Wlliam FriedkinDIRECTOR

Legendary director William Friedkin commanded the audience of New York Film Academy students from the moment he walked in the door. He spoke with students at the Los Angeles campus, following a screening of The French Connection (1971). He talked about the film, which won 5 Academy Awards, including Best Director for Friedkin. During the discussion, he confessed that he never did a storyboard for the infamous car chase scene, adding that none of the collisions were planned.

He also discussed his acclaimed films The Exorcist (1973) and To Live and Die in L.A. (1985). The Exorcist is a horror classic that received critical acclaim and became one of the highest-grossing films of all time.

Over the years, Friedkin had a significant impact on the film industry and is considered one of the influential directors of the 1970s New Hollywood era. Throughout his career, he also directed an episode of The Twilight Zone, and adapted stage plays such as Twelve Angry Men and Bug for film and television.

When asked what advice he had for aspiring filmmakers during his visit to NYFA, Friedkin simply replied, “Watch Kubrick. Watch Hitchcock. Watch Almodovar.”

Piper PeraboACTRESS

Golden Globe-nominated actress Actress Piper Perabo, star of Lost Girls on Broadway, visited the New York Film Academy as a Guest Speaker together with her husband, director Stephen Kay, in December 2015.

Parade’s first big break came in Jerry Bruckheimer’s Coyote Ugly, where she played the leading role of Violet Sanford. In 2007, she was seen in Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige with Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale, in Because I Said So with Diane Keaton and Lauren Graham, and in First Snow, a film directed by Mark Fergus and costarring Guy Pearce and Adam Scott. In May 2009, she made her stage debut in Neil Labute’s controversial play Reasons to Be Pretty directed by Terry Kinney. The list of credits goes on and on.