NEW YORK – As the enchanting world of “Wicked” comes to life on screen in its two-part cinematic saga, it’s the unseen puppeteers behind the curtain who truly set the stage. These are the casting directors, the magicians who handpicked the actors to bring the magical land of Oz to life long before the cameras started rolling.
Among these masterminds is Bernard Telsey, a renowned figure in the casting realm, who, alongside Tiffany Little Canfield, expertly curated the ensemble for both “Wicked” films. “Our job is to know the actors that are out there or know how to find the actors that we don’t know,” Telsey explains, highlighting the intricate and often overlooked artistry of casting.
Recognition for such crucial work is finally on the horizon. In a landmark move, the Academy Awards has announced a new category honoring achievement in casting, a recognition casting directors have long awaited. This accolade will be introduced at the 98th Academy Awards, set to be broadcast live on ABC on March 15, 2026.
Telsey emphasizes the importance of this acknowledgment, stating, “It’s really hard for people to understand what it is that we do because it’s so private. It’s only going to make the profession that much stronger and people that much more aware of what we do.”
Despite the critical role casting directors play, their work often feels invisible. While the Emmys and Critics Choice Awards have recognized casting with dedicated categories—and the industry has celebrated its own through the Artios Awards since 1985—the Golden Globes and Tony Awards have yet to follow suit. Nonetheless, this new Oscar category marks a significant step towards broader recognition.
The Emmys have three categories for casting, and the Critics Choice Awards just added a casting trophy this year. The casting industry has its own prize, the Artios Awards, first held in 1985. But the Golden Globes and Tony Awards don’t recognize the profession.
“When casting is great, it sometimes feels invisible. Because it’s so well done, you don’t see the fingerprints,” says Destiny Lilly, president of the 1,200-strong Casting Society who also works with Telsey.
“I think that it’s taken time just to get recognition for that art because a lot of the work that casting directors do happens before a lot of the rest of the production team is brought on board.”
Telsey, along with his team at The Telsey Office, casts in every medium, from the films “Mary Poppins Returns” and “Kiss of the Spider Woman” to TV shows like “The Gilded Age” and “Only Murders in the Building.” He came up through theater, casting such Tony Award-winners as “Maybe Happy Ending,” “Kinky Boots” and “Hairspray.”
“Wicked” and “Wicked: For Good” represented one of his team’s biggest challenges, filling hundreds of roles and dance parts over more than a year of filming and across continents.
Even though it may have seemed inevitable that Cynthia Erivo was a natural Elphaba and Ariana Grande was a shoo-in for Glinda, that’s hindsight. Like all casting decisions, it was a bit of a gamble.
“Not until they got in the room were you like, ‘Oh, this is magic. This has to be. There is nobody else to play the part but the two of them,’” he says. “You don’t really know until you get to see it.”
To keep tabs on as many actors as possible, Telsey goes to the theater four or five nights a week and spends weekends trying to catch up on TV and movies. Twice a week, he and his staff meet to trade tips about who they’re seeing and make recommendations.
“Every day you feel like you’re behind and there’s another hundred actors 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.
A casting coup
Casting directors first talk with the directors, writers and producers to get a sense of what their vision is for the project and then get the right actors to audition. Telsey likens it to how a costume designer must know all the potential different fabrics and colors out there.
Lilly recently scored a coup by suggesting comedian Bill Burr join the latest Broadway revival of David Mamet’s “Glengarry Glen Ross” alongside Kieran Culkin and Bob Odenkirk. It was Burr’s stage debut, but Mamet’s explosive dialogue seemed to fit perfectly.
“I think that there’s 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 have the right director working with them,” she says.
Over the years, Telsey has seen the walls between film, TV and theater work fall away as actors change mediums freely. He doesn’t subscribe to the belief that stage skills are so very dissimilar from screen skills.
“It’s a myth that they’re different. They’re technically different, but they’re the same. Good acting is good acting,” he says. “Glenn Close can do a musical, a play, a television show and a movie and be nominated in every … category. Those things have changed over the last 20 years.”
Telsey, whose first big breakout casting was the show “Rent” — “just a little musical that nobody wanted to do,” he jokes — has also seen technology change the job, especially as auditions move online, streaming TV explodes and the movie and film business get more global.
“I think we’re always educating our teams with the need for casting to be bigger and to be covering more ground,” he says. “Most projects you have only a short amount of time to find a cast. Time is not on our side. It’s only going to get tighter as budgets get smaller for the future.”
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