Biography
Keith Flippen grew up in Lafayette, LA, feeling like an outcast "geek." In 1984, his family relocated to Virginia, where, to fulfill a school half-credit in fine arts, Keith took up acting. In the theater, he found acceptance and a place where his years of solitary imaginative play became valuable. After graduating from Green Run High School, Keith enrolled at Virginia Tech aiming to become an Aerospace Engineer. However, due to poor grades in Calculus, he realized that if he designed an aircraft, there was a 40% chance of a catastrophic failure. He decided instead to follow his natural talent—acting.
After graduating in 1990, Keith studied at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center and the Leningrad State Institute of Theatre, Music, and Film through a Soviet-American exchange program. There, he met his close friend and Russian "brother," Igor Kopilov. Following an intensive summer of study and performance, Keith returned to Virginia and began working in film, television, and theater. In 1992, he went back to Russia as the U.S. Administrator of the Russian American Theatre in St. Petersburg, Moscow, and Minsk, managing the creation, promotion, and performance of a bi-cultural Christmas program for every 6th grader in Belarus—bringing 40,000 children to Minsk over 10 days to experience the show.
Upon returning to the U.S., Keith performed with Young Audiences of Virginia, delivering theatrical performances to children statewide. However, the growing demands of his film and TV career led him to step away from his first love—the stage. Keith continues acting and now owns The Actors' Place, Inc., where he teaches Meisner Technique and Camera Acting to students from Virginia and North Carolina.
