

Working with Diana has changed my life as an actor and as a man. And believe me, my experience is not unique. It is like that with every person who works with her. I‘m truly grateful to her. I believe in her. I trust her. There’s no one better.

HENRY SIMMONS

In 1995, Steve and his wife Diana Castle opened the doors to The Imagined Life acting classes and studio spaces. In their 70 seat theatre space, Steve directed Dennis McIntyre's Split Second starring Berlinda Tolbert (The Jeffersons) and Henry Sanders (Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman), winning an NAACP award and critical acclaim. The Los Angeles Times raved about his direction of Tennessee Williams "27 Wagons Full of Cotton" , a one act play which he combined with a second act retrospective of blues music- the Times recognizing Steve's vision as akin to Frederico Fellini. He directed his wife Diana Castle in the west coast premiere of Big Love writer/producer Will Scheffer's Easter, garnering DramaLogue awards for Best Play, Best Director and Best Actress. 

As an adjunct professor for the BFA program at the University of Southern California for five years, Steve enjoyed directing Sam Shepard's A Lie of the Mind on the Mainstage as well as working alongside playwright Paula Cizmar as she developed her play Still Life with Parrot. Other directing projects include Theresa Rebeck's Sunday on the Rocks and Nicky Silver's Maiden's Prayer.
As an actor, Steve enjoyed playing in the two hander, SCAR opposite Oscar nominee Ed Harris, as well as playing in Fool for Love, Equus, Crimes of the Heart, A Lesson from Aloes, Streamers and as David in the DramaLogue Award winning production of Strange Snow. 

Steve and Diana created the yearly SOLO Festival at The Imagined Life, working with the talents of multiple Tony winners Lily Tomlin, Julie Harris, Charles Nelson Reilly and William Luce among many others. Together, they also produced works by Murray Mednick (Padua Hills Playwrights), and alongside actor Ed Harris, produced an evening of poetry with renowned Armenian poet Peter Balakian. Along with Creative Visions Foundation, Steve produced Diana's play Carry the World: Women and Peace starring Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winning actress Shohreh Aghdashloo at The Imagined Life studio, Pepperdine University, and at The Museum of Tolerance.

From acting, directing and producing- Steve has naturally moved into teaching and coaching - and it is his passion. Steve loves working with talent of all ages and experience.

STEVE TIETSORT

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Faline is so grateful to have been mentored by Diana Castle as an actress for over 20 years, and as a teacher/coach since 2010. The opportunity to share Diana’s teaching and with so many artists continues to be one of the greatest joys of her life. As an actress some of Faline’s credits include: Pony in a bicontinental production of Will Eno’s The Realistic Joneses with Gare St. Lazare Ireland at the Dublin Theatre Festival (nomination Best Ensemble The Irish Times Theatre Awards). The production went on to its southern California premiere at The Rubicon Theatre and then to the Laguna Playhouse in Orange County (nomination Orange Curtain Award Best Actress).

Faline has received multiple Independent Theatre and Los Angeles Stage Alliance Ovation Awards for her performances in dozens of productions spanning the past two decades. Some of her many stage credits include: Georgie Burns in the Laguna Playhouse/Rubicon Theatre Company’s co-production of Simon Stephens’ Heisenberg opposite Joe Spano as well as The Rubicon Theatre Company’s Gulf View Drive, Crimes of the Heart, Turn of the Screw, and All My Sons. Other stage credits include: Julius Caesar and Twelfth Night with Shakespeare Center L.A., Carry the World: Women and Peace created by Diana Castle with Creative Visions, Twelfth Night, Chicago, The Rover, The Three Sisters, Playboy of the Western World, The Changeling, The Tavern, Heartbreak House and The Tempest with the Theatre Artist’s Group, an original telling of Finnegan’s Wake with Santa Barbara Dance Theatre, Purge! with James Donlon & Co., and All in the Timing at Western Stage. She received her B.F.A. in Theatre from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

She has also appeared in numerous television productions including: “9-1-1,” “Station 19,” “Criminal Minds,” “The Mentalist,” “Nip/Tuck,” “CSI,” “Numb3rs,” “Medium,” and “Without a Trace.” Faline lives in Los Angeles with her husband David Meunier and their sweet dog Lucy.

Faline England

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Lacy has studied with Diana Castle since 2008, and was thrilled when Diana saw a gift for teaching and mentored her to join the teaching staff at The Imagined Life®.

She enjoys singing, writing and directing and has appeared as an actress on stage, in film, television and web series.

Partial credits include: Lionsgate/Chemical Peel, TNT/Rizzoli and Isles, indie films; Freedom Lovers, Killing Montgomery and Salt, Liquor, Lime, web series; Corey Knows, and Sovereignty, and a favorite role onstage includes Libby in Nicky Silver's The Maiden's Prayer.

Lacy has found The Imagined Life® to be a transformative journey in both the work and play of acting as well as in her life. She looks forward to encouraging, inspiring and supporting each student on their journey of transformation.

Lacy Fisher

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meet our faculty

STEVE TIETSORT

Acting Coach at TIL

FALINE ENGLAND

Acting Coach at TIL

LACY
FISHER

Acting Coach at TIL

Steve and Diana have helped me rebuild my love for the craft.
They took me in with open arms and showed me a new way to view this art form. It’s a reimagined way that opens your heart and mind.
A true blessing.

- Ezekiel Pacheco

Diana Castle’s The Imagined Life has completely altered the way I think as an actor and as a human being contributing to the world. This work strips away the facades of what an actor is supposed to be, illuminating and nurturing the human being inside of the actor. My teacher at the studio, Faline England inspires me to give my all, and she is instrumental in pulling it all out of me! Thank you wouldn't be enough!

- jazlyn martin

The work at The Imagined Life with my teacher Lacy Fisher is helping me to unlock my highest potential as a storyteller and human being. Opening my heart every day, empathizing with every story, is giving me the strength to transform every suffering into healing art. I’m so grateful for Diana’s work.

- Simone Attenni

Working with my teacher Steve Tietsort at Diana Castle’s The Imagined Life has been a game changer. In just a few months, I've regained the love of my craft and completely changed the way I approach my work and play. Aside from getting actual results in my auditions, I'm enjoying acting again. I could not be more thankful for Steve and the Imagined Life team.

- Thomas Bekkers

Working with Faline England at Diana Castle’s The Imagined Life studio has not only changed my perception on acting, it has also changed my view of the world. Faline is connected, kind, passionate and shares excitement in every class. Faline and the teachings of Diana Castle’s The Imagined Life have completely changed my work and play. I am deeply grateful to have her as my creative mentor.

- Callie Okun

My teacher Lacy Fisher, has helped me to move my mindset towards the positive and to grow as an artist, revealing the storyteller I truly am. Diana Castle’s The Imagined Life has made saying yes to the story fun and exciting!

- Karla Sonnier

Steve is an excavator of the inner child. Before The Imagined Life, I had long forgotten my playful spirit, but through Steve’s endless generosity and Diana’s insight and inspiration, I’ve been able to surrender to an inner life that is both wondrous and thick with texture. And the beautiful thing is…I’ve only just begun.

- janell sexton

Studying acting at Diana Castle’s The Imagined Life studio, with Faline England, has transformed me and my work as an actor. Through the many tools I’ve learned and continue to learn, I’ve found my play spirit, deepened my empathy, and have become more
self-reliant, present and free.

- Tamika Parrish

The Imagined Life is a GIFT!  I thoroughly enjoy and appreciate both Diana and Steve's dedication to demystifying the wonderful world of storytelling. My Craft, Heart, and Life have all transformed as a result of studying in this beautifully empathetic and fun space.

- LeShay N. Tomlinson

The Imagined Life is a great foundation for me as an artist. Approaching my art from inside of the story supports me in all my work and play whether it be music, acting, or just being a human! I am so happy to have taken class with Faline and learned so much from her spirit and artistry. Thank you so much!

- B.K. Habermehl

Gratitude for our teachers

The Imagined Life theatre

®

The Imagined Life theatre is a dynamic and inviting performance space. A well appointed lobby welcomes our students, while our fully equipped air conditioned theatre has 66 comfortable theatre seats and is a clean black box space for living the life you imagine! There’s a generous amount of parking in front of the building and the outside area is well lit with the latest in security cameras on all sides of the building.

EXPERIENCE THE MAGIC FOR YOURSELF. 

CARRY THE WORLD:

Through song, dance and testimonials based on real life experiences, Carry the World: Women and Peace explores the effects of greed, war and ignorance on the world outside and within.

Created and directed by Diana Castle, Carry the World is inspired by the photos of Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist Marissa Roth and stars Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winner Shohreh Aghdashloo. The play was produced in a collaboration between The Imagined Life and Creative Visions Foundation at The Museum of Tolerance, and also had further productions at The California Institute for Women, Pepperdine University and at The Imagined Life.

Carry the World aims to inspire hope, and more importantly, an empathic response calling the spirit to activism on behalf of the dignity inherent in the lives of all humanS being.

WOMEN AND PEACE

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What makes the best acting teachers in Los Angeles? Empathy.