As Fordham Theatre’s new head of acting, Chaunteé Schuler Irving brings firsthand industry expertise to her students in the performance program. She stars on the Prime Video thriller, The Cross, one of this year’s NAACP Image Award nominees for Outstanding Drama Series, and has multiple commercial, stage, and television credits, including the satirical news show The Onion News Network and The Lion King on Broadway, where she played Nala.
At Fordham, Irving recruits new students and oversees all performance majors, particularly in their last year when they present their work to casting directors, agents, and managers.
“I’m making sure they’re really bridging their academic experience into the professional industry,” said Irving.
On top of helping students ready their portfolios, websites, and showcase reels, Irving helps develop her students’ talents through courses like “Creating a Character.”
“The goal was: Don’t be afraid to go all the way,” she said of that course. “It was really pushing them to their extremes—playing really young and playing really old [characters], playing creatures, taking on things they hadn’t done before. Just getting out of their comfort zone in a safe and fun way.”
As an actress and acting educator, we knew she would have strong opinions on the best performances of 2024. Here, she shares her picks ahead of the March 2 Oscars ceremony.
1. Timothée Chalamet in A Complete Unknown
Chalamet’s ability to capture Bob Dylan’s essence, both in physicality and performance, stood out to Irving as one of the year’s most remarkable acting feats. He is up for best actor.
“Timothée Chalamet was just brilliant. He embodied Bob Dylan while still being himself.”
2. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in Wicked
Chauntee admired the performances of both stars in this film adaptation of the musical prequel to the Wizard of Oz about Glinda the Good Witch, played by Grande, nominated for best supporting actress, and the future Wicked Witch, played by Erivo, nominated for best actress.
“I loved Wicked. It was so well done. … Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande were amazing. I am rooting for them both, but I think Cynthia is the front-runner for best actress.”
3. Coleman Domingo in Sing Sing
If there is one film and performance Irving would recommend for the season, it’s Coleman Domingo in Sing Sing, a film about a prison theater program that helps the inmates find their humanity again. Domingo, who is nominated for best actor, plays the program’s director, and most of the film’s actors were actual inmates from Sing Sing who participated in the program, known as Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA).
“So much of what they share about their direct experience and their art on screen reminds me why we need art, empathy, and each other to go through life’s hardest and potentially most deeply transformative moments,” said Irving. “We all need community to remind us that life is hard and we cannot do it alone.”
4. Pamela Anderson in The Last Showgirl
When a long-running Las Vegas revue announces it will close, one of its performers, played by Anderson, confronts her life’s choices. Though overlooked for an Oscar nomination—unfairly, said Irving—the Screen Actors Guild and the Golden Globes both nominated Anderson for best actress.
“The whole film was really beautiful, but she was just so wonderful,” said Irving. “Watching her on screen, you could tell that she was just wide open, almost as if it was the story of her through a different lens. It was just so honest and beautiful to watch.”
