The Casting Guild of Australia celebrated its 9th annual CGA Awards on Friday evening at a ceremony at Establishment Hotel, Sydney hosted by Julia Zemiro and Genevieve Hegney.
Leading the 2023 CGA Awards was Danny Long, who took home three awards at the ceremony; her work in Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge earned her the award for ‘Best Casting in a Short Film’, alongside ‘Best Casting in a TVC – Community’ for Qantas It Feels Like Home Again and for ‘Achievement in Casting’ for Latecomers.
Anousha Zarkesh picked up the award for ‘Best Casting in a Feature Film’ for the second year in a row for her work on Shayda.
The casting team behind Shantaram, Alison Telford, Kate Leonard, Kate Dowd (UK Casting) and Nikki Barrett (Original Casting), scooped up the award for ‘Best Casting in a TV Drama’, with Kirsty McGregor and Stevie Ray taking out ‘Best Casting in a TV Comedy’ for Colin From Accounts.
Nathan Lloyd won ‘Best Casting in a Telemovie/Miniseries’ for Safe Home while newcomer Rhys Velasquez took out the award for ‘Best Casting in a Theatre Production’ for their work on Choir Boy.
First-time winner Faith Martin took home ‘Achievement in Casting’ for her work on Barrumbi Kids and Natalie Jane Harvie secured the top prize in ‘Best Casting in a TVC’ for the Telstra ‘This is Footy Country’ campaign.
The CGA also officially crowned Australia’s top emerging talent of 2023, highlighting twelve extraordinary actors with the potential to break out on the world stage.
This year’s CGA Rising Stars include Ben Turland (Riptide, Neighbours), Bernie van Tiel (Class of ’07, Blaze), Carlos Sanson Jr (Sweet As, Bump), Costa D’Angelo (Crazy Fun Park, Wog Boys), Emma Harvie (Colin From Accounts, In Limbo), Kartanya Maynard (Deadloch, The Messenger), Natalie Abbott (Aftertaste, A Perfect Pairing), Nathalie Morris (Bump, Petrol), Perry Mooney (Gold Diggers, Romance on the Menu), Raj Labade (Appetite, The Office Australia), William Lodder (Love Me S2, Bali 2002), and William McKenna (The Messenger, Queen of Oz).
The CGA Awards is the only casting awards ceremony in the southern hemisphere that celebrates and recognises casting across all mediums including film, television, advertising, theatre and online content. The annual Awards Ceremony seeks to acknowledge and support the critical role casting directors play in bringing together great casting opportunities both on a national and international stage.