A list of the industry’s power casting directors would inevitably come up with a few names you might recognize in a largely under-recognized field—Allison Jones, Nina Gold, Bernie Telsey—but actors at any stage in their careers don’t need to be refreshed on which CDs are casting the biggest projects of the year; getting into those rooms is already a goal of any actor.
What we thought would be more helpful is a list of CDs who are working on a large volume of projects. If you get into one of their rooms, your odds of being right for something they’re casting are much higher. (In fact, casting directors themselves say that’s often the case!) To that end, we’ve compiled a list of the busiest CDs working in U.S. film and television in 2019 by looking back to the work they’ve done since 2017, as well as ahead to projects that will be released over the next few years, including work that’s been released and is in production, development, and pre-production. CDs are some of the busiest people working in the biz—here’s the best of them.
Betty Mae, Inc.
CDs: Mary Vernieu, Lindsay Graham-Ahanonu, Michelle Wade Byrd, Bret Howe, Raylin Sabo
Medium: Film, Television
HQ: Los Angeles
Project count: 119
Highlights: “Euphoria,” “Knives Out,” “Dolemite Is My Name,” “Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw,” “John Wick: Chapter 3—Parabellum,” “What Men Want,” “Gloria Bell,” “Creed II,” “A Star Is Born,” “Deadpool 2”
Star-making cred: Sydney Sweeney, Maude Apatow, Alexa Demie, Hunter Schafer, and Barbie Ferreira on “Euphoria”
Avy Kaufman
Medium: Film, Television
HQ: New York City
Project count: 69
Highlights: “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” “The Report,” “Waves,” “Motherless Brooklyn,” “Gemini Man,” “Suspiria,” “Book Club,” “Maniac,” “Billions,” “The OA,” “The Looming Tower,” “The Alienist”
Star-making cred: Riz Ahmed on “The Night Of”
READ: Bring Something New to Your Audition With ‘Maniac’ CD Avy Kaufman
Rich Delia
Medium: Film, Television
HQ: Los Angeles
Project count: 56
Highlights: “IT: Chapter Two,” “Good Boys,” “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark,” “Annabelle Comes Home,” “Always Be My Maybe,” “The Curse of La Llorona,” “Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase,” “Isn’t It Romantic,” “The Long Dumb Road,” “Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween”
Star-making cred: Sophia Lillis, Chosen Jacobs, Jaeden Martell, Jeremy Ray Taylor, Jack Dylan Grazer, Wyatt Oleff, and Bill Skarsgård in “IT” and “IT: Chapter Two”
READ: Rich Delia on Why You Don’t Assume What the CD Wants to See in Your Audition
Barden/Schnee Casting, Inc.
CDs: Kerry Barden, Paul Schnee
Medium: Film, Television
HQ: New York City
Project count: 51
Highlights: “The Last O.G.,” “Marvel’s Jessica Jones,” “13 Reason Why,” “Ma,” “Book Club,” “Pitch Perfect 3”
Star-making cred: Skyler Astin, Ben Platt, and the Bellas in “Pitch Perfect”; Katherine Langford, Dylan Minnette, Christian Navarro, Alisha Boe, Brandon Flynn, Justin Prentice, Miles Heizer, Ross Butler, and Devin Druid on “13 Reasons Why”
Automatic Sweat Casting
CDs: John Papsidera
Medium: Film, Television
HQ: Los Angeles
Project count: 50
Highlights: “Ghostbusters 2020,” “Zombieland: Double Tap,” “Honey Boy,” “Venom,” “Carnival Row,” “Ray Donovan,” “Casual,” “Westworld,” “Lost in Space”
Star-making cred: Amy Adams in “Enchanted”
The Sarah Finn Company
CDs: Sarah Finn
Medium: Film, Television
HQ: Los Angeles
Project count: 47
Highlights: Disney + Star Wars + Marvel projects including “Hawkeye,” “The Falcon and Winter Soldier,” “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” “The Mandalorian,” all Marvel films including “Avengers: Endgame,” “Black Panther,” “Captain Marvel,” “Guardians of the Galaxy,” and “Spider-Man: Homecoming.” Other films include “The Lion King,” “Pokémon Detective Pikachu,” “Godzilla: King of the Monsters,” and “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.”
Star-making cred: Tom Holland in “Spider-Man: Homecoming”; Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Chris Evans as Captain America, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, Elizabeth Olsen as the Scarlet Witch and Wanda Maximoff, Sebastian Stan as the Winter Soldier and Bucky Barnes, and Tom Hiddleston as Loki in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Carmen Cuba
Medium: Film, Television
HQ: Los Angeles
Project count: 40
Highlights: “Stranger Things,” “The Chi,” “Vida,” “The Florida Project,” “Just Mercy,” “Queen & Slim,” “The Laundromat”
Star-making cred: Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Caleb McLaughlin, Gaten Matarazzo, Noah Schnapp, Sadie Sink, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Joe Keery, and Dacre Montgomery on “Stranger Things”
READ: ‘Stranger Things’ CD Carmen Cuba Reveals How You Can Get Cast
Francine Maisler Casting
CDs: Francine Maisler, Kathleen Driscoll-Mohler
Medium: film, television
HQ: Los Angeles
Project count: 31
Highlights: “Uncut Gems,” “Marriage Story,” “Little Women,” “Vice,” “Mary Poppins Returns,” “Widows,” “The Sisters Brothers,” “Beautiful Boy,” “White Boy Rick,” “Annihilation,” “Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot”
Star-making cred: Lupita Nyong’o in “12 Years a Slave”; Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan in “50 Shades of Grey”; Alicia Vikander in “Ex Machina”
Aibel/Bergstein Casting
CDs: Douglas Aibel, Henry Russell Bergstein, Stephanie Holbrook
Medium: Film, Television
HQ: New York City
Project count: 30
Highlights: “Succession,” “Marriage Story,” “Isle of Dogs,” “Fahrenheit 451,” “Ad Astra,” “Marriage Story,” “The Many Saints of Newark,” “The Devil All the Time,” “The Sinner,” “Mozart in the Jungle”
Star-making cred: Lucas Hedges in “Manchester by the Sea”
Telsey + Company
CDs: Bernie Telsey leads the New York team and Tiffany Little Canfield leads the Los Angeles Team
Medium: Film, Television, Theater
HQ: New York City and Los Angeles
Project count: 29 in film and TV
Highlights: NBC’s live musicals including “Hairspray Live!,” “Rent: Live,” and “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert,” “Mary Poppins Returns,” “This Is Us,” “Fosse/Verdon,” “The Greatest Showman,” “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” “Tales of the City”
Star-making cred: Sterling K. Brown, Justin Hartley, and Chrissy Metz on “This Is Us”
READ: What You Should Know About Auditioning for Bernie Telsey
Bialy/Thomas & Associates
CDs: Sharon Bialy, Sherry Thomas, Russell Scott, Gohar Gazazyan
Medium: Film, Television
HQ: Los Angeles
Project count: 27
Highlights: “Fear the Walking Dead,” “The Righteous Gemstones,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “Twilight Zone,” “Barry,” “Dead to Me,” “The Act,” “The Walking Dead,” “Better Call Saul”
Star-making cred: Aaron Paul and Bob Odenkirk on “Breaking Bad”; Norman Reedus, Andrew Lincoln, Melissa McBride, Danai Gurira, and Lauren Cohan on “The Walking Dead”; Sarah Goldberg on “Barry”
READ: How to Get in the Room With the CDs Behind ‘The Act’ + ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’
Ulrich/Dawson/Kritzer Casting
CDs: Robert J. Ulrich, Eric Dawson, Carol Kritzer, Liz Dean, Alex Newman
Medium: Film, Television
HQ: Los Angeles
Project count: 25
Highlights: “American Horror Story,” “Feud,” “Supernatural,” “The Boys in the Band,” “9-1-1,” “The Boys”
Star-making cred: Evan Peters and Sarah Paulson on “American Horror Story”
Cindy Tolan
Medium: Film, Television
HQ: New York City
Project count: 17
Highlights: “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt,” “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “If Beale Street Could Talk,” “West Side Story”
Star-making cred: Stephan James and Kiki Layne in “If Beale Street Could Talk”; O’Shea Jackson Jr. in “Straight Outta Compton”
READ: Why CD Cindy Tolan Wants Newcomers to Audition for Her
Rapaport/Baldasare Casting
CDs: David Rapaport, Lyndsey Baldasare
Medium: Television
HQ: Los Angeles
Project count: 13 ongoing series
Highlights: “Riverdale,” “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina,” “Arrow,” “Supergirl,” “The Flash,” “Katy Keene,” “Batwoman,” “You,” “The Flash,” “Legends of Tomorrow,” “Titans”
Star-making cred: The casts of “Gossip Girl,” CW’s Arrowverse, “Riverdale,” and “The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina”
READ: ‘Riverdale’ CD David Rapaport Talks Discovering New Talent for TV
Linda Lowy Casting
CDs: Linda Lowy, John Brace, Jamie Castro
Medium: Television
HQ: Los Angeles
Project count: 10 network series
Highlights: “Grey’s Anatomy,” “How to Get Away With Murder,” “Dirty John,” “Preacher,” “Scandal,” “Station 19,” “For the People”
Star-making cred: the casts of “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Scandal,” and “Friday Night Lights”
READ: Shonda Rhimes’ CD Thinks You Should Never Stop Taking Class—Here’s Why
This story originally appeared in the Oct. 31 issue of Backstage Magazine. Subscribe here.
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