Lee Strasberg was an American acting coach and actor. Born in Budzanów, then part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, he immigrated to the United States in 1909. He co-founded, with theatre directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed as "America's first true theatrical collective". In 1951, he became director of the nonprofit Actors Studio in New York City, considered "the nation's most prestigious acting school," and, in 1966, he was involved in the creation of Actors Studio West in Los Angeles.