Join us for a LIVE conversation with Artios Award-nominated casting directors for film: Emily Schweber ('Four Samosas'), Denise Chamian ('Elvis,' Top Gun: Maverick'), Victor Jenkins ('The Bubble') and Tiffany Little Canfield ('Better Nate than Ever' and 'The Same Storm'). Moderated by casting director Candido Cornejo.
Please feel free to submit questions in advance for our panelists here. The form will also be available during the program.
PANELIST BIOS
A Los Angeles native, Denise Chamian began her career in the entertainment industry at a boutique agency. It wasn't until she started working for luminary casting directors Janet Hirshenson and Jane Jenkins that she found her true calling. From there she went on to start her own company and has worked with such distinguished directors as Steven Spielberg, Stanley Kubrick, Tony Scott, William Friedkin, Tim Burton, Francis Lawrence, Gabriele Muccino, Michael Bay, and Gore Verbinski among many others. Recent credits include 'The Old Man' (starring Jeff Bridges and John Lithgow), 'Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities', 'Top Gun: Maverick' and 'Elvis' for which she won the 2023 BAFTA Film Award for Best Casting.
Tiffany Little Canfield, CSA is a casting director for theatre, film, and television at the prestigious bi-coastal casting office, The Telsey Office. Some notable projects include 'Only Murders in the Building,'' And Just Like That,' 'This Is Us,'' 'Fosse/Verdon,' 'Mary Poppins Returns,' 'Atypical,' 'The Greatest Showman,' and the upcoming feature film, 'The Little Mermaid.' She received the Independent Spirit Robert Altman Award for her work on 'Margin Call' in 2012. She was also nominated for several Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Casting. Tiffany has a BFA in Directing from the School of Drama of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
Victor Jenkins's first job in Casting was as Assistant to Lucinda Syson on the end of Wolfgang Petersen’s 'Troy' and the start of Oliver Stone’s ‘Alexander’. From there he moved into TV working for Sam Chandley for 6months before being given his own shows, ‘Dream Team’ and ‘Mile High’ to run until their conclusion in 2008. Wanting to gain a bit more experience he became Associate to the late Carrie Hilton, and then Gary Davy for 2 years. In 2010 he started VHJ Casting with friend and fellow CD Kelly Valentine Hendry. Together they were responsible for a multitude of award winning shows, including Broadchurch, Humans, The Last Kingdom, Unforgotten, Episodes (seasons 2 - 5), The Wrong Mans, and Fleabag. In 2017 he went solo again and the first VJC project was Netflix/BBC’s Troy: Fall Of A City. From there he has worked on Sherwood and The Split for the BBC, The Rook for Starz, World On Fire for the BBC/PBS, Leonardo for Rai, award winning Des for ITV with long time collaborator Lewis Arnold, Cattleya’s upcoming Django, and all subsequent series of award nominated Unforgotten for ITV. Filming has just wrapped on Lewis’s next project, The Long Shadow, ReMatch for HBO Europe, and Apple’s Alfonso Cuaron helmed ‘Augustus’. Film work includes Judd Apatow’s The Bubble, Disney’s Muppets Most Wanted, and Baz Lhurmann’s short film The Secret Life Of Flowers. He also has another company with friend and fellow CD Andy Brierley, known as The Casting Office. Alongside their own individual projects they have worked together on AMC’s The Watch, the second series of The Spanish Princess for Starz, Frank Doelger’s upcoming projects The Swarm and Concordia, and Peter Kosminsky’s recently released The Undeclared War for Peacock & Channel 4.'
Emily Schweber is a feature film and video game casting director and has cast well over 100 movies and contributed to an impressive list of video games, including 'Dead Space,' 'Call of Duty: Modern Warfare,' 'Star Wars: Squadrons,' and 'Killzone: Shadow Fail.'
Emily’s casting career began in commercials and casting movie extras in the Bay Area. After moving to Los Angeles, Emily trained with the late Mali Finn, one of the most respected casting directors in Hollywood, and worked as an associate on such films as 'L.A. Confidential,' 'Titanic,' 'True Lies,' 'The Green Mile,' 'Mission Impossible,' 'The Matrix,' 'Wonder Boys,' 'Tigerland,' and 'The Wood.'
After starting her own company, many of the films Emily cast have won awards and distinctions at every major film festival, including Sundance Film Festival, South by Southwest, Venice, Tribeca, and Berlin. Most recently the film ‘Monica’, a portrait of a transgender woman returning home after many years, premiered at the Venice Film Festival and won Best Italian Film.
She was the Film Advisor for both 2018 and 2019 Film Independent Directing Labs. Web site: www.emilyschwebercasting.com.
Candido Cornejo is a proud Latinx trans casting professional with over 10 years of experience in the entertainment industry. She has worked with prestigious casting offices including veterans Ronnie Yeskel, Fern Champion, Scott Genkinger, & Pam Dixon. Prominent credits include ‘The Hatfields & McCoys’, the Freeform hit show 'The Fosters’, and the Artios award winning production of ‘Zoot Suit’ for the CenterTheatre Group. Candido is a strong advocate for diversity and inclusion, particularly for the Latinx and trans/nonbinary communities. As of recent, she has completed casting for “The Answer To My Prayer” executive produced by Eddie James Olmos and Nancy De Los Santos, and two films for the “Launchpad” season 2 for Disney+ where she launched a worldwide search for a 2 Spirit Teenager for the first ever of its kind shown on a major platform.
