Casting Directors Sara Kay and Jenny Lewis Discuss the Differences Between Canadian and American Casting

It’s easy to forget how much production happens in Canada until you look at the resumes of stalwart casting directors like Sara Kay and Jenny Lewis. The Toronto-based partners that run Lewis Kay Casting have worked on some of the hottest TV shows on the air, including What We Do in the Shadows, The Boys, and its new spinoff, Gen V, which premiered on Amazon Prime on September 29th.

They’re also the casting directors for the enormous cult hit Letterkenny and its spinoff, Shoresy, the second season of which hits Hulu on October 27th.

That old salt about Canadians being nicer might be a load of baloney, but you would never know it by talking to these two. Not only do they play perfectly off each other — which makes sense considering they’ve been working together for 18 years — but they also clearly love what they do and enjoy talking about it. They chatted with us from Toronto, Jenny from the team’s office, and Sara from home.

How did you get into casting in the first place, and how did you connect?

Sara Kay: By accident. I graduated from university many moons ago. I had done this education theater education program where I was working with kids with special needs, and when I came home to Toronto, there were just no jobs. Someone told me they were looking for casting runners at a commercial casting house called Powerhouse Casting. I thought, ‘Well, it’s a job.’ That was like, 25 years ago. I went from commercials to principal casting, and then Jenny and I joined forces.

Jenny Lewis: She’s retired now, but one of the older, well-established agents in the city had worked for my dad when I was a kid. So when I was casting around for a job, she said, ‘I’ve always thought you should be an agent.’ So I thought, ‘Okay, at 21 I became an agent.’ But I hated the people I worked for and quit, ran away and became an artist. That didn’t work out, so I came back and thought, ‘What do I want to do now?’ I went back and spoke to her and she said, ‘What about casting?’ She got me a job with a casting director, and then that was it. I was in casting. I didn’t even know it was a job.

SK: Because you can’t go to school for it, and the only thing you know for sure is, as you’re growing up, and Jenny and I both did this, we would watch a movie or a TV show and recap the whole thing, but who would ever think you could make it a career?

JL: That agent said to me that when I was like eight years old, my dad would take me to the Stratford Festival here, which is our big Shakespearean Theatre Festival. I would come home and she would ask me how the play was. At eight years old, I’d say, ‘Well, that woman kind of had a face for radio.’ Apparently, I said things like that at eight. So in her mind, I was always destined for this job.

SK: But to answer your other question, Jenny was running an assistant’s party. She made this huge Christmas party every year and all these assistants would get together. One year, I offered to help. It became a very big deal. Jenny was already out on her own for like about a year. I had been working for a horrible casting director, just a horrible boss, very abusive. So I said, ‘I gotta get the hell out of here.’ So I quit, then I kept going to Jenny’s office to hang out. Then one day, she said, ‘Why don’t we just work together?’

JL: I was just sitting there, waiting, thinking, ‘Are you going to ask me?’ Because I’m waiting for you to say that you want to work with me. It was like dating.

That’s pretty charming. Is there a big difference between Canadian casting and American casting?

JL: It’s a different standard here. In LA, even when you see self tapes, they often have their sides. Not Canadians. Just as a rule, they memorize their sides. You’re not told to. You don’t have to; of course, you can have your sides. We often say to an actor [to] just hold them. Like somehow the words will go from that paper through your hand to your brain by osmosis.

SK: I think here in Canada, we have more to prove. It’s like you have to work much harder than the American to get the job. I’ve auditioned a lot of well-known Americans here or had them come in or do self tapes or something, and it’s so interesting [to see] the difference. They’ll have the sides —and they have not memorized anything— but it’s so great. They’re confident. They own it. They’re like, ‘I’m gonna look down, but I’m still gonna give you a great performance.’ No one in Canada can do that. Literally nobody.

How has the strike affected you up there?

SK: All of my shows went away. We were in the middle of shooting Cruel Intentions, that obviously up and left. We were about to start Motorheads, also for Amazon, and now we don’t know. What We Do In The Shadows was coming back for season six. Who knows? Gen V was supposed to come back and start shooting in September. Who knows? So it’s going to be this sort of weird thing where it’ll all just fall apart for now. And then it’s going to be like right after COVID where everyone’s going to want to come back as soon as the strike is done, and it’s going to be pandemonium here.

JL: Come January, February, I’m assuming the strike will be done, and we’ll be back at work. That’s usually when we’re nice and slow. People don’t like being in Canada in January and February. Also, Sara handles most of the American productions and I tend to work exclusively here, so I’ve not had any downtime at all. I’ve had one or two things going this entire time through the strike.

You said before we started that you know my final question, but I’m going to ask anyway. What piece of advice or wisdom would you give to an actor coming to audition for you?

SK: When I do acting workshops, they all want to hear that we’re on their side. I find they’re always surprised when we say we are. You could ask around in Toronto, you will hear we are probably the most welcoming, nicest, most normal, least crazy casting directors because we really are just about casting the part. We want you to get the part.

JL: But you still have to come and bring your best version every time. Put your own stamp on the character. It’s that intangible thing you can’t describe that makes a person right for a part. It has nothing to do with how great a read you gave or how prepared. It could be as simple as your hair color. It can be very random. I think that’s the hardest thing.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

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