“Together with Lina, you can make something new, something that previously did not exist.”
Lina Todd is an international casting director, producer, film festival talent coordinator, coach, and actor. She has cast 60+ feature films in the US, Europe, UK, and China, as well as commercials and TV, working closely with actors and directors from 30+ nations.
She casts films for many prominent directors including Peter Weir, Douglas McGraft, John Moore, Gilles Paquet-Brenner, Jodie Foster, Shirin Neshat and Shoja Azari, Kenneth Lonergan, Mikhael Hers, Sandra Goldbacher, Jennifer Lynch and Ning Hao.
Some of the wonderful talent she casts includes: Sam Rockwell, Michelle Williams, Saorise Ronan, Colin Farrell, Ed Harris, Mark Ruffalo, Matt Dillon, Faye Dunaway, Anne Hathaway, Kerry Washington, Jim Broadbent, Sam Shephard, Dennis Hopper, Pam Grier, Seymour Cassel, Aasif Mandvi, Rebecca Fergusson, Sebastian Koch, Danny Glover, John Leguizamo, Parker Posey, Spaulding Grey among many others.
Lina is currently casting an action/adventure film produced in China. She is also the talent director and coordinator for the Gotham Awards. Previously she was responsible for assembling celebrity members for the International Jury of the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) and has been a celebrity strategist for several international festivals. She recently received an Artio Nomination from the Casting Society of America for the movie SWAN SONG (2022).
“One of Lina’s superpowers is her global expertise.”
She was the first US casting director invited to be a mentor and later to serve on the jury at the European Film Promotion’s exciting Shooting Stars initiative, which selects Europe’s top new talent. She lectured, organized and spoke on panels, and mentored actors, a highlight of the festival. In addition, she built relationships with US talent agencies for 20+ years and drew them into the program.
Lina was also the co-head of development and casting for the acclaimed independent film studio, Shooting Gallery during its heyday, bringing together creative teams to write, produce, and direct, in addition to selecting and packaging films with the actors.
In parallel, she co-founded (with Rajendra Roy) the ‘Breakthrough Performers’ program for the Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF), which she directed for over a decade, collaborating with Variety’s ‘Ten Actors to Watch’. Alumni for this program include: Jessica Chastain, Alicia Vikander, Rooney Mara, Domhnall Gleason and Adam Driver.
In her formative years, Lina studied at Bard College and SUNY Purchase Actors Conservatory Program, then earned an MA in Drama from Columbia University, mentoring under such luminaries as Joseph Anthony, Howard Clurman, and Joseph Mankiewicz.
Upon graduation, Lina became active in the experimental theatre movement in downtown New York City, performing, directing, and appearing in such venues as The Kitchen, La Mama, and St. Mark’s Poetry Project, and co-starring in avant garde film director, Mark Rapaport’s, film IMPOSTERS.
She is a member of the Casting Society of America.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0865215/
Image: Shirin Neshat, LAND OF DREAMS (2021)