NEW YORK — Behind the Wizard of Oz in two parts “Evil” films there were people who actually pulled the strings. They set the table for hit movies with a double whammy long before the cameras showed up: casting directors helped choose who would end up in Oz.
“Our job is to know the actors who are out there, or to know how to find the actors we don't know,” says Bernard Telsey, one of the most powerful players in the casting world, who co-starred with Tiffany Little Canfield in both “Wicked” films.
The casting will receive Oscar approval next year. New prize for achievements at the casting was added to the Academy Awards in March, and casting directors believe the move is long overdue. 98th Academy Awards will air live on ABC on March 15, 2026.
“It’s really hard for people to understand what we do because it’s so confidential,” Telsey says. “It will only make the profession much stronger and people much more aware of what we do.”
The Emmy Awards have three categories for casting, and the Critics' Choice Awards just added a casting award this year. The casting industry has its own Artios Awards, first held in 1985. But the Golden Globe and Tony awards do not recognize this profession.
“When casting is good, sometimes it feels like it's invisible. Because it's so well done that you can't see the fingerprints,” says Destiny Lilly, president of the 1,200-member Casting Society, which also works with Telsey.
“I think it's taken a while for this art to be recognized because most of the work that casting directors do happens before most of the rest of the production team gets involved.”
Telsi and his team in Telsi office, actors in all media, from films “Mary Poppins Returns” and “Kiss of the Spider Woman” in TV shows such as “The Gilded Age” and “Only Murders in the Building.” He worked his way through the theater, hiring such Tony Award winners as “Maybe a Happy Ending” “Fancy Boots” and “Hairspray.”
“Wicked” and “Wicked: For Good” represented one of the biggest challenges for his team, performing hundreds of roles and dance parts over more than a year of filming on multiple continents.
While it seemed inevitable that Cynthia Erivo was the real Elphaba and Ariana Grande was a candidate to play Glinda, that's hindsight. Like all casting decisions, it was kind of a gamble.
“It wasn’t until they walked into the room that you thought, ‘Oh, this is magic. That's how it should be. There's no one else who could play this role other than the two of them,” he says. “You really don't know until you see it.”
To keep track of as many actors as possible, Telsey goes to the theater four or five nights a week and spends her weekends trying to catch up on TV and movies. He and his staff meet twice a week to exchange tips on who they're dating and make recommendations.
“Every day you feel like you're falling behind, and there's a hundred other actors that I don't know, and how am I going to meet them and how am I going to see them? So it's a constant race,” he says.
Casting directors first talk to directors, writers and producers to understand what their vision for the project is, and then send suitable actors to audition. Telsey compares this to a costume designer having to know every possible fabric and color.
Lilly recently pulled off a coup by asking comedian Bill Burr to join the latest Broadway revival of David Mamet's play. “Glengarry Glen Ross” near Kieran Culkin And Bob Odenkirk. It was Burr's stage debut, but Mamet's explosive dialogue seemed a perfect fit.
“I think there are so many people who haven't done theater who can really shine. They just need to be given the right opportunity and the right project and the right director to work with them,” she says.
Over the years, Telsey has seen the walls between film, television and theater work crumble as actors move freely between mediums. He does not share the opinion that stage skills are very different from screen skills.
“It's a myth that they're different. They're technically different, but they're the same. A good game is a good game,” he says. “Glenn Close can act in a musical, play, TV show and film and be nominated in every… category. That has changed in the last 20 years.”
Telsey, whose first big casting was the TV series Rent — “just a little musical that no one wanted to do,” he jokes — has also seen how technology is changing work, especially as auditions move online, streaming television explodes, and the film and film business becomes more global.
“I think we always inform our teams that casting needs to be larger and cover a larger area,” he says. “On most projects, you have very little time to find actors. Time is not on our side. The situation will only get worse as future budgets are cut.”
