Filling the world of “The Pitt” was a tall order for casting directors Cathy Sandrich Gelfond and Erica Berger. The pair, who celebrate seven years of working together this month, have experience putting together impressive ensembles for shows like “Mayor of Kingstown” and “Love & Death.” But the HBO Max medical drama is a beast of its own. Set in the ER of a Pittsburgh hospital, the show required a large ensemble cast of medical professionals and patients. Add to that the fact that the show is set in real time, with 15 episodes covering a 15-hour workday and you’re looking for actors who must be present in every scene, even if they’re not speaking.
The pair cast over 300 roles outside of the background actors. “If you say one scripted word, that was us,” confirms Gelfond. Adds Berger, “There were even people who whose conditions didn’t allow for them to speak, but there was action, so we cast them as well.”
Gelfond compares it to casting a play: “In theater, people are on the stage a lot, even when they’re not necessarily talking. So the idea was to put together kind of a theater company that would inhabit this world. The set was kind of a casting director’s dream.”
It was also a big plus that those in charge — creator, showrunner and executive producer R. Scott Gemmill, executive producer John Wells and executive producer and star Noah Wyle — were open to actors who weren’t already famous faces.
“The team was just as excited as we were about filling it out with new people that maybe we haven’t seen before,” says Berger. “That’s always incredibly exciting to get to do. It’s exciting for us, as well, because it means we’re going to see a lot of people that maybe we don’t even know yet.”
Some of these new faces included Shabana Azeez, who plays Victoria Javadi, a 20-year-old medical student whose parents are also doctors at the hospital. “She lived in Australia, and we had literally never seen her before,” says Gelfond. Similarly, they were unfamiliar with Supriya Ganesh, who portrays medical resident Dr. Samira Mohan. “I didn’t know her until she walked in the door,” says Berger.
Another major discovery: Patrick Ball, who plays Dr. Frank Langdon, the right-hand man to Wyle’s senior attending physician Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch. The actor’s only previous TV role was an episode of “Law & Order” from 2023.
Gelfond says Langdon was one of the toughest roles to fill; Ball was the last actor cast.
“He was out of Yale a couple of years and hadn’t done much,” she says. “That’s the beauty of auditioning; that’s why you do it. Because you can’t know everybody. I never like to say ‘discoveries’ because they’ve been working hard all those years. What’s fun is putting them in parts that let them shine.”
That also extended to actors they’ve seen before, who they were able to bring in and cast in pivotal roles. For Berger, one of the first people to spring to mind was Fiona Dourif, who plays Dr. Cassie McKay, a single mother with a mysterious ankle bracelet that hints at a past skirmish with the law.
“I’d seen her in things over the years and in auditions and she’s so unique and incredibly talented,” says Berger. “Meeting in person and hearing them talk about the character, I was so excited, like a little kid in school who has the answer to a question. I was so thrilled she got it.”
Wyle made a point of being active during the audition process. “Noah was in the room all the time, for almost all of the auditions, and he was so kind and wonderful and respectful with the actors,” Gelfond says. There were still many chemistry reads. Katherine LaNasa, who plays charge nurse Dana Evans and shares a great rapport with Wyle, lives in Atlanta and originally auditioned via self-tape before Zooming with the team. “Noah was there, and they were all talking, but there was never a one-on-one read. They met at the table read and had instant chemistry.”
This was common for actors playing opposite one another, such as Mackenzie Astin and Rebecca Tilney, who share emotional scenes as siblings torn over resuscitating their dying father. “We really cast people individually and often their first time meeting was on set,” says Berger.
When Berger saw that one patient, Minu, only speaks Nepalese, she wasn’t sure where to start. Then they received Arun Storrs’ tape from Nepal and “she was amazing.”
One of the most talked-about scenes involves a woman named Natalie who gives birth, played by Enuka Okuma. The scene is so graphic and realistic, many viewers wondered if a pregnant woman was giving birth on camera.
“No, we did not do that,” Gelfond says with a laugh. “That might have really put us over the edge!”
Instead, the effect was pulled off with prosthetics, puppeteers and a deeply convincing performance by Okuma.
Having seen so many actors over the years, the two are straightforward in what they say they’re looking for. “Be honest,” Gelfond says of those auditioning. “You always see the truth.”
When self-taping, they recommend not getting too hung up in the technical side. “We need to be able to see you and hear you. A blank background is great, but that’s not what it’s about. It’s about what parts of you are unique to this character and what you can bring to it.” Berger agrees, “A great performance speaks for itself.”
They also want actors to keep in mind that even if they don’t book a specific role, they’ll be remembered down the line. “A good audition is never wasted,” says Gelfond. “There have been times where six projects down, we remembered someone and brought them in. You don’t forget the really good ones.”
