Episode 400 - Bernard Telsey

Little Known Facts with Ilana Levine

Bernard Telsey graduated from New York University in 1981 with a degree in Theater Administration and Acting. Soon after, he co-founded MCC Theater with Robert LuPone. Simultaneously, Telsey began working at Meg Simon and Fran Kumin’s office as an assistant for six years, and then as a casting director at Risa Bramon & Billy Hopkins Casting.

He opened his own casting office in 1988. Since then, he, along with his staff of casting directors, associates, and assistants, have cast such Broadway shows as Rent, Wicked, Hamilton, Hairspray, In the Heights, The Color Purple. Recent productions include Days of Wine and Roses, Kimberly Akimbo, Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, Parade, Some Like it Hot, and the upcoming Cabaret, The Notebook, Lempicka, and The Mother Play including countless national tours, Off-Broadway productions, and regional theater productions across the country.

Film credits include the upcoming film adaptation of Wicked, The Color Purple and Mean Girls: the Musical. Other films include Theater Camp, The Little Mermaid, Tik, Tik...Boom, Mary Poppins Returns, In the Heights, The Greatest Showman, Into the Woods, A Most Violent Year, Pieces of April, Margin Call, Sex and the City 1 & 2, Rachel Getting Married, Across the Universe.

Telsey’s current television projects include “And Just Like That”, “Only Murders in the Building”, “The Gilded Age” “Tracker” and “Death And Other Details”. Previous credits include “Schmigadoon”, “Fosse/Verdon”, “This Is Us”, “We Crashed” “Jesus Christ Superstar Live”, “Smash” and “The Big C”.

Telsey won an Emmy Award for casting the pilot of “Ugly Betty” and was nominated for “Only Murders in the Building”, “Fosse/Verdon,” “This Is Us,” “Grease! Live”, “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “The Big C.” He won an Independent Spirit Award for casting Margin Call and was the 2016 recipient of the Casting Society of America’s Hoyt Bowers Award for his contributions to the profession. His staff has cumulatively won over 20 Artios Awards for excellence in casting.

Telsey served as the New York Vice President of the Casting Society of America and sat on the Board of Governors for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He remains one of the Artistic Directors of MCC Theater with William Cantler.

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