Former CW Head Of Casting Dana Theodoratos Joins Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute As Head of Talent
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The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute has brought in veteran TV casting executive as Head of Talent, a newly created position focused on transitioning the Institute’s students to becoming professional actors in film and TV.
Theodoratos spent the last 20 years at the CW and its predecessor UPN, most recently as EVP of Talent & Casting, overseeing casting for the CW. She was part of the mass layoffs last fall following the CW’s acquisition by Nexstar and its pivot away from original scripted series developed in-house.
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In her new role, Theodoratos will produce an annual talent showcase — a staple of college acting programs to present their talent to agents, managers, casting directors and executives — and will oversees the development of a casting database of the Institute’s top talent to put forth to the casting community. Theodoratos will also spearhead an industry-wide professional guest speaker series focused on actors and casting for the Institute, which has branches in West Hollywood, CA and New York, NY.
During her CW tenure, Theodoratos supervised the casting of series such as Riverdale, All American, All American, The Flash, Supergirl, The 100 and Jane the Virgin and co-supervised casting on Gossip Girl, The Vampire Diaries and Nikita.
From 2002 to 2006, Theodoratos served as VP, Talent & Casting at UPN where she had a hand in discovering breakout talent such as Kristen Bell, star of Veronica Mars, and Kevin Hill’s Christina Hendricks. From 1999 to 2002, Theodoratos was the Manager of Casting at Michael Ovitz’s ATG
“I’ve spent the better part of my career championing emerging talent, which is what I love to do most, and am so excited to get to work with [Artistic Director] David [Lee Strasberg] and all of the incredible new talent coming out of the prestigious Strasberg Institute,” said Theodoratos.
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