SYNOPSIS
This class will include a Q&A and a prepared reading session with an experienced casting professional.
Please prepare a scene from film or tv no more than two minutes in length or less.
A reader will be available on ZOOM during the class.
All actors will need to email a PDF of their chosen scene to castingaccess@sagaftra.foundation for the reader by 5pm EST/2pm PST on Tuesday, July 25th. The subject needs to be Casting Access - Henry Russell Bergstein. The body of the email MUST include the role that the reader will be reading.
RSVP'd Actors will receive a ZOOM Invitation to participate one hour before the start of the class.
CASTING DIRECTOR BIO
Henry Russell Bergstein
Most recently Vice President, Casting for HBO Max, TNT, TBS, and TruTV, where he oversaw casting for scripted and unscripted series, feature films, docudramas, and animation and scouted new talent. Prior to that he worked as an independent casting director on film, television, and theater out of New York at his company, Estrin/Bergstein Casting with partner Allison Estrin, and before that at Douglas Aibel Casting.
In television, Bergstein was Emmy nominated for casting the pilot and first season of HBO's Succession and for Netflix’s limited series Inventing Anna. He won one Artios Award and was nominated for another for the US Casting of the 3rd and 4th seasons of Netflix's Black Mirror on which he worked on with Jina Jay for 3 seasons. Additionally he's cast Amazon's Mozart in the Jungle, Comedy Central and HBO Max's The Other Two, Showtime's The Loudest Voice, the first season of USA Network's The Sinner, CBS All Access' One Dollar, Hulu's Monsterland anthology series and the pilot of Ramy, John Cameron Mitchell's musical podcast series Anthem: Homunculus, and Gimlet's original podcast series Homecoming. In the doc space, Henry has cast documentary hybrids for Alex Gibney's Jigsaw Productions and Netflix.
In film, noteworthy credits for his work as a casting director include It Felt Like Love (Sundance ‘13), Saturday Church (Tribeca ‘17), and Black Bear (Sundance ’20). With Douglas Aibel: Grandma (Sundance ’15), The Week Of, The Day Shall Come (SXSW ’19), and Love After Love (Tribeca ‘17). With Allison Estrin: Drunk Parents, Abundant Acreage Available, and The Night Before. As an associate for Aibel, he worked on films with directors such as Wes Anderson, Noah Baumbach, M. Night Shyamalan, James Gray, Ramin Bahrani, and Kenneth Lonergan. As a Locations Casting Director, he worked on Spiderman: Homecoming, Captain America: Civil War, and Eternals. He has received 18 nominations and 4 Artios Award wins for his work as a Casting Director and Associate in tv and film.
In theatre, Bergstein worked as the casting director on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off-Broadway specializing in new American plays and musicals. He cast over 20 productions at New York’s Vineyard Theatre as well as numerous productions at Ars Nova, LCT3, Signature, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater and PS 122. He's worked on new plays from such artists as Tarell Alvin McCraney, Brandon Jacobs Jenkins, Eboni Booth, Michael R. Jackson, Nicky Silver, Rachel Chavkin, Will Eno, Bess Wohl, John Kander, and David Malloy. Highlights include the world premiere productions of Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 (Ars Nova), Octet (Signature Theatre), The Lyons (Vineyard & Broadway), KPOP (Ars Nova/Ma-Yi), Gloria (Vineyard and Goodman), and Wig Out! (Vineyard). Bergstein worked on developmental theater readings, workshops, and festivals including five summers of the Sundance Theatre Institute Theatre Labs and two Lincoln Center Directors Labs.
Bergstein is the former Manager of East Coast Casting for Warner Bros. Television Studios in NY. He began his career as a Casting Assistant at Fox Broadcasting Company. A former improviser and house team member at UCB and the Magnet Theater in NY, he holds an M.F.A. in Film from Northwestern University and a B.A. in Theater with a minor in LGB Studies from Cornell University. Bergstein is a member of the Casting Society of America and the Teamsters Local 817.
REQUIREMENTS
You must have completed a Casting Access Application prior to registering for this class.
NO LATE ARRIVALS and NO WALK-INS are admitted. Only those participants who have received a telephoned or e-mailed confirmation message from staff will be admitted to the session. Waitlisted individuals who have not received such confirmation will not be admitted at the door. Please do not show up if you have not been explicitly confirmed as RSVPed.
