Mao Zedong, who was the Chairman of China, personally named, designed and wrote the school emblem.

It is ranked as the best top-level drama, film, and television arts institution in China and has been selected into the country's Double First Class University Plan.

(ATEC) is currently an important base for training and practice in drama, film and television arts.

In 1996, the college enrolled its first professional class in cultural and artistic undertaking management, which was affiliated to the Department of Drama and Literature.

On September 21, 2017, the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China announced the first round of world-class universities and first-class discipline construction universities and construction disciplines list, among which the drama and film and television studies of the Central Academy of Drama were successfully selected.

The Central Academy of Drama, formed by the merger of two schools, was final established in April 1950, with Ouyang Yuqian as its first president, and was named by Mao Zedong.

In the early days of the college's establishment, in order to adapt to the dual tasks of teaching and performance creation at that time, the college first offered one-year general courses for training, and successively launched two-year undergraduate courses; trained professional cadres at provincial and military levels and above to improve professional standards.

Starting in the summer of 1953, various departments of the college began recruiting undergraduate students from all over the country.