Konstantin Sergeyevich Alexeyev, who achieved fame as Konstantin Stanislavski, is recognised world-wide as the single most influential figure in Western actor training. Almost all mainstream training establishments employ his techniques in some form, and most actors are familiar with the processes which Stanislavski developed for creating roles onstage.

Stanislavski was born in Moscow in 1863 to a wealthy industrialist family whose principal business was the manufacture of gold and silver thread. The Alexeyevs had previously been serfs, but by Konstantin’s birth had become one of the new families whose rise to affluence symbolised the move away from feudalism and fixed status.

Theatre was a passion for the whole

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First published 20 September 2002

Citation: Moseley, Nick. "Konstantin Stanislavsky". The Literary Encyclopedia. 20 September 2002.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4192, accessed 20 November 2009.]