Casting directors recently achieved a huge victory when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences finally added a new Oscar category of casting for films released in 2025 and beyond.

The first Oscar ceremony was in 1929. The casting director job was created in the 1940s as the Hollywood studio system began dismantling and producers were no longer forced to hire actors on contracts at their studios. The first casting director received on-screen credit in 1972.

So why did it take the academy almost a hundred years to finally recognize our work?

“The casting director is your first advocate,” Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden told me. “And God knows we need many advocates in this business. Casting directors are the first to stand behind you and help push you forward, which is hugely important to an actor.”

Alan Cumming added: “It's great that the academy is finally acknowledging how essential and integral a casting director's work is. We only think about casting when it’s not working so well, and that is a testament to the nuance, care, and dedication to character and story that this group of the film community has........

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