Professor Andrei Malaev-Babel is the leading specialist, worldwide, in the Demidov School of Acting. Since 2008, he has been practically recreating the Demidov School at his Florida graduate acting studio, while introducing it to the US, UK, Europe, Russia, Brazil and China. Trained as a director at Vakhtangov Theatre Institute, Moscow, he is the Director, Head of Acting and Professor of Theatre at the Florida State University/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training in Sarasota, Florida. He is a member of the international faculty of MICHA, the Michael Chekhov Association in New York City and on the advisory board of Stanislavsky Research Centre, UK. Professor Malaev-Babel is also a member of the International Scientific Committee for Arti Dello Spettacolo-Performing Arts (Italy).

He served as the Producing Artistic Director for the Stanislavsky Theatre Studio (STS), an award-winning company and conservatory in Washington, DC. There, he was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award as an Outstanding Director for his production of Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot. He is the author/editor of The Vakhtangov Sourcebook (Routledge, 2011) and Yevgeny Vakhtangov: A Critical Portrait (Routledge, 2012). In 2016, he published (with Margarita Laskina) the first English-language collection of Demidov’s writings, entitled Nikolai Demidov: Becoming an Actor-Creator (Routledge).

Professor Malaev-Babel is in demand internationally, and has been conducting workshops, presenting and performing at venues, such as Stanford University; Russian State Institute of Performing Arts (St. Petersburg); the Latin American Film Festival and Teatro Escola Macunaíma (Brazil); Rose Bruford College and University of Essex/East 15 Acting School (UK); The Shanghai Theatre Academy (China); and The Odessa Philharmonic (Ukraine). He most recently received the Fulbright Specialist Award, resulting in a two-week Demidov masterclass for directors and actors of the famed Polish National Film, Television and Theatre School in Lodz. In addition to introducing the English-speaking world to Nikolai Demidov and publishing Vakhtangov’s heritage, he authored book chapters on other masters of Russian Theatre, such as Michael Chekhov and Alexandra Remizova. As the Head of the Demidov Association and its Certifying Master Teacher, Professor Malaev-Babel runs the Demidov Teacher Certification and Acting Certificate Programs and teaches Online Intensives and Annual Summer Course.