Adler began her acting career at the age of four in the play
Broken Hearts at the Grand Street Theatre on the Lower East Side, as a part of her parents' Independent Yiddish Art Company. She grew up acting alongside her parents, often playing roles of boys and girls. Her work schedule allowed little time for schooling, but when possible, she studied at public schools and
New York University. She made her London debut, at the age of 18, as Naomi in
Elisa Ben Avia with her father's company, in which she appeared for a year before returning to New York. In London, she met her first husband, Englishman Horace Eliashcheff; their brief marriage, however, ended in a divorce. Adler made her English-language debut on Broadway in 1922 as the Butterfly in
The World We Live In, and she spent a season in the
vaudeville circuit. In 1922–23, the renowned Russian actor-director
Konstantin Stanislavski made his only U.S. tour with his
Moscow Art Theatre. Adler and many others saw these performances, which had a powerful and lasting impact on her career and the 20th-century American theatre. In 1982, the day Strasberg died, Adler is said to have remarked, "It will take the theatre decades to recover from the damage that Lee Strasberg inflicted on American actors." In January 1937, Adler moved to Hollywood. There, she acted in films for six years under the name Stella Ardler, occasionally returning to the Group Theater until it dissolved in 1941. Eventually, she returned to New York to act, direct, and teach, the latter first at
Erwin Piscator's
Dramatic Workshop at the
New School for Social Research, New York City, before founding Stella Adler Conservatory of Theatre in 1949. In the following years, she taught
Marlon Brando,
Steve McQueen,
Dolores del Río,
Robert De Niro,
Elaine Stritch,
Martin Sheen,
Manu Tupou,
Harvey Keitel,
Melanie Griffith,
Peter Bogdanovich,
Benicio del Toro, and
Warren Beatty, among others, the principles of characterization and script analysis. She also taught at the New School, and the
Yale School of Drama. For many years, Adler led the undergraduate drama department at New York University, and became one of America's leading acting teachers. :—Marlon Brando In 1988, she published
The Technique of Acting with a foreword by Marlon Brando. She appeared in only three films:
Love on Toast (1937),
Shadow of the Thin Man (1941), and
My Girl Tisa (1948). She concluded her acting career in 1961, after 55 years. During that time, and for years after, she became a renowned acting teacher. == Stanislavski and the method ==