03/16/2026
THE FIRST OSCAR AWARD GIVEN TO A CASTING DIRECTOR. FINALLY!!!! Congrats to
OVERDUE. About damn time!
Let's talk.
A lot of my fellow performers do NOT do right by our Casting Directors and I am calling this out right now.
If you’re of this generation that gets sensitive when getting honestly and fairly called out, then leave my page and leave FAST.
Casting directors spend hours, days, weeks, even months sometimes, going through dozens, hundreds, even THOUSANDS of auditions, self-tapes, just to pick the best ones to present to the Client, Director, Producer, etc.
You book the gig. You’re on location, paid to get flown out, your own hotel room, paid for the whole shoot, per diem, and all the spoils an actor gets to indulge in. Or maybe that project is not as luxurious. Still, a Casting Director or someone in that position was responsible for getting you there.
Not only is a Casting Director fighting for you, but you are actually working as a TEAM with them because the better talent they present, the better YOU look, and will inevitably get called in for more things in the future.
But yet, you, my fellow performers, upon getting to set, take selfies upon selfies upon selfies of you WITHOUT MENTIONING HOW THE HELL YOU GOT THERE.
Selfies of you on set. Selfies of you with a prop gun in your hand. Selfies of you with Special Effects Makeup on. Selfies of you all over set. At crafty, in the picture car, next to a name performer, etc.
Good Lord, if you knew the amount of conversations that were had in pre-production before you were even a thought in anyone's mind for the project.
And no mention of the Casting Director? Not to mention the director, producer(s), etc. But this particular post is about our Casting Directors.
Which is what honestly ticks me off about a lot of you, and I say that with all the love in my heart.
Do better. Casting Directors go through battles you are not even aware of just to get YOU green flagged and onto set.
Yet you do not tag / promote them. In all the glory you want to bask in publicly, so few of you tag the people responsible for getting you there. Yea, you had a great audition. Yea, your project hits film festivals, and maybe YOU get nominated or even WIN in your category. Yea, maybe you get streaming opportunities. The fruits of your work on that project gets the attention of other directors, other producers, other casting directors, getting you more work, more opportunities, advancing your career.
Maybe you get to a point where you don’t have to worry so much about a day job and/or the regular day-to-day worries & struggles every artist goes through BECAUSE of the success of that project you appeared in. How great right?!
Yet you still promote “Me Me Me”. “Look what I did”, “Look how great of a performer I am”. Maybe you’re not represented with Agents / Managers. Maybe you are, and those individuals bust their butts to get you in front of that Casting Director. Still, you’re at the door. You are at the gatekeeper. Yet, again, SO FEW of you give the Casting Directors the credit they deserve.
That is why on every post regarding a project I have acted in, whether it was the Casting Director, Director, Producer, and / or anyone else that was responsible for that “YES” that pushed me through to get booked, I always do my best to mention those when I promote ‘my’ amazing work.
Do better, my fellow performers.
At some point in the future, YOU yourself might even take on this responsibility when you are doing more work than just being an actor in this industry. If & when you do, you will then see how thankless a job being a Casting Director can sometimes be.
That's why I'm so happy the casting director category is now added to the Oscars.
Be better at representing not only YOUR work but the work of all the people that work so hard to get YOU onto set. ESPECIALLY the Casting Director.
I am NOT perfect, but I am a solid one with giving credit where credit is due for those that have been responsible with booking me to appear on projects for Telemundo, NBC, Netflix, Netflix Latin-America, ESPN, Dodge, Peacock, Investigation Discovery Network, CNBC, MSNBC, Travel Channel, EWTN Network, Bollywood / Tollywood movies, Off- Broadway, and more.
SHOW GRATITUDE!
But what the heck do I know. I’m just a Colombian-born kid raised in Queens, NYC.
See you on set.
