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In the performing arts, casting (or casting call) is a vital pre-production process for selecting a cast (a meaning of the word recorded since 1631) of actors, dancers, singers, models and other talent for a live or recorded performance.

It sometimes involves a series of auditions before a casting panel, composed of individuals such as the producer, director and/or choreographer. In the early stages of the process, candidate performers often may present prepared audition pieces such as monologues or songs. Later stages may involve groups of candidates attempting material from the work under consideration in various combinations; the casting panel considers both the talent of the individual actors and the chemistry of their combination.

There are exceptions to this. When a Casting director is working on a Print Advertising or TV Commercial casting project, then the talent comes in and is photographed or put on video with no one else in the casting session. The day's work of all the talent is then viewed on a website by the clients. A choice can occur that day or the next day with the production being only days away. There is more of this type of casting (commercial/print) going on than any other type.

Depending on the prestige of the role, casting calls may go out to the public at large (typical for community theatre), to professional and semi-professional local actors (for supporting roles in theatre and film) or to specifically selected actors (for leading roles, especially in films).

• In the production of film and television, a similar process is followed. However, especially for major productions, the process of selecting candidates for sometimes hundreds of parts and possibly thousands of extras may often require specialised staff; while the last word remains with the people in artistic and production charge, a Casting director (and/or Casting Assistant, Casting Associate) may be in charge of most of the daily work involved in this recruiting process during pre-production; in addition the "CD" may also remain as liaison between director, actors and their agents once the parts have been cast. Some of them build an impressive career, e.g. working on numerous ambitious Hollywood productions, such as Mary Jo Slater, Rick Pagana and Rick Millikan. The significant organisation of professional screen - and theater casting in the US is the Casting Society of America (CSA), but membership is optional.

At least in the early stages and for extras, casting may be decentralized geographically, often in conjunction with actual shooting planned in different states, e.g. in Hollywood or New York (studio) and one or more exotic locations (e.g. Hawaii, the Far East) and/or budget locations, e.g. Canada, Ireland. Another reason may be tapping in to each home market in the case of an international co-production. However for the top parts, the choice of one or more celebrities, whose presence is of enormous commercial importance, may rather follow strictly personal channels, e.g. direct contact with the director.

• The resulting list of actors filling the parts is called a cast list.

The industry is contentious, with frequent discontent arising from charges of nepotism, stereotyping and bigotry. The term Casting Couch emerged during the so-called "Golden Age" of Hollywood, when would-be-stars often granted sexual favours to directors and/or producers on prospective projects. Celebrated Hollywood and Broadway director Elia Kazan in his autobiography described the Golden Age casting process like this: "when it came to actresses, not Darryl [Zanuck], not Harry Cohn, not Louis Mayer, not Sam Goldwyn needed consultation. They went by a simple rule and a useful one: Do I want to fuck her? I believe this rule of casting is not only inevitable but correct, and quite the best method for the kind of films they made" (p. 229).

Current Daytime Drama Casting Directors

• Mary Clay Boland As The World Turns
• Christy Dooley The Bold & The Beautiful
• Marnie Saitta Days of Our Lives
• Mark Teschner General Hospital
• Rob Decina Guiding Light
• Karen Rea The Young And The Restless

• Stunt casting
• Typecasting
• Character actor
• Stock character
• Dramatis personae
• Film
• Opera
• Theatre
• Ensemble cast

• Jury research

• CastingSociety.com: The Casting Society of America (CSA), the largest professional association of Casting Directors in the world.
• 4Filmmaking.com's Guide to Casting: a step-by-step article for independent filmmakers on how to find, audition, and cast actors.
• IMDb's definition of "casting"
• Career Guide: The Casting Director video interview with Jim Carnahan at American Theatre Wing, 2002
• The Casting Director Working in the Theatre video at American Theatre Wing, 2007
• 2007 Daytime Emmy Awards: Casting Nomineesen:Casting director