Dr Darren Daly
School of Arts, Media and Creative Technologies
Current positions
Lecturer in Screen&Stage Performance
Biography
Dr Darren Daly is a practitioner-researcher, screen performance specialist, and Programme Leader for the MA Screen Acting at the University of Salford. A graduate of RADA (MA Text & Performance) and with a PhD from the University of Portsmouth, Darren brings over twenty years of professional acting experience across stage, screen, and digital media into his research and teaching practice.
His work sits at the intersection of actor training, digital performance, and motion capture, with a focus on how traditional performance methodologies—particularly those of Stanislavski and Michael Chekhov—can be reimagined for technologically mediated environments. His research interrogates how the actor’s process transforms within virtual production, performance capture, and real-time rendering spaces, examining questions of agency, embodiment, and presence in digital contexts.
Recent publications include "Finding Agency in the Imagined Body through Unreal Engine’s Live Link Performance Capture" (Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, 2024) and the forthcoming book chapter "Exploring Internal vs External Tempo-Rhythm: Live Editing in Screen Acting Training" (in 'Stanislavski and Screen Actor Training', 2025). These works form part of a developing research trajectory connecting traditional practice-based performance enquiry with technological innovation, offering new pedagogical frameworks for actor training in digital domains.
Darren welcomes PhD and practice research proposals in all areas of acting and performance but particularly:
Acting and performance for motion capture, virtual production, and interactive media
Actor training methodologies for screen and digital contexts
Applications of Stanislavski and Chekhov techniques to mediated performance
Industry/HEI collaboration models in performance pedagogy
Screen acting processes and digital embodiment
Areas of Research
Acting for Performance Capture and Virtual Production
Acting for computer games
Actor training and digital embodiment
Michael Chekhov and Stanislavski methodologies
Practice research and performance technologies
Collaborative models linking HE and industry
Areas of Supervision
Actor Training
Acting for Film and TV
Motion and Performance Capture
Acting for Computer Games
Theatres and Learning
Michael Chekhov Technique
MA Screen Acting - Programme Leader
Undergraduate teaching:
Acting for Motion Capture (Module Leader)
Acting for the Camera (Module Leader)
Introduction to Multimedia
Acting for Recorded Media
Acting Methods
Postgraduate teaching:
Performing for the Camera (Module Leader)
Digital Collaboration Project
Final Research Project
Qualifications
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Theatre
2016 - 2020 -
MA in Text and Performance
2008 - 2009 -
Graduate Diploma in Acting
2003 - 2004 -
BA (Hons) Performance and Media Arts
1996 - 1999