SOPHIE'S BIO

Sophie has been working in the casting industry for 7 years. She started out working as a casting associate at Hubbard Casting with Ros and John Hubbard, where she worked on films such as 'Journey's End', 'Hurricane' and 'The More You Ignore Me'. She then went on to work with Des Hamilton Casting, and now is working independently in casting along side production.

KATE'S BIO

*After 23 years in Los Angeles, Kate Caldwell packed up and took her casting skills to the UK where she currently works with Emmy-winning Casting Director Suzanne Smith.

Kate has experience in many areas of casting having worked the studio and network side at ABC Television and on both voice-over and live-action feature films at 20th Century Fox Feature Casting.

Her favorite, though, is being in the trenches of independent casting. Her credits include the Netflix series UNBELIEVABLE for which she was nominated alongside Laura Rosenthal, Jodi Angstreich and Melissa Kostenbauder for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Casting For a Limited Series, Movie or Special, KINGDOM with Frank Grillo and Nick Jonas, HERCULES with Dwayne Johnson, OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN with Gerard Butler, the western series HELL ON WHEELS and KRAMPUS.*

DEE'S BIO

Dee Meaden is a writer / director. She graduated from the Fiction Direction MA at the NFTS where she attended with the support of a David Lean Scholarship.

She previously trained in sculpture at the Slade School of Fine Art and Chelsea College of Art and Design and enjoyed success as a fine artist ahead of moving to narrative film.

Dee has worked for over fifteen years as a writer, director and producer in short film, TV and advertising and has written and directed 11 shorts. Her work has screened at festivals such as Birds Eye View, London Film Festival, London Short Film Festival, Telluride, Clermont-Ferrand and Edinburgh.

Within advertising Dee has Produced and Directed for agencies such as Langland, The StoryLab and Grey London. She has also frequently been employed as Senior Director for Saatchi and Saatchi and directed large scale digital campaigns for brands such as Very, EE, Pampers, Toyota, Anchor Dairy, British Gas and a global TVC campaign of seven films for Head & Shoulders.

She is currently developing a number of feature length projects.

LAURA'S BIO

Laura is a UK and Southern European based Casting Director 20 years’ experience, working across all media. She worked mainly in film and television before moving into theatre. She was the resident associate and then Casting Director at National Theatre of Scotland from 2012 - 2022, as well as casting many independent theatre and film projects in the UK and internationally. She is currently based between Dubrovnik, Croatia and the UK. Laura is represented by Jess Alford at United Agents. Full CV can be found here: https://www.unitedagents.co.uk/laura-donnelly-cdg https://pro.imdb.com/name/nm1623968

THEATRE CREDITS INCLUDE: James IV: Queen of The Fight (Raw Material/Capital Theatres); Medea (NTS/EIF); Exodus (NTS); Enough of Him (NTS/Pitlochry Festival Theatre); Orphans (NTS); The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart (Double M Arts/ Royal Lyceum/Edinburgh Festival 2022 and United States tour 2023); Paddington’s Marmalade Messiness (Histrionic Productions); Solaris (Malthouse Theatre/ Lyric Hammersmith/ Royal Lyceum); Terrestrial Salvation (National Theatre of Scotland (NTS)/Royal Court); Rhinoceros & Mrs Puntila (DOT Theatre/ Royal Lyceum); Twelfth Night (Bristol Old Vic/Royal Lyceum); Cockpit (Royal Lyceum); Hayfever (Citizens Theatre/Royal Lyceum); Them! (NTS); The Cheviot (NTS/ Dundee Rep); Cyrano De Bergerac (NTS/Citizens Theatre/Lyceum); Midsummer (NTS/EIF); My Left Right Foot (NTS/ BOP); A Winter’s Tale (Royal Lyceum); This Restless House (Citizens Theatre/NTS/EIF); How To Act (NTS); The 306 Trilogy: Dawn, Day, Dusk (NTS/Perth Theatre); Our Ladies Of Perpetual Succour (NTS/Live/ Sonia Friedman/UK/ National Theatre/Duke Of Yorks); The James Plays (NTS/National Theatre/EIF, UK/International); The Strange Undoing Of Prudencia Hart (New York,UK/US); Let The Right One In (UK/US/Abbey Theatre); Anything That Gives Off Light (NTS/The TEAM/EIF). The Driver’s Seat (NTS)

RECENT FILM & TV CREDITS INCLUDE: Tetris (Marv Studios/ AI Film/Sigma/Unigram); Adam (NTS/Hopscotch Films/BBC Arts); Murder Island (Channel 4/ STV Studios); Jekyll & Hyde (NTS/Selkie/Sky Arts); Scenes for Survival (BBC Scotland/ NTS)

Please note all contact or questions regarding this workshop should come through the RAIS office. Please do not contact the workshop leader directly with questions

KATE'S BIO

*After 23 years in Los Angeles, Kate Caldwell packed up and took her casting skills to the UK where she currently works with Emmy-winning Casting Director Suzanne Smith.

Kate has experience in many areas of casting having worked the studio and network side at ABC Television and on both voice-over and live-action feature films at 20th Century Fox Feature Casting.

Her favorite, though, is being in the trenches of independent casting. Her credits include the Netflix series UNBELIEVABLE for which she was nominated alongside Laura Rosenthal, Jodi Angstreich and Melissa Kostenbauder for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Casting For a Limited Series, Movie or Special, KINGDOM with Frank Grillo and Nick Jonas, HERCULES with Dwayne Johnson, OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN with Gerard Butler, the western series HELL ON WHEELS and KRAMPUS.*

NANCY'S BIO

Nancy Bishop, CSA ,is an award -winning casting director, who works internationally from offices in London and Prague. She is a founding member and former President of the Casting Society of America’s (CSA) European branch. With over 100 major feature film and television projects among her credits, Nancy has cast hundreds of actors throughout Europe, the United Kingdom and the U.S. Nancy has been retained as casting director by dozens of major screen producers and directors, including Sacha Baron Cohen on Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm, for which she won an CSA Artios Award for best casting of a comedy. Other credits include working with Brad Bird, (Mission Impossible IV), Bong Joon Ho(Snowpiercer), and Matthew Weiner (The Romanoffs). She also was nominated for an Emmy Award for her casting work on Anne Frank: The Whole Story, ABC/Disney Studios.

Nancy is a native of New England and trained as an actor and director at the University of Michigan and the National Theatre Institute. She earned a Master’s of Arts degree in theatre history at Northwestern University.

Nancy began her career as an actor, director and acting teacher in Chicago. In the 1990′s, she helped to found two cutting-edge theatre companies that are still going strong today: Strawdog Theatre and Theater Oobleck. In the early 90’s, Black Box Theater lured Nancy to Prague after the fall o the Iron Curtain, where she produced and directed a number of plays, and launched touring productions throughout Europe. This time period is ironically portrayed in Rex-Patriates, a mock- documentary film that Nancy produced and directed.

In addition to casting, Nancy also enjoys coaching, and founded the Acting For Film program at the Prague Film School. She wrote three books for actors about the craft of auditioning. The most recent book, Auditioning for Film and TV; a post-#metoo Guide (Bloomsbury) is available on Amazon from February, 2022.

Nancy is a member of the British Academy (BAFTA), the Emmy Academy, the European Film Academy, as well as the International Casting Director Network (ICDN) and the Casting Directors Guild (CDG.) * Please note all contact or questions regarding this workshop should come through the RAIS office. Please do not contact the workshop leader directly with questions

ANNA'S BIO

Anna is a Scotland based Casting Director. She works across Film, TV and Theatre. Beginning her career over a decade ago in London she now works both independently and alongside Simone Pereira Hind from their office in Summerhall.

Screen credits as Casting Director include series 1 & 2 of Float (BBC), 3 series of BAFTA award winning series The Brilliant World of Tom Gates (Sky Tv), The Wind in the Willows (HBO) and numerous award winning shorts for the BFI, Screen Scotland & BBC. She is currently casting upcoming feature Hidden.

Associate credits to Simone include 6 series of Outlander (STARZ), Munich: The Edge of War (Netflix), Falling For Figaro (Netflix), Nobody Has To Know (Barry Crerar), Good Omens 2 (Amazon Prime) & 2 series of Granite Harbour (BBC).

Anna and Simone co-cast Theatre projects. Credits include:

Macbeth (RSC), Dracula (National Theatre of Scotland), Life is a Dream (Royal Lyceum Edinburgh), The White Card (Soho Theatre), Macbeth – An Undoing (Royal Lyceum Edinburgh, Rose Theatre), Anna Karenina (Royal Lyceum Edinburgh, Bristol Old Vic), Scent of Roses (Zinnie Harris). Anna has just completed casting on Sunset Song for The Royal Lyceum & Dundee Rep.

In 2021 Anna co-created and developed a tool with Tagmin to ensure all actors get an answer on auditions in support of the equity Yes/No campaign - https://yesno.tagmin.com .

* Please note all contact or questions regarding this workshop should come through the RAIS office. Please do not contact the workshop leader directly with questions

SARA'S BIO

Sara initially started out as an actor, having graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Glasgow in 2015. In 2021, she made a leap into casting and landed an assistant job at Sophie Holland Casting where she has been working ever since. Throughout her time there she has worked on some incredible projects such as The Continental [Lionsgate/Starz], The Witcher [Netflix] and Constellations [Apple].

Please note all contact or questions regarding this workshop should come through the RAIS office. Please do not contact the workshop leader directly with questions

ALICE'S BIO

Alice Seabright is a writer and director based in London who was named as a 2019 Screen International Star of Tomorrow. Alice is currently show running her original series Chloe for the BBC – she will write four out of six episodes, direct the 1st block, and serve as executive producer.

She recently directed episodes 4 and 5 of Sex Education Series 2, which dropped on Netflix earlier this year, as well as writing episode 3 for Sex Education Series 3. Prior to life as a writer/director, Alice has worked in Development at Heyday Films and Brilliant Films.

BARRY'S BIO

Barry Coyle began his career in casting when he was appointed Casting Assistant at the Abbey Theatre in 2007. Since then he has gone on to work on a variety of Irish stage and screen productions, including work for Druid Theatre Company, The Gaiety Theatre, RTÉ, ABC Studios, BBC Television, Netflix and Element Pictures.Barry is also an active member of the Casting Directors Guild of Great Britain & Ireland. Please note all contact or questions regarding this workshop should come through the RAIS office. Please do not contact the workshop leader directly with questions

SOPHIE'S BIO

Sophie has been working in the casting industry for 7 years. She started out working as a casting associate at Hubbard Casting with Ros and John Hubbard, where she worked on films such as 'Journey's End', 'Hurricane' and 'The More You Ignore Me'. She then went on to work with Des Hamilton Casting, and now is working independently in casting along side production.

KATE'S BIO

*After 23 years in Los Angeles, Kate Caldwell packed up and took her casting skills to the UK where she currently works with Emmy-winning Casting Director Suzanne Smith.

Kate has experience in many areas of casting having worked the studio and network side at ABC Television and on both voice-over and live-action feature films at 20th Century Fox Feature Casting.

Her favorite, though, is being in the trenches of independent casting. Her credits include the Netflix series UNBELIEVABLE for which she was nominated alongside Laura Rosenthal, Jodi Angstreich and Melissa Kostenbauder for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Casting For a Limited Series, Movie or Special, KINGDOM with Frank Grillo and Nick Jonas, HERCULES with Dwayne Johnson, OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN with Gerard Butler, the western series HELL ON WHEELS and KRAMPUS.*

DANE'S BIO

*Dane graduated from the NFTS Casting Course in 2022 and immediately went into working in casting offices, prior to this he worked for several years in the retail sector, but realised his love lies within watching copious amounts of TV and a love of actors.

Dane currently works for Robert Sterne and previously worked for Daniel Edward’s CDG across film and television projects, where recent credits include Heartstopper for Netflix and Grace for ITV. Previously Dane has worked for Theo Park Casting and The Casting Office earlier this year.

Outside of work Dane can be found with his friends or at the Theatre or walking his miniature Dachshund T-Rex.*

Please note all contact or questions regarding this workshop should come through the RAIS office. Please do not contact the workshop leader directly with questions

FRANKIE'S BIO

*Frankie has been working as a casting assistant for the last 3 years, working with many leading casting directors across Film, TV and commercials, including Sasha Robertson, who she worked with full time for a year and a half. She recently came back from Australia where she assisted with the castings for Hamilton, which is heading to Australia next year. She is also principal of an independent children’s drama school in West London.

Frankie is currently working with Sophie Holland as a casting associate.*

DANE'S BIO

*Dane graduated from the NFTS Casting Course in 2022 and immediately went into working in casting offices, prior to this he worked for several years in the retail sector, but realised his love lies within watching copious amounts of TV and a love of actors.

Dane currently works for Robert Sterne and previously worked for Daniel Edward’s CDG across film and television projects, where recent credits include Heartstopper for Netflix and Grace for ITV. Previously Dane has worked for Theo Park Casting and The Casting Office earlier this year.

Outside of work Dane can be found with his friends or at the Theatre or walking his miniature Dachshund T-Rex.*

Please note all contact or questions regarding this workshop should come through the RAIS office. Please do not contact the workshop leader directly with questions

DANE'S BIO

*Dane graduated from the NFTS Casting Course in 2022 and immediately went into working in casting offices, prior to this he worked for several years in the retail sector, but realised his love lies within watching copious amounts of TV and a love of actors.

Dane currently works for Robert Sterne and previously worked for Daniel Edward’s CDG across film and television projects, where recent credits include Heartstopper for Netflix and Grace for ITV. Previously Dane has worked for Theo Park Casting and The Casting Office earlier this year.

Outside of work Dane can be found with his friends or at the Theatre or walking his miniature Dachshund T-Rex.*

Please note all contact or questions regarding this workshop should come through the RAIS office. Please do not contact the workshop leader directly with questions

HANNAH'S BIO

Hannah Marie Williams is a Casting Director in Wales and London working across TV, film, commercials and theatre.

Hannah’s experience spans 10 years and all corners of casting from assisting casting directors for film & commercials, casting background for film (Legend of Tarzan, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, War Machine, Beast) and casting contributors for reality and documentary projects. This mixture of experience now informs Hannah’s style of outside of the box casting, finding brand new talent and creating exciting ensembles with established talent.

Since 2016, Hannah has been building her credits as a Casting Director in her own right, working on projects with the BFI, BBC, Film4 and Sky that have gained critical acclaim, prestigious festival selections and several BAFTA nominations. Recent credits include She Always Wins starring Honor Swinton Byrne which premiered at TIFF, Galwad; a trans-media project starring an incredibly diverse cast using BSL, English and Welsh language elements for Sky Arts and a 10 part TV series for popular SVOD which was internationally cast and will premiere at the beginning of next year.

Alongside casting for film & TV, Hannah casts for stage for National Theatre Wales and casts for commercials with recent clients including Facebook, Dominos and Bupa.

Together with actor & producer Maisie Williams and producer & filmmaker Lowri Roberts, she founded the FRANK FILM CLUB podcast. Hannah is repped by Ness Evans at 42.

Please note all contact or questions regarding this workshop should come through the RAIS office. Please do not contact the workshop leader directly with questions

FRANKIE'S BIO

*Frankie has been working as a casting assistant for the last 3 years, working with many leading casting directors across Film, TV and commercials, including Sasha Robertson, who she worked with full time for a year and a half. She recently came back from Australia where she assisted with the castings for Hamilton, which is heading to Australia next year. She is also principal of an independent children’s drama school in West London.

Frankie is currently working with Sophie Holland as a casting associate.*

GLENDA'S BIO

Glenda Mariani is a Casting Associate for Suzanne Smith Casting. Before being part of Suzanne's fixed team, she has worked at some of the most prestigious casting offices in London, including: Nina Gold, Priscilla John, Lucinda Syson, Rachel Freck, Rosalie Clayton and Carolyn McLeod.Glenda has helped cast multiple projects ranging from different genres and styles: Such as Outlander, Shadow & Bone, Game of Thrones, Defending the Guilty, The Crown, The Han Solo spin-off, Red Dwarf, Medici, Krypton, Aladdin and Lovesick to name a few.