Armando Diaz
Armando is an owner, founder, and teacher at the Magnet Theater in New York City.
Armando is widely regarded as one of the best improv teachers in New York City and beyond. His list of teaching credits is a long one: the iO Theater, Victory Gardens Theater, The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, The Peoples Improv Theatre, and Michael Howard Studios. He has trained dozens of actors who have performed or written for Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Mad TV, and The Daily Show.
History
Born in Harvey, IL, 30 miles south of Chicago, in 1966. In High School, he became friends with Late Night writer Kevin Dorff. Armando studied improv under Del Close at the ImprovOlympic, Mick Napier at the Annoyance Theatre, and graduated from the Second City Conservatory. He performed in and helped create one of the most popular improvised longforms in Chicago, "The Armando Diaz Experience...." For the last decade, "The Armando" has been performed weekly in Chicago, and is now taught and performed in many other cities including Los Angeles and New York.
In addition to writing and producing short films, Armando wrote sketches for the show Upright Citizens Brigade on Comedy Central, and has performed on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.
Interviews
- Improvised New York - The Real Armando Diaz
- IRC Podcast 2010-11-09 Armando Diaz
- Improv Interviews - Armando Diaz