SYNOPSIS
Presented annually by the Casting Society of America, the Artios Award is one of the most prestigious honors a casting director can receive. An ancient Greek word meaning “perfectly fitted,” the Artios celebrates excellence in casting film, television, and theater. Nomination criteria includes originality, creativity, and the contribution of casting to the overall quality of the project. Join us for an evening with 2020 Artios nominees to learn about their casting process and invaluable best practices for actors.
This panel is brought to you in part by the generous donations of the Beki Pastor Fund.
Please be advised that soliciting guests is not permitted at Foundation programs. Headshots and other promotional materials will not be accepted.
Estimated program end time: 8:15 PM
PANELISTS
Ania O'Hare - Dreamworks Animation, She-Ra And The Princess of Power
Ania O’Hare is the three-time Emmy award-winning Casting Director for DreamWorks Animation’s television division, where she oversees the casting decisions for more than a dozen current and upcoming series. Current series that O’Hare casts include Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, Kung Fu Panda: The Paws of Destiny, Guillermo del Toro’s Tales of Arcadia trilogy, Harvey Street Kids, The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants, Trolls: The Beat Goes On!, Boss Baby: Back in Business, Spirit Riding Free and the upcoming 3 Below: Tales of Arcadia, Fast & Furious: Spy Racers, Where’s Waldo?, Archibald’s Next Big Thing and Gabby’s Dollhouse. She has won 3 Creative Arts Daytime Emmy Awards for “Outstanding Casting for an Animated Series or Special” for her work on All Hail King Julien (2014), The Adventures of Puss in Boots (2015) and Tales of Arcadia: Trollhunters (2016).
Prior to joining DreamWorks Animation, O’Hare worked with some of the top industry drivers in the casting community including Denise Chamian, Francine Maisler and Amblin Partners’ Leslee Feldman on features such as the Transformers; Transformers: Dark of the Moon; Transformers: Age of Extinction; Pain & Gain; Eat Pray Love; and the DreamWorks Animation features How to Train Your Dragon and Kung Fu Panda.
Josh Einsohn - Telsey + Co., This Is Us
Josh Einsohn grew up in Dallas and then went to Washington University in St. Louis, where he graduated cum laude with a B.A. in Drama. After several years working in Production, he decided to start all over again and commit to a career in Casting. From his first feature as a Casting Assistant, THE POLAR EXPRESS, he was hooked. It was his experience working on THE WEST WING, however, that particularly sparked his interest in casting TV series. After many Associate gigs on shows like MAD MEN and LIFE, he was promoted to Casting Director on COMMUNITY. After a few years out on his own, he started working with Telsey + Co. in July of 2016 and has been thankful to work on a creatively exciting variety of shows...from ATYPICAL to ONE DAY AT A TIME to BLACK MONDAY to the series spin-off of LOVE, SIMON to THIS IS US.
Matthew Lessall - Lessall Casting, Skin in the Game
Kerry Barden - Barden / Schnee Casting, Clemency
Susan Shopmaker - Susan Shopmaker Casting, Random Acts of Flyness, Low Tide
Kevin Reher - Pixar, Toy Story 4
Kevin Reher is most recently produced and received the Producer’s Mark on Disney•Pixar’s “Cars 3,” which released in theaters on June 16, 2017. He also produced “Partly Cloudy,” the Peter Sohn-directed short film that played before “Up” in 2009. In 2010 he produced “Day & Night,” Teddy Newton’s Academy Award®-nominated short film that played in theaters with “Toy Story 3” and “La Luna,” which screened theatrically with “Brave” in 2012.
Since joining the Pixar Animation Studios in 1993, Reher has expanded his role in the studio to encompass multiple positions. Reher’s association with Pixar began in 1993 as a finance and production representative for Walt Disney Pictures on “Toy Story” and Co-Producer of “A Bug’s Life.” He formally joined Pixar in 1999 as the Development Producer where he oversaw the “incubation period” of feature and short film projects, starting with 2003’s release of “Finding Nemo.”
As Development Producer, Reher played an integral role in managing and directing his team through the formative stages of the studio’s feature film productions, including budgeting, staffing, writer identification, research, visual development and voice casting.
Reher also oversees Pixar’s casting process, beginning with “Finding Nemo” and “The Incredibles” and continuing with “Cars”, “Ratatouille”, “Wall-E”, :Up”, “Toy Story 3”, Cars 2,” “Brave,” “Monsters University,” “Inside Out”, “The Good Dinosaur”, “Finding Dory”, “Cars3”, “Coco”, “Incredibles 2”, “Toy Story 4”, and the upcoming “Onward” and “Soul”.
Reher began his career as a Production Accountant on “Gumby” television series and Associate Producer on “The Gumby Movie.” He then transitioned to Tim Burton’s feature film “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” where he was a Production Accountant.
Along with Casting Reher is currently in Development on a future feature film with Pixar Director Brian Fee.
Born in Seattle, Washington, and raised in Northern California, Reher attended California State University San Luis Obispo where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Urban Design and Planning.
Moderated by Liz Riesterer, SAG-AFTRA Foundation Program Manager
