Get to Know the Casting Director: Leslie Woo
For this installment of Get to Know the Casting Director, we’re featuring someone who’s known for casting films like Bill & Ted Face the Music and Finding ‘Ohana, as well as series such as Silicon Valley. With a busy slate, Leslie Woo still found time to virtually sit down with Casting Networks and provide a window into the person behind all the credits. Keep reading for insights into where her journey in casting began, as well as some of her proudest moments along the way.
It’s so nice to virtually meet you, Leslie, and I’d love to kick things off by going back to the moment when you knew that casting was for you. What was that like for you?
Well, after college I was in Chicago working in marketing for several years. But then I came out here (to Los Angeles) and wound up interning at a casting office during pilot season. It was of course an unpaid internship and the majority of my workday was spent opening crate after crate of headshots and submissions for all the different roles that they were casting, before sorting everything into piles. It could have felt really tedious, and I did suffer a lot of paper cuts from it [laughs], but when I opened a box, I’d frequently spot the stars of some of my favorite ’80s and ’90s sitcoms, and it really tapped into something I’d enjoyed from a young age. Whenever I watched television growing up, I’d always try and name the title cards of the actors before they came on screen. And it kind of clicked at that moment that this job made all the sense in the world for me. It was a matter of realizing that work could actually feel this exciting.
I love that it was such a moment of clarity for you. You cast Jude Weng’s Finding ‘Ohana, which Netflix released earlier this year. What can you share about the casting process for it?
I’ll start by saying that Jude is my spirit guide [laughs]. She’s incredible, and the rest of the team was as well. We joked that the whole process seemed to have been sprinkled with a little bit of magic fairy dust. That’s because it was a very ambitious search to find child lead actors who were Polynesian, and we especially needed to get it right since the characters’ heritage was such a vital part of the story. We reached out to almost a thousand different organizations and schools, as well as combed through social media to try and find our leads. I saw the headshot of [lead actor] Kea [Peahu] and then looked her up on Instagram. Come to find out, she was this incredible hip-hop dancer and just naturally exuded the character of Pili. And then [lead actor] Alex [Aiono] came to me through his agent’s pitch. Alex had become known as a musician through YouTube, and sometimes it’s hard for artists in other disciplines to transition into acting. But when we brought him in to audition, it was easy to see how naturally talented he was, as well as the amount of work he’d put into training and being coached for the role. He blew everyone away. We ultimately came away with a beautiful ensemble cast, and Jude really made sure that there was and still is a real sense of family with it.
That’s wonderful to hear how it was such a positive experience for everyone involved. Now it’s time for one of my favorite questions to ask. If someone made a film about your life story, which actor would you cast to play the role of Leslie Woo?
It’s funny because I actually got to cast a film that felt so personally reflective. I was about halfway through reading the script for The Half of It and started looking around for cameras. I was like, “Is this The Truman Show?” [Laughs] It was incredible because [writer and director] Alice [Wu] pulled parts of the story from her own life. So it was very cool that somebody who had a completely different upbringing than me had a story to tell that I could relate to so strongly. It would have been extremely helpful for a younger version of me to get to see that film growing up, and it felt very special that there was a part of me that emotionally understood the main character we were casting. Having a firsthand knowledge of some of the journey that the character went through helped me understand what Alice was trying to convey with the role of Ellie Chu. And Leah Lewis did such a phenomenal job of portraying the character and embodying all the struggles the character goes through. But I really see my life as more of a comedy, so if I had to pick an actor to play me, someone like Sherry Cola would be amazing. She’s just hilarious and fantastic and so talented that I know I already have to get in line.
Wow! That’s the first time I’ve talked with someone who has actually cast a film that so closely relates to their own story. It sounds like an incredibly rewarding project to have worked on. And amongst your many proud casting moments, can you share one with us?
It’s a hard question to answer because there are different reasons behind different proud moments. For example, I still remember the first deal I ever negotiated and closed, which was 15 years ago. I remember feeling proud of myself for having come from opening crates of submissions to arrive at that point in my career. And when I got to cast both Winona Ryder and Connie Chung in Sarah Cooper’s comedy special for Netflix last year, that was like two childhood dreams coming true at once! But I have to say, The Half of It was so special because of my personal connection to it and the feedback from kids who watched it. As I said, I wish I would’ve had a film like The Half of It when I was a kid because it would’ve taught me so many valuable things. We received such positive responses from our young viewers that it reminded me of the reason why we make films. There’s always this hope that you can change and open someone’s world and perspective to help them grow. So the incredible response we had to The Half of It was a good reminder that the work we do has an impact.
When asked what was on her watchlist at the moment, Woo mentioned titles such as Money Heist, The Break and The Barrier. “Literally any foreign series on Netflix is what I’ve been watching for the last several years,” she shared. “They’ve just done such a wonderful job in making international series available, which connects us all even more.”
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This interview has been edited and condensed.
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