The Casting Guild of Australia (CGA) is a professional society, founded in 2013 in Victoria, Australia. It consists over 90% of all Australian casting directors for film, television, and theatre. [1]
According to Nick Hamon, casting director and Vice President of CGA that the idea of setting up a casting guild was in minds of Australian casting directors committee quite sometime. But it was not actualised until in 2013, committee member Mel Mackintosh wrote an email, emphasising on the need of the guild. [2]
In 2015, the CGA launched an annual awards ceremony to recognise excellence in Australian casting across film, television, advertising, theatre and online productions. [3]
The first ceremony was held on 23 November 2015 in Sydney and was co-hosted by Ewen Leslie and Sarah Snook. Filmmaker George Miller presented the Sirius Award for New Talent of the Future. [4]
Category | Nominees | Work | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|
Best Film Casting | Kirsty McGregor | Last Cab to Darwin | [4] [5] |
Nikki Barrett | Holding the Man | ||
Nikki Barrett and Ronna Kress | Mad Max: Fury Road | ||
Best Television Casting (Up to 6 Hours) | Anousha Zarkesh | Redfern Now | |
Christine King | The Code | ||
Alison Telford | Glitch | ||
Christine King and Anousha Zarkesh | Peter Allen: Not the Boy Next Door | ||
Best Television Casting (More Than 6 Hours) | Alison Telford | Please Like Me | |
Anousha Zarkesh | Rake | ||
Christine King | Hiding | ||
Best TVC Casting | Natalie Jane Harvie | UWS – "Deng Adut" | |
Stevie Ray and Kirsty McGregor | Qantas – "Feels Like Home" | ||
Nick Hamon | RACGP | ||
Antonia Murphy | Play Sport Australia | ||
The nominations were announced on 9 October 2016 and saw the introduction of the Best Casting in a Short Film category. The ceremony was held at the Holding Redlich offices in Sydney on 18 November. [6] It was hosted by Danielle Cormack and Dave Eastgate. [7]
Category | Nominees | Work | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|
Best Casting in a Feature Film | Stevie Ray and Kirsty McGregor | Down Under | [3] [6] |
Nikki Barrett | The Daughter | ||
Christine King | The Dressmaker | ||
Anousha Zarkesh | Alex & Eve | ||
Best Casting in a TV Drama | Anousha Zarkesh | Cleverman | |
Anousha Zarkesh | Ready for This | ||
Nikki Barrett | Jack Irish | ||
Kirsty McGregor | Doctor Doctor | ||
Best Casting in a TV Comedy | Tom McSweeney and David Newman | The Family Law | |
Anousha Zarkesh | Rake | ||
Anousha Zarkesh | Black Comedy | ||
Kirsty McGregor | The Letdown | ||
Best Casting in a TV Miniseries or Telemovie | Anousha Zarkesh | The Principal | |
Kirsty McGregor | The Kettering Incident | ||
Nick Hamon | Divorce | ||
Kirsty McGregor | Secret City | ||
Best Casting in a Short Film | Danny Long | Dream Baby | |
Nick Hamon | St Kilda Film Festival Trailer | ||
Stevie Ray and Kirsty McGregor | Problem Play | ||
Anousha Zarkesh | The Mother Situation | ||
The nominations were announced on 20 October 2017. The ceremony was held at the Holding Redlich offices in Sydney on 17 November. [7]
Category | Nominees | Work | Ref(s) |
---|---|---|---|
Best Casting in a Feature Film | Kirsty McGregor | Lion | [3] [7] |
Ben Parkinson | Don't Tell | ||
Nikki Barrett | Hacksaw Ridge | ||
Anousha Zarkesh | Hounds of Love | ||
Best Casting for TV Drama, Miniseries or Telemovie | Alison Telford | Seven Types of Ambiguity | |
Alison Telford | Glitch | ||
Amanda Mitchell | Pulse | ||
Kirsty McGregor | Top of the Lake: China Girl | ||
Best Casting for TV Comedy | Tom McSweeney and David Newman | The Family Law | |
Stevie Ray | Here Come the Habibs | ||
Kirsty McGregor | The Other Guy | ||
Kate Leonard (original casting by Jane Kennedy) | Utopia | ||
Best Casting for a Short Film | David Newman | Banana Boy | |
Daisy Hicks | Dreamweaver | ||
Danny Long | Fysh | ||
Antonia Murphy | SOOP | ||
Achievement in Casting | Janine Snape | Jasper Jones | |
Fountainhead Casting | Event Zero | ||
Stevie Ray | High Life | ||
Janine Snape | Macbeth | ||
Emma Fleming | Testament | ||
Best Casting for a TVC | Antonia Murphy | MLA – "Australia Day" | |
Nick Hamon | Hungry Jacks – "Keeping it real" | ||
Natalie Jane Harvie | Air BnB – "Until We All Belong" | ||
Foxtel – Foxtel Now | |||
Daisy Hicks | "The Next Steps" – Recognise TVC | ||
Danny Long | Airtasker – "Like a Boss" | ||
KFC | |||
Antonia Murphy | Commbank – Multicultural Australians | ||
KFC "Shut Up and Take My Money" Series | |||
Stevie Ray | Audible | ||
Joseph Wijangco | Carefree – "You Know" | ||
"The Big Deal" – Marriage Equality | |||
The Sirius Award was created to recognise the top ten emerging actors from Australia. It was modelled on the Berlin Film Festival's Shooting Stars initiative. [5] In 2015 Mark Coles Smith and Odessa Young won the award. [8] In 2016 the Sirius Award was given to Katherine Langford and Jacob Collins Levy. [9]
Yvonne Jaqueline Strzechowski, known professionally as Yvonne Strahovski, is a Polish Australian actress. She is best known for roles as CIA agent Sarah Walker in the spy comedy drama series Chuck (2007–2012), Hannah McKay in the drama series Dexter (2012–2013), and CIA Agent Kate Morgan in the event series 24: Live Another Day (2014). She stars as Serena Joy Waterford in the drama series The Handmaid's Tale (2017–2022), for which she has received nominations for two Primetime Emmy Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Golden Globe Award.
Sarah Ruth Snook is an Australian actress. She is known for her starring role as Shiv Roy in the HBO drama series Succession (2018–2023), for which she won a Golden Globe Award and earned nominations for three Primetime Emmy Awards.
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Elizabeth Debicki is an Australian actress. After studying drama at the Victorian College of the Arts, she made her film debut with a brief role in the Australian comedy A Few Best Men (2011). Her role in Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby (2013) won her the AACTA Award for Best Supporting Actress. She played Ayesha in the Marvel films Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023). She gained critical attention for her performance in Steve McQueen's heist thriller Widows (2018). The following year, she received the Cannes Film Festival's Trophée Chopard. She then co-starred in Christopher Nolan's science fiction thriller Tenet (2020).
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The 3rd Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts International Awards, were presented by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA), a non-profit organisation whose aim is to identify, award, promote and celebrate Australia's greatest achievements in film and television. Awards were handed out for the best films of 2013 regardless of geography, and are the international counterpart to the awards for Australian films. The ceremony took place at Sunset Marquis in Los Angeles, California on 10 January 2014 and will be televised in Australia on 12 January on the Arena network.
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