Professor Merlin is the first Jean Benedetti Senior Research Fellow.This new post reflects the legacy of the late Professor Benedetti whose ground-breaking work on Stanislavski led directly to the foundation of The Stanislavski Centre in 2007.Bella Merlin is Professor of Acting at The University of California, Riverside. She is a member of the Stanislavski Studies editorial advisory board, and delivered the Stanislavski Centre/Routledge annual lecture in 2012.An actor, singer-songwriter and actor-trainer, Professor Merlin is author of five books on acting and has been working for over twenty-five years in theatre, film, television and radio, and has directed both plays and opera. Her publications include the best-selling The Complete Stanislavsky Toolkit, Nick Hern Books, and the Routledge ‘classic’ Acting: the Basics. She is currently writing Fighting the Fear: An Actor’s Guide to Overcoming Stage Fright, forthcoming from Nick Hern Books, 2014. www.bellamerlin.com