Meet The Nominees
MEET THE NOMINEES
ALI COFFEY
Nominated for: Best Casting of an Online Commercial and Best Casting Featuring Children
AC Casting is a passionate casting company based in Ireland. We work in film & TV drama and commercials, and we are partial to a little drama ourselves. We love actors – emerging & established. We couldn’t be more excited about returning to the theatre. Proud to be a member of the CDA.
ALI FEARNLEY CASTING
Nominated for: Best Casting of an Online Commercial and Best Casting Featuring Children
Ali has been casting for films, TV, and commercials for over 20 years, working closely with directors and casting both established actors and searching for new emerging talent. Ali relishes a tricky brief, and casts for many of the best production companies and directors in the UK and abroad on award winning work.
BRENDAN MACNAMARA
Nominated for: Best Casting of a Commercial for UK and Ireland
Working in the industry since 1993, Brendan McNamara is a multi-award-winning casting director for Beach Casting Ltd and the author of It’s the Audition. This will be Brendan’s 5th CDA nomination.
ET CASTING
Nominated for: · Best Street Casting, Best Casting of a Charity/Public Awareness Commercial, Best Casting of a Short Film and Best Casting of a Film and Drama
London casting for film & commercials for leading production houses worldwide.
HANNAH BIRKETT
Nominated for: Best Casting of an Online Commercial and Best Casting of an International Commercial
Hannah has been casting for over 20 years. Throughout that time, she has worked on an array of award-winning projects, from commercials to feature films. Hannah enjoys challenging briefs and adapts easily to the ever-changing demands of the casting industry, encouraging new talent and supporting inclusive casting.
JESSICA JEFFERIES
Nominated for: Best Casting of a Creative Media Project
Jessica is a freelance casting director who works primarily within VFX and SFX. Her speciality is pinpointing specific skill sets and physical attributes which lend themselves to the world of performance capture, voice work, prosthetics, and creature performance.
JODY FURLONG: THE EYE CASTING
Nominated for: Best Casting of Stills Campaign and Best Street Casting
Founded by Jody Furlong in 2006, The Eye Casting specialises in casting models, characters and ‘real’ people for photographic and advertising jobs. Casting for both high fashion high street clients such as Louis Vuitton, Tom Ford, Rankin, Zalando and Jigsaw.
KHARMEL COCHRANE
Nominated for: Best Casting of an International Commercial, Best Casting of a Film and Drama and Best Casting of a Charity/Public Awareness Commercial (Co-Cast with Leanne Flinn)
Kharmel first cut her cast teeth as a casting director on the acclaimed Daniel Wolfe music video “Time to Dance” starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Callum Turner. She followed up with award winning films such as Lilting (2014) and the Bafta award winning Home (2016). Over the past 11 years, she has earned a reputation for championing new and diverse talent and projects like The Witch, The End of the F**king World and The Lighthouse firmly cement her position as one of the most exciting British casting directors working today.
LEANNE FLINN
Nominated for: Best Casting of a Commercial for UK and Ireland, Best Casting of an International Commercial, Best Street Casting, Best Casting of a Creative Media Project and Best Casting of a Charity/Public Awareness Commercial (Co-Cast with Kharmel Cochrane)
Leanne started off in street casting working with director Daniel Wolfe and the award winning music videos for Plan B. She now mixes traditional casting methods with street casting and has gone on to cast some exciting projects, including numerous commercials, TV, music promos & award winning short films. She has also worked on features, street casting on Yorgos Lanthimos’s latest film The Favourite. She has won 2 D&AD pencil awards, 2 Silver British Arrow and 2 Ciclope casting awards.
NICCI TOPPING
Nominated for: Best Casting of a Short Film
Nicci is one of the UK’s leading casting directors and has been a professional casting director for over 20 years casting over 50 films and TV shows. Working across film, TV and high-end commercials she has worked with many leading directors and is chair of the CSA’s Equity in Entertainment and Festivals and Panels Committee.
PEARSON CASTING
Nominated for: Best Casting of a Creative Media Project
Pearson Casting is a freelance casting house based in London, Liverpool & New York, working across theatre, film, TV, commercials, and live entertainment. Recent theatre includes, ‘SIX The Musical’ at the Lyric Theatre, London & the UK Tour, and ‘Rent’ at the Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester. Feature films include ‘Crystal’ for Xenon Films, ‘Stephen’ for Melanie Manchot, and ’Fetch’ for Hurricane Films, all due for release in 2022.
SHAKYRA DOWNLING
Nominated for: Best Casting of Short Film, Best Casting of a Film and Drama and Best Casting of Stills Campaign
Shakyra is a fierce champion of new and emerging talent, specialising in independent British feature films and European co-productions alongside television and commercials, many of which have been internationally recognised and gone on to be nominated for multiple awards including BAFTAs and BIFAs, and at festivals from Sundance to TIFF. She’s a passionate advocate for diversity in all aspects of casting and a vocal supporter of women’s achievements in filmmaking. She is always on the lookout for new talent and excited to work on fresh creative ideas with both promising new filmmakers and established directors
SUE ODELL
Nominated for: Best Casting of a Commercial for UK and Ireland, Best Casting Featuring Children and Best Casting of a Stills Campaign
Sue has been a casting director specialising mainly in stills advertising and short films for a very long time. She particularly enjoys taking on ‘real-life’ gritty projects involving diverse subjects including a number of LGBTQ+ films and jobs involving people from ethnic backgrounds. She is incredibly lucky to have worked with some iconic photographers over the years…and along the way has discovered some wonderfully talented actors.
THOMAS ADAMS
Nominated for: Best Casting of a Charity/ Public Awareness Commercial
Thomas is a casting director with unique background in Commercials, TV, Film and Music, sourcing a diverse range of talent for productions worldwide.