Samuel Stricklen

Samuel Stricklen’s appointment as Assistant Professor of Acting began on Aug. 15, 2023.

Samuel Stricklen is an award-winning actor, director, and educator. He is the recipient of the 2025 Connecticut Critics Circle award for Outstanding Featured Actor in a play. He holds an MFA in Acting from the University of California San Diego and a BFA in Drama (now known as Acting) from CCM, where he was also awarded the Dolly Award for sustained excellence in achievement and performance by a senior.

As a professional actor, some of Stricklen's theater credits include Superior Donuts (Broadway Music Box Theater), Creation: A Clown Show (Off-Broadway), Six Degrees of Separation (The Old Globe), Clybourne Park (Premiere Stages), Primary Trust (TheaterWorks Hartford), JaJa’s African Hair Braiding (Ensemble Theater Cincinnati)  and Current Nobody (La Jolla Playhouse).

His television and film credits include Marlon, Six Degrees, The Mysteries of Laura, Law & Order, As the World Turns, The Good Wife, Bosch, Mozart in the Jungle, High Maintenance, Astronomy Club: The Sketch Show, and The Visit.

He is an Emeritus Artist of SITI Company, an ensemble-based theater company whose mission was the creation of new work, the training of theater artists, and a commitment to crossing boundaries. He was first introduced to the training and the work of SITI Company through CCM Professor Emeritus of Acting and Directing Richard Hess, who retired in 2022 after 32 years of teaching at CCM.

His national and international production credits with SITI Company, under the direction of Anne Bogart, include The Bacchae (The Getty Villa/Brooklyn Academy of Music), bobrauschenbergamerica (The Dublin Theatre Festival/New York Live Arts), Under Construction (Actors Theatre of Louisville), the theater is a blank page (Wexner Center for the Arts), Radio Macbeth (Tbilisi International Theatre Festival), and Lost in the Stars (CAP UCLA).

Samuel is a proud member of the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and Actors’ Equity. He has led workshops in both the Viewpoints and Suzuki methods of actor training with SITI Company, in conjunction with Skidmore College, Ohio State University, and Spelman College. He has also served as a drama instructor at the Cobb County Center for Excellence in the Performing Arts at Pebblebrook High School and the University of California San Diego.