[2] In 2000 in a church hall in Crows Nest, Sydney, actor and director Denise Roberts began giving private acting lessons to around eight students.
[4][5][6] Noting that she "opened it because there are a lot of students who learn all their stuff about stage, but put them in front of a camera and they're just too big," Roberts limited the teachers to AFI Award winners,[6] including actors Victoria Longely, Tina Bursill, Henri Szeps, Simon Burke, Nico Lathouris, Lucy Bell, Patrick Dickson, David Field and Rowena Wallace, and directors Scott Hartford-Davis and Robert Klenner.
"[8] In May 2003, Lauren Lillie, a model and actor who was Bartercard Miss Indy 2003 and featured in the top 20 sexiest women for both Inside Sport and Ralph magazines that same year, enrolled in acting classes at Screenwise.
[9] By August 2004, the school had become one of Sydney's most productive originators of young acting talent, including Ashleigh Cummings and Stef Dawson, and "chalked up an impressive list of TV and screen credits," including placing graduates in top-rating soap operas such as Neighbours, Home & Away and All Saints, and a variety of television commercials.
[13] In 2010, Screenwise became a Government accredited RTO offering the two-year full-time Diploma of Screen Acting amongst its many courses and is now considered Australia's leading film and television school for actors.