Meet The Nominees
CDA AWARDS 2020 – MEET THE NOMINEES
ALI COFFEY CASTING
Nominated for: Best Casting of an International Commercial.
Ali started as a casting assistant at the tender and awkward age of 17, a love affair with the craft was born and from that, AC Casting sprung forth in 2002. After initially carving out a niche in commercial casting, AC Casting has grown into a passionate casting team embracing many lauded film and TV projects as well. Discovering emerging talent and supporting the brilliant Irish acting community – while celebrating diversity in all its forms – are key elements of our success.
ALI FEARNLEY
Nominated for: Best Casting of Stills Campaign.
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.
ANNA KENNEDY
Nominated for: Best Casting of Online Commercial, Best Casting of Charity/Public Awareness.
Anna has built an exciting and varied resume as a casting director, working on film, TV, theatre and commercials. She prides herself in scouring the country and across the globe to cast the perfect person for every role. Anna has an extensive knowledge of talent and a broad network of contacts within the industry.
CAMILLA ARTHUR
Nominated for: Best Streetcasting.
Camilla has been working within this industry since the late seventies and has been casting since the early nineties – consequently she has been around the block (and some), but despite this her drive and passion for the job is as strong today as it was when she started & she’s looking forward to a further 30 years of casting!
CLAIRE CATTERSON
Nominated for: Best Casting of Stills Campaign.
Claire has been involved with casting for over 16 years. During this time, she has worked on a variety of projects including multiple award winning commercials and music videos. Claire enjoys mixing professional castings with street casting and actively encourages discovering and supporting new talent.
EMMA ASHTON
Nominated for: Best Casting of an International Commercial.
Emma is a London based casting director and a board member of the Casting Directors Association who has been casting commercials, films and photography for over 20 years. Trained at art school she went onto work in production before moving into casting. She has worked with some of the most established names in the industry as well as emerging directors from film schools from around the world. Emma and her new company Kastwork, have contributed to an array of exciting and award winning projects and is very proud to have received an award herself for best casting from the Inaugural CDA awards in the Online commercial category in 2018.
ET CASTING
Nominated for: Best Casting of Online Commercial.
Emily Tilelli is principal casting director and founder of London based consultancy ET Casting. Her career spans two decades, both here and also in her native Australia. Emily and her dedicated team are known for their fearless street casting, performance driven traditional casting and their diverse casting within advertising. Their work has not only appeared in the industry’s most respected publications but has also featured in many international festivals.
JODY FURLONG: THE EYE CASTING
Nominated for: Best Casting of Stills Campaign.
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.
KATE AND LOU + RO
Nominated for: Best Streetcasting.
The Kate, Lou and Ro casting team have over 20 years’ experience – casting award winning advertising campaigns, short films, music videos and commercials. The team specialise in finding the best street talent as well as actors, dancers, models and children. The team has a broad range of knowledge and experience and pride themselves in not just making sure a brief is met but exceeded.
KHARMEL COCHRANE
Nominated for: Best Casting of a UK Commercial, Best Casting of an International Commercial, Best Children’s Casting, Open Media, Best Casting of Short Film, Best Casting of Film and Drama.
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 UK Commercial, Best Casting of Charity/Public Awareness.
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.
LOU CLOUTER
Nominated for: Best Casting of Online Commercial, Best Children’s Casting.
A creative, energetic and resourceful casting director Lou Clouter enjoyed 10+ years in TVC & MV production before moving over to the wonderful world of casting. With over 20 years’ experience Lou has cast an amazing array of different projects including mv’s, commercials, live events, TV and film. Lou is a founder member of the CDA.
NIKKI MEADOWS
Nominated for: Open Media, Best Casting of Film and Drama.
Nikki specialises in award winning TV documentary drama, commercials and short films. She cast the critically acclaimed BAFTA winning Suffragettes with Lucy Worsley. Other work includes BIFA nominated Tell Me Who I Am, and Spy Wars an 8-part series fronted by Damian Lewis. Before becoming a Casting Director, she spent many years working as an artist manager and her senior management CV includes long term relationships with a variety of artists such as Elton John, Billy Connolly, Bros, Courtney Pine, Barry Humphries, and Count Arthur Strong.
PEARSON CASTING
Nominated for: Open Media.
Pearson Casting are an international, freelance Casting House based in Liverpool & London, headed up by husband and wife team, James & Rosie Pearson. With a combined industry experience of over 35 years, James and Rosie began their careers as performers. Pearson Casting work across theatre, film, television, commercials and live performance.
SHAKYRA DOWLING
Nominated for: Best Casting of Short Film, Best Casting of Film and Drama.
Shakyra has been a Casting Director since 2009. working on projects that have stretched around the globe. Specialising in British Independent feature films, European co-production films, television and commercials. Many of which have been internationally recognised, winning multiple awards at various festivals.
STARK CASTING
Nominated for: Best Casting of a UK Commercial, Best Streetcasting.
Anna has been a casting director for over 28 years. During this time she has worked closely with top production companies, directors and ad agencies, helping them find the best possible people for a plethora of sometimes challenging briefs. She has always championed diversity in advertising, making sure people feel truly represented in briefs and making use of street and traditional casting to create an authentic vision. The most recent addition to the team, Rudy, joined 3 years ago and brings a new perspective and modern twist to the brand’s established formula. Together at Stark Casting they are a formidable team and have won several awards including D&AD, Craft and CDA.
SUE ODELL
Nominated for: Best Children’s Casting, Best Casting of Charity/Public Awareness, Best Casting of Short Film.
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.