Julie Alter

As a Casting Director for 20+ years, Julie has cast for Martin Scorsese, Arthur Penn, Ed Zwick, Abel Ferrar, Robert Rodriguez, William Friedkin, Allan Arkush, John Milius, Joe Dante, John Landis, and more. Films cast include Martin Scorsese's "The Last Temptation of Christ," "Tokyo Pop," and LA consult to Abel Ferrar on "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," and King of New York. Television credits include "thirtysomething," HBO's "Dream On," two series for Norman Lear, TNT's "Rough Riders," Showtime's "Rebel Highway" (A Ten Film Homage to Roger Corman's Films). In casting Showtime's Rebel Highway, Julie's eye for young talent helped launch the careers of Jared Leto, Rene Zellweger, John Hawkes, Julie Bowen, Adrien Brody, Giovanni Ribisi, Anne Heche, Selma Hayek, David Arquette, Patricia Arquette, Brad Pitt, Alicia Silverstone, Jake Busey, and Paul Rudd, among others. She also casts AFI, UCLA, CSUN & USC Thesis Films, 'cause who can resist young talent ... Having paused her career to raise her kids, she returned to work in 2011 to cast Alberto Belli's charming short "The Case of the Missing Garden Gnome" (2012 "Funny or Die" Short Film Festival) Current projects include the indie feature "Long Live the Squirrels!" written and directed by Allan Katz, and "Creditors," by August Strindberg, directed by David Trainer at The Odyssey Theatre. At the start of her career in NY, she assisted Lynn Kressel (Law & Order), and worked on dozens of B'way shows with the venerable B'way casting directors Geoff Johnson & Vinnie Liff (Les Mis, Cats, Dreamgirls, Phantom of the Opera, Les Liaisons Dangereuses,Miss Saigon, Guys & Dolls, The Producers, Amadeus, Chess, The Elephant Man, and more). As Casting Director for Manhattan Theatre Club she cast plays for Arthur Penn, Lynne Meadow, John Patrick Shanley, Beth Henley, and David Trainer. Julie also does audition prep, helping actors to pry open the window on story and character from the often limited, and sometimes weak audition material that is offered to them. The goal is to break in to the audition space with an entire world in place, and breath life, love, smarts, and humor into their "sides," whether they are well-written or not. She loves to help actors shake things up, make surprising and singular character choices, and leave a lasting imprint in the room. It's a passion, and the process makes auditions pop. She studied Directing & Acting at Northwestern University (Chicago) with Frank Galati (Steppenwolf Theatre), Wallace Bacon, and David Downs, and graduated from the 2 Year Professional Workshop at Circle-in-the-Square Theatre School in Manhattan, where she was mentored by Larry Moss, Ed Berkeley, Ada Brown Mather; and the legendary Nikos Psacharopoulos, Founding Artistic Director of The Williamstown Theatre Festival. Upon being graduated, she steeped herself in NY theatre for a decade, and then moved to LA to cast the series "thirtysomething".