Famous Casting Directors in Hollywood: 10 Legends and 10 Rising Names (2026)

Casting directors decide who gets in the room. For an actor, knowing who casts what is as useful as knowing the directors themselves: it tells you which offices cast the kind of work you want, whose taste matches yours, and whose credits to study before an audition. This guide covers 10 casting directors behind some of the biggest films and series of the last 25 years, and 10 rising names who have broken through in the last few years.

Key takeaways

• Casting became an Oscar category in 2026. Cassandra Kulukundis won the first award, and Francine Maisler and Nina Gold were among the five nominees.
• Many top casting directors are tied to one filmmaker for decades: Laray Mayfield with David Fincher, John Papsidera with Christopher Nolan, Carmen Cuba with Steven Soderbergh.
• The rising names below were mostly associates first. Several earned their first lead credit and an Emmy within a year or two.
• Most actors reach casting offices through agents and casting platforms, and in California actors should never pay for an audition.

The first Casting Oscar (2026)

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presented its first Achievement in Casting award at the 98th Oscars on March 15, 2026. The nominees were Cassandra Kulukundis for One Battle After Another, Nina Gold for Hamnet, Jennifer Venditti for Marty Supreme, Gabriel Domingues for The Secret Agent and Francine Maisler for Sinners. Kulukundis won. Films cast by Avy Kaufman, Allison Jones and Bernard Telsey’s office also made the shortlist.

10 famous casting directors in Hollywood

1. Sarah Halley Finn: The casting director behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe

Sarah Halley Finn has cast the Marvel Cinematic Universe since Iron Man in 2008, which makes her the person who first put Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chadwick Boseman and dozens of other stars into those roles. Her credits include Black Panther, Avengers: Endgame and The Mandalorian, and outside the superhero world she cast Crash and Everything Everywhere All at Once, which earned her a BAFTA casting nomination.

Awards and recent work: Artios wins for Crash, Black Panther and Everything Everywhere All at Once; Emmy nominations for WandaVision and The Mandalorian. Recent: The Fantastic Four: First Steps (2025), Spider-Man: Brand New Day (2026).

2. Francine Maisler: Dune, Succession and a first-year Casting Oscar nomination

Francine Maisler is one of the most decorated casting directors working. She cast 12 Years a Slave, The Revenant, The Big Short and both Dune films, and on television she shared the 2022 Emmy for Succession and won again in 2025 for Apple TV+’s The Studio. Her work on Ryan Coogler’s Sinners earned a nomination in the very first year of the Academy’s casting category.

Awards and recent work: 2026 Oscar nominee, Achievement in Casting (Sinners); Emmy wins for Succession (2022) and The Studio (2025); The Hollywood Reporter’s Casting Director of the Year in 2021.

3. Nina Gold: Game of Thrones, The Crown and the next James Bond

Nina Gold works from London, but her films and series shape Hollywood. She cast Game of Thrones (with Robert Sterne), The Crown, The King’s Speech, The Imitation Game and Conclave. Her 2025 film Hamnet was nominated for the first Casting Oscar, and Amazon MGM has hired her to cast the next James Bond film.

Awards and recent work: 2026 Oscar nominee (Hamnet); Emmy wins for John Adams, Game of Thrones (three times), The Crown and Baby Reindeer.

4. Avy Kaufman: The New York casting director behind The Sixth Sense and Succession

Avy Kaufman is based in New York and has a long run of prestige credits: The Sixth Sense, Brokeback Mountain, Lincoln, Life of Pi and HBO’s Succession. She has won three Emmys for casting, for Damages and two seasons of Succession, and her 2025 film Sentimental Value made the Academy’s first casting shortlist.

Awards and recent work: Emmy wins for Damages (2008) and Succession (2020, 2022); 18 Artios nominations and 3 wins. Recent: Babygirl (2024), Sentimental Value (2025).

5. Laray Mayfield: David Fincher’s casting director

If a David Fincher project has felt perfectly cast, Laray Mayfield is usually the reason. She cast Fight Club, Zodiac, The Social Network, Gone Girl and Mank, plus Netflix’s House of Cards, which won her an Emmy in 2013. Her next Fincher film is The Further Mis-Adventures of Cliff Booth, due on Netflix in December 2026.

Awards and recent work: Emmy win for House of Cards (2013); Artios win for The Social Network.

6. John Papsidera: Christopher Nolan’s casting director, from Memento to The Odyssey

John Papsidera has cast nearly every Christopher Nolan film, from Memento through The Dark Knight, Inception and Oppenheimer to The Odyssey in 2026. He also cast HBO’s Westworld and James Gunn’s Superman (2025), and his current TV work includes Wednesday and Landman.

Awards and recent work: Emmy wins for Live from Baghdad and Lackawanna Blues; Emmy nominations for Westworld; 16 Artios nominations and 4 wins.

7. Allison Jones: The name behind modern American comedy casting

Allison Jones cast Freaks and Geeks, the U.S. version of The Office, Veep, Superbad and Bridesmaids, and co-cast Barbie with Lucy Bevan. If you can picture a comedy ensemble from the last 25 years, there’s a good chance she assembled it. In 2026 she won her fourth Emmy, for Apple TV’s Widow’s Bay, which she cast with her longtime associate Emily Buntyn.

Awards and recent work: Four Emmy wins: Freaks and Geeks (2000), Veep (2015, 2016) and Widow’s Bay (2026). Recent: Weapons and The Housemaid (2025).

8. Bernard Telsey: Broadway’s best-known casting office

Bernard Telsey founded Telsey + Company (now The Telsey Office) in New York in 1988, and it has cast some of Broadway’s defining shows, including Rent and Wicked. On screen, his office cast This Is Us, Only Murders in the Building and both Wicked films, and it is one of the few casting companies that works at full scale across stage, film and TV at once.

Awards and recent work: Artios wins including The Greatest Showman and Wicked (2024); Emmy nominations for This Is Us and every season of Only Murders in the Building.

9. Victoria Thomas: Tarantino, Hidden Figures and The Last of Us

Victoria Thomas cast Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, plus Hidden Figures, HBO’s Watchmen and the first season of The Last of Us. Her 2026 release is Michael, the Michael Jackson biopic, cast with Kimberly Hardin.

Awards and recent work: Emmy win for Watchmen (2020); Emmy nominations for Roots, Insecure, The Last of Us and The Morning Show; Artios wins for Hidden Figures and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

10. Carmen Cuba: Stranger Things and Steven Soderbergh’s go-to

Carmen Cuba found the kids of Stranger Things, which won her an Emmy in 2017, and she is a longtime collaborator of Steven Soderbergh, including the Emmy-winning Behind the Candelabra and 2025’s Black Bag. Her film work also includes The Florida Project, Jordan Peele’s Nope and The Apprentice.

Awards and recent work: Emmy wins for Behind the Candelabra (2013) and Stranger Things (2017); Emmy nominations for Mrs. America and Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

Other names worth knowing include Ellen Chenoweth, who cast the Coen brothers’ No Country for Old Men and True Grit, and Margery Simkin, who has cast James Cameron’s Avatar films since 2009.

10 rising casting directors actors should know

These casting directors earned their first lead credits in roughly the last decade, and each has an Emmy, an Artios Award or a nomination from the last few years to show for it.

Casting director	Base or company	Why they matter now
Erica Berger	Los Angeles	Co-cast HBO Max’s The Pitt with Cathy Sandrich Gelfond, winning back-to-back Emmys for drama casting in 2025 and 2026. Her lead credits also include Mayor of Kingstown and Love & Death.
Melissa Kostenbauder	Los Angeles	Won the 2025 comedy casting Emmy for Apple TV+’s The Studio (with Francine Maisler) after earlier credits on Unbelievable, Winning Time and Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.
Emily Buntyn	Los Angeles	Spent about a decade as Allison Jones’s associate, then earned her first lead credit on Widow’s Bay, which won the 2026 Emmy for comedy casting.
Amber Wakefield	Los Angeles	A Public Theater and Francine Maisler alum who earned her first Emmy nomination as lead casting director in 2026 for HBO Max’s DTF St. Louis, and an Artios Award as associate on Sinners.
Charlene Lee	Los Angeles	Co-founded CL/CK Casting with Claire Koonce and won the 2023 Emmy for Netflix’s Beef. She came up on the first three seasons of FX’s Fargo at Rachel Tenner Casting.
Morgan Smith	Backyard Casting (with Linda Lowy)	Co-founded Backyard Casting with Linda Lowy and earned back-to-back Emmy nominations for HBO Max’s Hacks in 2025 and 2026, after years on Shondaland shows.
Maggie Bacharach	Los Angeles	Co-cast FX’s The Bear with Jeanie Bacharach and won the 2024 comedy casting Emmy. Her other credits include Station Eleven and Snowfall.
Destiny Lilly	New York	A casting director at The Telsey Office with four straight Emmy nominations for Only Murders in the Building (2023 to 2026) and 24 Artios nominations in six years. She is also president of the Casting Society.
Craig Burns	New York	Cast the Broadway hit Maybe Happy Ending at The Telsey Office, winning a 2026 Artios Award, plus a second 2026 Artios for the national tour of Parade.
Xavier Rubiano	New York	A partner at The TRC Company (formerly Tara Rubin Casting) who won two 2026 Artios Awards, for Broadway’s Buena Vista Social Club and Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends in Los Angeles.

How actors get on a casting director’s radar

Casting offices are busy, and most of the actors they see come through agents and managers. Here is what tends to work, in roughly the order it matters:

1. Know who casts the work you want. Use the lists above and the end credits of shows you love. A comedy actor should know Allison Jones’s office; a stage actor should know The Telsey Office and The TRC Company.
2. Get on the casting platforms. Most breakdowns go out through Breakdown Services (Actors Access) and Casting Networks. Our guide to getting the most out of Casting Networks covers the setup.
3. Get representation. Agents submit to roles you will never see posted. Start with our step-by-step guide to becoming an actor.
4. Build a reel from real work. Student films, theater and indie projects are where casting associates (the next generation of casting directors) find people.
5. Protect yourself. Never pay for an audition. When you start signing contracts, an entertainment lawyer is worth the call.

Frequently asked questions

What does a casting director do?

A casting director finds and recommends actors for every role in a film, TV series, play or commercial. They break down the script, ask agents for submissions, run auditions and callbacks, and present their choices to the director and producers, who make the final decision. They also negotiate deal points with agents once an actor is chosen.

Who won the first Oscar for casting?

Cassandra Kulukundis won the first Academy Award for Achievement in Casting at the 98th Oscars on March 15, 2026, for One Battle After Another. The other nominees were Nina Gold (Hamnet), Jennifer Venditti (Marty Supreme), Gabriel Domingues (The Secret Agent) and Francine Maisler (Sinners).

Who is the most famous casting director in Hollywood?

There is no single answer, but Sarah Halley Finn (the Marvel films), Francine Maisler (Dune, Succession) and Allison Jones (The Office, Bridesmaids) are among the most recognized names working today. Historically, Lynn Stalmaster, who cast The Graduate, was the first casting director to receive an honorary Oscar, in 2016.

How do actors get seen by casting directors?

Most auditions come through agents and managers, who submit actors through casting platforms such as Breakdown Services’ Actors Access and Casting Networks. Actors without representation can submit themselves to open calls on those platforms, take part in reputable casting workshops and showcases, and build credits in student, indie and theater work that casting offices watch.

Should actors pay to audition for a casting director?

No. Legitimate casting directors do not charge actors to audition, and California’s Krekorian Talent Scam Prevention Act restricts businesses that charge actors upfront fees for access to work. Paid classes and workshops are a separate, educational market, so check the instructor’s real credits before you pay for one.

More for actors on The LA Note

• The Ultimate Guide on Becoming an Actor: Step-by-Step Process
• Unlocking Opportunities with Casting Networks
• Ochea Donaghy: The Enfield-Born Actress Building a Career in Hollywood
• Press for O-1 Visa Artists & Entertainers

Sources

• Variety: One Battle After Another wins the first Oscar for casting
• Academy Award for Achievement in Casting (Wikipedia)
• Television Academy: 2026 Emmy nominees and winners, casting
• Casting Society: 2026 Artios Award winners
• Backstage: Laray Mayfield on casting Mank
• Backstage: John Papsidera on casting The Odyssey