Acting Strong
Resilience for Stage Ready, Mind Ready Artists. Inspiring interviews with successful actors and artists exploring how they maintain positive mental wellbeing and resilience through the highs and lows of their career.
Created by Generation Arts and sponsored by Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.
Hosts: Ali Godfrey & Unique Spencer
Acting Strong
Casting Director Q&A: Unlocking the secrets of casting with Suzy Catliff on self-taping, auditioning, and getting seen
In this special Q&A episode, Suzy Catliff CDG, a renowned Casting Director and author of The Casting Handbook, shares her wealth of experience from iconic TV shows like Silent Witness and Casualty to film classics like The English Patient. Suzy takes you behind the scenes of the audition room, revealing exactly what casting directors look for and how to approach them with confidence. Whether you're just starting out or looking to refine your craft, this episode is packed with practical advice to help you succeed in the industry. Tune in for insider tips on how to ace your auditions and build a lasting career.
Hosts & Guests:
Ali Godfrey (Host)
Unique Spencer (Host)
Suzy Catliff (Guest)
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Hello, everyone. You are listening to Acting Strong. It's a podcast that helps explore resilience for stage ready, mind ready artists. It's brought to you by Generation Arts, and it's sponsored by Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. We are your hosts.
I'm Unique, a professional actor. And I'm Ali, founder of Generation Arts. In this episode, we speak to casting director Susie Catliff. Some of her TV and film projects include Primevil, Silent Witness, Casualty, The English Patient, Wilde, and Sense and Sensibility. So keep listening to hear her top tips for actors.
Let's get started. Hi, Suzy. Hello. Can you hear me okay? Hi.
Yes. Great. Hi.
So you've had years of experience, in your role as a casting director. What actually is casting, and what does a casting director do?
Well, very good question. A casting director is, responsible and part of the creative process normally at the kind of at the very beginning of a project. So I think that's one of the reasons sometimes they tend to get overlooked in some ways. So they're bought on sometimes before the project has kind of got green lit, depending on what the project is, whether it's, you know, that's normally a film thing for television and theater. You are employed by the producer or the production company.
So it's you work alongside the director, of course, but the director isn't the one that employs you, which I think is quite useful. Most casting directors are freelance, self employed. So we are, you know, so they work from project to project. Often they work with the same team, but, you know, there are certain, theater like the National and the RSC who have departments. But mainly, generally, you know, you might get allied to a team.
And we're we're what a casting director does is basically bring the director and the producer ideas and options for the roles that will be cast. So that means reading the script. That means talking to the director, finding out what the kind of brief is in a way, depending on which channel sometimes it's going to be on, what the budget is, will kind of influence the kind of thinking of what, what actors you're going to be talking to or bringing in or wanting to get contact. So that's part of the job, which is great and includes, but also challenging as all of our industry is challenging. So, checking availabilities, checking interests sometimes.
For a feature film, often having that initial conversation with an agent about a certain actor who would be, kind of, you need to get on board in order for it to happen. Often the casting director is kind of part of that financing side of it, which is they very rarely get a credit for in terms of, associate kind of producing. But the casting is key sometimes to getting the finances to get the actual project started. So there's that side of it kind of. And then there's also, the organization.
If you are setting up casting sessions or, increasingly, you know, asking various actors to put themselves on tape in order to show the director and the producer some ideas, and then bringing them in fingers crossed. So you actually, everybody gets to meet, and then do know it, having a very good knowledge of the different contracts, the different packed equity, the different contracts that because casting directors on the whole also negotiate the fees normally quite, quite heavily led by the production producer, but, they need to know what the rules and regs are. It should be very creative and any kind of creative team who has a casting director on board kind of should listen to them because that's their expertise. They go to the theatre a lot. They watch a lot of films, televisions.
They talk to the agents a lot. They kind of have an idea of kind of what's coming through. So yeah, so, and I'm having a really good sense of what an actor's job is and what qualities an actor has and how it might fit into the mix. So that my job I always think is to, is to give, present a choice of different actors, all of whom could play the role, but how do we want to tell the story and how does one actor with another actor affect the dynamic of what we're trying to do? So it's casting directors generally do not make decisions on the roles.
We advise and, you know, and it's good to ask for advice because that's our job. But, it's not we don't have that that kind of it's not our decision. Whose decision is it, CZ? Well, it depends. I mean, normally, it depends.
I mean, it's kind of producer director. It should be the director personally because they're the ones who are gonna be on the floor with him working it. But but often, it it will be it might be a producer decision. And sometimes, major casting has happened before the director comes on board or if it's like a series where there's more than one director, the lead director might have made those casting decisions. It is a very collaborative process.
Yeah. Amazing. And what do you look for in actors? Like, do you look for their sort of training or do you look for their experience or are you like, some casting directors are like street casting directors who look for people that just have never done it before and just wanna get them in to the room and give them an opportunity. What is it that you look for in actors?
I think I look for, their energy and their their believability and that that there's some truth about what they're doing and where that comes from. It doesn't really matter that much. I do think that it is useful to know if somebody has trained, for example, if you were doing a theatre job, because you know, every, every, different medium has a different has different skill sets that you're looking for. So not I'm saying, you know, but if you know, you're going to send somebody out on the 6 month tour and it's big venues, not that they'd have to, but you you are gonna have to kind of go, can they, are they up to that? Are they have they got the right skill set to kind of fill an auditorium that's 12,000 seats, for example.
Or it's a 22 day gig on a on a TV that you go, I need somebody who's gonna bring that truth and reality to it. So it's not one single thing. It's a combination of factors. Interestingly enough, I went to the spotlight prize awards, which is the first time they may have been last year, but it's been a very long time since they've been live because of COVID and everything. And it was very lovely to be in a room full of industry people watching graduates, because there's 22 of them doing a speech and, and in a live environment where you really get their energy and, and what comes across.
And it was a very encouraging, event because it was, I think it suddenly made us all realize how much we missed that and how important it is to see it live and not, I find, I watch show show reels, little snippets of things. I find them very useful because you get a, you do get a sense of somebody's energy very quickly or certainly I do now because I've been doing it for a long time, but it's so nice to see them live as well. So I'm seeing actors do being able to watch them over a career, do lots and lots of different things. So you go, oh, that's, you know, actually, for example, many years ago, I was casting silent witness and there was a role of a psychopath, serial killer. There was 2 of them.
They were kind of really weird, kind of a bit strange. And I wanted to see Ben Wyshaws Hamlet, and it wasn't bet it was, he was phenomenal. And Rory Kinnear was in it playing Laertes and he was wonderful and he didn't do much TV then. He doesn't do that much now. But, and I, but he was quite young, I mean, early on in his career.
And I, you know, wanted to bring him in for one of the the weird psychopaths, but that had nothing to do with the fact of how he played Laertes. It was it was something about his energy and his his kind of focus. I thought that would be a really interesting idea for this character. And he did, and he did it. And it was it was really exciting.
So it's not going, oh, you're playing the same role that I want you to play. It's more there's something about what you're doing, which is really interesting that I think might might work for this. I did another thing years ago. A friend of mine, were doing a piece of it was like TIE, and they bought it to London. And they did it in Camden, Camden's People's Theatre, which is a tiny space.
And I went to see it because my friend's, niece or nephew was in it. And it's a really close space. So you think, if you can if you can bring me in and be truthful and believable in this very small space, you'll be fine on television because it's, it, it's very small. I was casting casualty at the time, so I had a massive amount of volume of actors that I was needing. And I think all of them did it at some point within the kind of the next 3 months.
And none of them had done any television before that. And I think it's also an instinct where you go, that's the energy I think would work in this situation. Yeah. Thank you. It's really interesting.
For a new actor who's who has not, had the experience yet, what what kind of thing would they expect for an audition situation? And, obviously, now maybe since COVID, I don't know if you would say it's changed in terms of self taping and stuff like that. What should an actor expect from that stage of the process? Yeah. It has changed.
It has I mean, I think it was changing anyway because because as our phones become more sophisticated, it means that you if you have a phone, you can kinda do self tape. I don't think it's a particularly good thing all the time, but it is what it is. It does mean that young actors can put themselves on tape if they, you know, for, for probably more projects than they might be seen for. However, so can everyone else. So, you know, it's a numbers game, I think.
And I think that yes, I think if you are getting self tapes through being asked to do them from a, from your agent, from a casting director, it's, it's a different kettle of fish than if you are finding them and doing them, you know, kind of on other websites or on Spotlight where, where it's kind of, you know, sending your details kind of thing. So I think that it's being, well, it's kind of knowing how to do them. So technically having a tripod, knowing how far away it needs to be having a backdrop that's that's, you know, clear then it's again, when I watch self tapes and I do do a lot of self tape workshops for emerging actors and also for professional actors, because they hate them as well. You know, it's a universe, nobody loves them. People, but, but that comes across because of course the camera picks up how you're feeling.
So if you're going, I'm really hating this. The camera goes, oh yeah, I've got that subtext. Or if you've got a reader who's who's irritating you or doesn't wanna do it, it will show in your face. So I'm like, you have to kind of I always say phone a friend, phone another actor, phone somebody who kinda gets what you're doing because then you will relax on it. So I think it's that thing of prepping properly, always prepping properly and making sure you have as much information about the project as you can and what you're not given makeup.
I mean, not makeup, but, you know, if you're given very little, make it up. Nobody's gonna know at that point. So because I think when you're watching them from the other side, you want that energy and you want that kind of, freshness. And and I think that, you know, the first 20, 30 seconds is really, really important, that your energy is in the right place and you kind of feel relaxed enough. And and it's about being confident about it.
And it's about practice. I do think cell tapes are the one thing you can practice. You know, you can do monologues with them. You can you can practice. And and I think in terms of the technical side of it, practice does.
It means you're not stressing about the wrong thing, which I know a lot of my friends do that they can't find the backdrop or the, then that, or the doctor, but everything, the exterior influences kind of affects what you're doing. So the more you practice it, so you go, I'm fine. I know how to do the technical side, because of course what you don't get when you do a self tape, which is the thing you really need is any direction. So and also don't do many takes between 3 and 5. I'm like, that's it.
You you should be out by then because if you're on set, somebody would have given you some notes. Yeah. I know actors. We all probably do. We've probably done it.
Well, you know, they're on the 30th take because they get obsessed with a word or a look and you think, but they're never going to be perfect. What they're doing is kind of showing your energy and going, this is kind of where I'm coming from. And if somebody likes your energy, they'll go, yeah, Brett, great. Or they might go great. Bring them in.
Let's, let's work this script. So, yeah. So I think that, emerging actors should be aware of all that. So not put too much pressure on themselves. Because I think also there's quite a lot of cell tapes that are now for commercials and that's a very look visual thing.
Well, that's utterly ridiculous because I mean, I've, I've done songs with friends where, I mean, you might as well just, you know, you're staging it and, and, and and it takes a lot of time and you're like and and also commercial castings generally are kind of bizarre anyway because you're So bizarre. Exactly. You're going in and doing something and having to imagine things. So I think doing self tape of that is even more bizarre because they're ridiculous. So I think you just kind of have to not over work it, but just do your homework before you actually film it and be really disciplined about that bit and not kill it.
Because sometimes they, they, you just kill them by, you know, not they, they, they cease to be something recognizable because you've kind of overdone it. And I think that's really important. I think because you know, filming's all about spontaneity and energy and being on the moment, in the moment, and on the thought. Well, if you've done it 50 times, it's dead. You know, it ain't coming.
So, I think that would be, you know, and I think that that would the technical side and then also how you prep and making sure you prep, and then do it. And then some actors I know don't even watch it back. They go for the one that feels the best because they, and also because it's the thing of, you know, who likes seeing themselves on camera? Nobody in that way. So in that way, you know, I think there's a lot of horrible maze bits you can get kind of diverted down, that are quite negative that you you we mustn't we don't go there.
You know? So just the it's it's part of your work. It's part of the job. Yeah. That's really helpful.
Thank you. And what are the typical misconceptions that actors have about auditions? I think that actors tend to come in thinking I I think you have to think, and it's true, that everybody wants you to do the best you can do and be the best you. Nobody wants you to be crap. Nobody wants you to fail.
Everybody wants you to be great. Partly because they will see the best of you and also because you are potentially going to solve the problem of that role. Not this problem, but you know what I mean? It's kind of you are a problem solver. So I think that it's going in with that confidence knowing that you are there and you are valid, and you're not you're not nobody's nobody's questioning your ability to do the job that you say you can do.
I mean, it's a bit like a plumber, isn't it? It's like, if I call a plumber, I I assume they can do the job. Otherwise, they wouldn't be calling themselves a plumber. Now how good they are at that bit of the job, I don't know. It's same with an actor.
You say you're an actor. When you come into a room, a director does not sit there and go, oh, are they gonna be any good? It's like, no. I I am assuming they're gonna be good. Whether they're gonna be right for this role, I don't know.
So I think it's but it's that mindset, and that's for all of us, actually, for any creative, any practitioner, get out of they hate me, they want me to fail, and get into, you know, I'm I'm valid. I'm here. I have something to offer, and I'm gonna do the best to offer it, and I'm not gonna overthink. I'm gonna do my job. And then and also, I think it's useful to put yourself on the other side of the desk or have experienced it or think it's not, you know, everybody's everybody's freelance.
Everybody's creative. Everybody's a practitioner. And we're all kind of the merry-go-round of the desk goes round sometimes because actors find themselves being casting or directing or producing. And so, I think it's coming in positive, not coming in thinking I'm going to fail, but coming in thinking I'm going to do, I'm going to meet some lovely people who I wouldn't have met. And partly going back to the costume director's job, our job is to make you feel good.
Our job is, well, I see my job is to make sure you're relaxed, you're welcomed, you you feel that we want you to be here, and therefore, you can do your best. And if things go wrong, they go wrong. We do it again or whatever. And that's my job as a casting director is to, as much as I'm shepherding the actors in the room, I'm also shepherding the other, the director and the producer who might be in the middle of a budget meeting or late or not focused. That's also my job to make sure it's like being, you know, handing around the drinks at a party.
My job is to make sure that hopefully that everybody's feeling we're going to have a nice time. We're going to have a nice time whether or not you get the job, who knows? In terms of actors having someone to read with, if that can't be possible, because I think sometimes there's this, like, misconception that we all have acting friends, and we all have people around us that can just drop their work and their family and their responsibilities to help us. What would you say is the best sort of way forward for an actor that can't have somebody read with them? To do it yourself?
I've got friends who prefer to do that. I think because they find the stress and the pressure of asking people or, or just timings are off. So they're very good now. I didn't use to like this, but you know what? I think that if it's the wrong person to read or you just can't find anyone, you'd need to kind of go, okay.
So and also it's a way of you learning your lines because normally it's when it's a quick turnaround so that you you're like, shit. I'm gonna have to do it this evening, and I've got nobody free. So I think, and there are apps that can do that, but by recording yourself, at least you know what you're doing. So, yeah, I mean, I don't think it's ideal, but then I've seen some really good self tapes and I'm like, oh, who was reading? And they were like, well, I'd had to do it.
Oh, it was great. It worked. I mean, I think it's better to do that or work that way out than not have anyone because then you're just doing your lines to nothing. And I think that feels very strange for the actor. So I would say, figure out before it's one of those contingency ones, isn't it?
To make sure you've explored how you're going to do it ahead of time. So you go, oh, it's fine. You know, because yeah, you're right. Life isn't always that straightforward. And also, I mean, I do it with my, some of my friends is they phone a friend, they phone me and they'll go, can you hook up at half 7?
And they have me on the computer. They can't even see me. It's fine. They just need my voice. So that's another way of doing it is phone a friend or just unlock in a time.
So, you know, you are going to do it in 20 minutes because that's what you've asked for time wise, which I think is important. So you're not there for, you know, 3 hours. So I think that's another thing is, you know, phoning a friend and I, in one of my workshops, I get them to do that, to get used to how do you do that? Or even if it's I mean, family members can be brilliant as long as they don't mind. It's when they mark that it becomes an issue.
I think my mom's all self taped out now. You said that the director and the casting director and everyone obviously wants an auditionee to succeed. What happens if you do mess up in an audition? What what should an actor do? No.
Hopefully, at the time, the actor will feel confident enough to ask to do it again, which is the best way, or the casting director will realize that it's happened. So we'll say, would you like to to go again? Because it's not a test. You know? It's not an exam you fail.
It it's it's a process. So I think that the best thing is to say at the time, could I have another go? And if it's, and most people are going to say yes, unless it's like, a 5 page scene, which it very rarely is. I think the best thing is to not take that with you, but to kind of not let your own insecurities go, oh, I didn't do it very well, but just think actually, if I could, could I possibly have another go? And mainly people, I, in my experience would say, yeah, that's fine.
Of course it is. Or they'll say, no, honestly, it was fine. And you, and the actor then has to believe it. So I think the best thing is to, to, ask to do it again. Is there a way an actor actor should come to an audition, like, in terms of what they should wear, how they should present themselves, what they should look like in their, I suppose, should they look the same as their headshot?
Do they can they look different? Like, what is it that they should look like physically when they come into the room? That's a very big can of worms because headshots and actors don't always match. Do they? I I it's a good question because I think, you know, you should go for I always say it when you're self taping, what would you wear for us for the meeting?
You should wear that. So that if it if you starting from the kind of the other way, if you have done a self tape that's led you into the room, wear what you wore in the self tape because it's it's brand recognition. You know, if you wore that top, I go wear that top because then they go, oh, you're the one in that top. He's like, fine. Don't dress for the role, but it's quite useful sometimes.
For example, a period piece that you think, actually, I think that is quite a good thing to wear for it. That's quite nice to do so that it gives an idea of, you know, what you might look like. So think about it, but it's not like I'm gonna get I'm gonna buy things to wear for this. I think I think generally in my experience and personally speaking, you tend to get a kind of couple of outfits that you kinda wear for meetings or auditions and kind of that is what you end up with, which you feel comfortable in, which which are, you know, relatively reasonable, smart, clean tidy, really, you know. And obviously, if you've got a dance call or something like that, you're gonna have to dress appropriately for that.
And just mindful of you might have a piece of clothing or a jacket that you think, do you know what? I think that would be quite nice for that character. And I think that's nice because I think it shows you've thought about it. And also, you know, part of an actor's toolbox is dressing up, to be fair. They used to have I love it.
You know? And and I think that's that's part of the fun of it, surely, is to have a few things that you go, yeah. Okay. You know? So how do you get seen by a casting director without an agent?
Email. Email. Yeah. I mean, the thing is, absolutely. If you're in something, it's always best, isn't it?
Because then you can go, oh, come and see me in. Now you have to just be aware and is logistically, it may not happen, but it might. And it's kind of a game of, you know, you have to invite people. You must invite them. If 1 or 2 come, brilliant.
If they don't, you invite them the next time. You go, oh, I'm sorry. You couldn't make or you don't you know? So you're establishing relationships. So that's number 1.
Number 2, I suppose, if you hear that that casting you know, casting directors, like any freelance person, they aren't always working on projects. So you don't know what they're working on, or they're not they might not have worked for 6 months. You don't know that. So kind of that's the thing to bear in mind. You know, they might genuinely say, I haven't got anything coming up at the moment.
So actually, if I can get along, I will, but it's unlikely. And then you go fine. But equally, you don't know. There might be something that they're like, oh, actually I was thinking of that. So it's a bit luck, serendipity, something landing on your, your, in your email that you go, oh, that's interesting.
I was thinking of that. So that the only way that kind of works is to just keep doing it, keep doing it, and also have a smaller list of casting directors and directors or producers that you contact so that you know why you're contacting them because you like their work, because you've seen them, or you've watched something on telly that they cast that you think actually I'd love to be. I thought that was great. And so I think it's being, doing your homework. So, it's not just casting your neck too wide, and because then nothing will happen.
But if you begin targeting people and I've got a friend and he's very, very pragmatic about how he con he's he has an agent, but he still contacts casting directors. And he's like, you know, if I get, he, he was doing an understudy role at the National and he's got, you know, I've got 7 casting directors to come and see that, which was better than the year before when I got 3. He's very pragmatic and he still does it with or without the agent. He's going to be working. And he said, I'll tell you what he does, which I think is a really nice idea is if you have met a casting director, or made contact, he kind of does a roundup about every 6 months or a year about like what he's been up to.
Not very long, but just to kind of go, hi, because what casting directors we have is very good memories and also lists of actors that we've met. And I've got many lists on spotlight. So, you know, if, if you have met someone or you, you, then you go, oh, I'm doing this. Or you go, this year's, you know, just a quick roundup of what I've been doing. Basically keep reminding them that you are and not using having an agent or not having an agent as a reason why not to do It it it then becomes a conversation between you and your agent as in whether they want you to do it.
But, you know, I think that generally they're okay with that because Yeah. It don't make it. No. So it's it's so I would say that that's the best way of doing it. And when you're in something or you have a new showreel, you'll have something that you can put in front of them that they can watch and look at and expect little from it, but it's cumulative.
Yeah. And in terms of, like, show reels and headshots, are they still things that are considered how can I explain it? Like, a a casting director still looking at show reels? Like, is it still important to have a show reels? It's still important to have your, headshot, like, updated and not have, like, one from 10 years ago?
Yeah. I do. I I think I think I think I I can only speak for myself, obviously, but I think that the electronic age is very, very useful sometimes to be able, because I do quite a lot of dubbing directing now. So, I'm casting voices for the things that I'm dubbing. It is very, very useful to have to look at a picture and have a sound, have a little voice reel and have a show reel on spotlight.
I generally use spotlight, because it just means if I don't know the actor, it puts together a three-dimensional thing of that person. And I do think that's useful. And I, and I do think it's much easier to achieve now because it's easier to do. So it's, you can do it on your phone. It doesn't, the quality shouldn't be, if you've done, if you've done kind of show as in television stuff, if you have broadcast screen work, that's brilliant because it means, you know, the quality's gonna be great.
If you haven't, well, then you you can use other ways of doing it and it doesn't have to cost loads of money. I mean, you if you've got a really lovely self tape, why not? That's my, you know, because it's just seeing you moving, seeing you, seeing your breath, seeing your, hearing your voice. I think it's really useful because it just, it, it helps to put a picture of you together. And just for, our young listeners that may have no idea what Spotlight is, could you just tell us a little bit about what that is and how casting directors use it?
It's like the industry directory for actors and they pay to have their details now online. I don't know if the books, they used to be in books. So you used to go literally photographs. I mean, like full volumes of men, full volumes of women. I can't believe it.
Yeah. Seriously. And and I mean, I've got the student spotlights from years years ago, because each year the student spotlight would come out with everybody. And that's hilarious to look back at photographs. Honestly, it's hilarious.
Everybody used it. And also it was the picture. It wasn't a CV. It was just the photographs, which is why the photographs are really important. Nowadays, obviously, it's much more interactive.
And I would I don't know how many what the percentage of casting directors and producers sometimes and directors use it, but it's high because it's the kind of our major place where we look. And I know that there's been a little bit of, controversy about their fees, which equity have got involved in. I don't know about that particularly. And I would also say as a self employed person, it's absolutely tax deductible for an actor because it's part of your job. And yes, and some people I know can't afford it anyway, but I do think it's so that's what spotlight is.
And it has everybody in who's I can't remember what the criteria is. There is criteria to be in it, but everybody, and it has a young person's one as well. And it's, you can do searches for, if you're looking for certain skills or, abilities or, background ethnic backgrounds or disabilities. It so you can it's all in there. As long as you, the actor, have put in all of it, we should hopefully find it.
So yeah. So that's what it is. It's kind of like our trade, the place that we go and look. There are other places, but I'd, I think that spotlight is the most known. Have you got another question, Unique?
Just if you're, casting anything next, what what your next projects are? The next project might well, one of my projects is a theater project, but I'm directing it. So that's for for the Birmingham Conservatoire. So that's that will be cast. And then I'm doing, I'm also working on, I work for a Canadian company, television company.
So I'm doing a tiny bit of casting for them, but I'm their, a casting associate. And then the other projects I've got in the pipeline are more development stuff from me rather than casting stuff at the moment. But you never know. And it's really interesting that I don't think I've met many casting directors that are also directors. How did that happen?
And, like, what did one come before the other? Was your director before you as a casting director, or have you always been both? I think I'm always a I've always been a director of something. I think I was a theater. Well, I, well, yeah, no, I did, I did, I, I did my first degree at a place called Bretton Hall where we did everything and it was more collaborative and devised.
And then I worked as a stage manager for a couple of years and worked to the BBC, in studio management. And then I went to Bristol Old Vic Theatre School and did the MA in Theatre directing. And then I came out and I was a theatre director, and then I came to London because I used to live in the Yorkshire. And I started working for 2 casting directors for a week. I've always I've always been able to remember actors.
It's my thing. It's a weird thing, but I do recognize them very quickly walking down the road. You're like, oh, look. There's Peter Capaldi. I just I just have always remember I I have got a very odd memory for it.
And I stayed there 2 years, working on loads of different projects. And I loved it. And I, because I love actors. I love everything I do. The connection for all my work is actors is working with them, casting them, directing them, dubbing, directing them.
So, that's my passion is that, so what came first was any, the, the theater directing then casting, and now I love now I've got 3 that I'm doing. So, but the thing that I'm really interested in is how actors, the alchemy that happens. I think it's so interesting and, and how everybody has a different energy. Everybody's unique. And it's not that somebody's there's one person for that role.
There's never that. It's more in that combination. How does this work? And if you're putting together a family, really, if you're sending them out on a theatre tour or, you know, you've got to get the right personalities. If you're doing a telly, it might be like it's a different, it's different kind of, alchemy that you need to achieve.
So, yeah, so that, so I, I was, I've always kind of, yeah, I was far too bossy to be an actor. But I always knew what the others should be doing. So it's like And just one, like, really final question just really quickly because you've worked on so many different productions and films and, TV shows and all sorts of things. What would you say has been you talk about the alchemy, that moment. What have you got any kind of memory that you will take with you that where it's kind of all come together in your job as a a casting director?
I think weird not weirdly. I think my my work on Casualty, which was I did 3 years of it, consists that, you know, relentless thing of having to find that alchemy, that kind of make those, you know, make it believable every single week, I think was really important. And the other really special because it was relentless. And then the other thing that I did, I did a documentary drama, called D Day about 20 years ago now. And that was, that was very special because the director was also the executive producer.
So we made the decisions, me, the producer and him. And I think we created a real, we got just, it was a really, because they had to improvise as well because a lot of the characters they're real and we were casting from real people. And that was really challenging. And I, but I was also really, you know, there's so many different stories. We could have so many different kinds of energies from the actors and putting together like 3 boys who went to war together and that's a, you know, that they're kind of have their familiarity with each other.
So I was very proud of that and it did, it, it, it was, it was, it did, it was BAFTA nominated and it won another award, not for the casting per se, but it's not about that. It's about the whole, it's about your, your part of the, the team of it. So I was very proud of those 2 things. I think all I am. Lovely.
Thank you so much. Amazing. Thank you so much, Suzy. It's been absolutely a pleasure to speak to you. Pleasure.
Pleasure. Thank you, Ali. It's been brilliant.
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