Interview with Sharon Bialy
Sharon Bialy is a Casting Director. Her credits include Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, and Drugstore Cowboy.
TV
Contents
Max Raskin: We originally met through Ran Barak, our language teacher, who is just a superb person. And when I edit the interview, I want to be even more superlative than that.
You had mentioned that you really enjoy watching foreign TV, foreign movies. What other languages do you speak?
Sharon Bialy: I am currently learning French. When I was taking Hebrew lessons during Covid, I really immersed myself, did my homework and watched a lot of Hebrew content. I've rewatched Fauda twice, maybe three times, and I watched other Israeli television shows, so that I would just hear the language. I've been doing the same thing now with French television, French movies.
MR: What show have you re-watched the most in your life?
SB: Well, some are because of my children. I watched Pride and Prejudice probably 21 times with my daughter.
MR: When your kids were younger, was there anything on TV you remember them being obsessed with?
SB: Yes, but even though I make my living in television and film, I did not allow my kids to watch television during the week until they were in high school. They really were upset about that, and nobody could understand it, since I work in television. I just wanted them to read more, and they both learned to play instruments.
But then they would make up for it on the weekend. I did not watch everything with them because I don't do animation, and they loved The Simpsons, but I would sit and watch 24 with my son. I watched all the Gilmore Girls with my daughter multiple times.
It’s funny, because years later, we cast Alexis Bledel in The Handmaid's Tale. And I said, "I really know the scope of her work." And the producers asked, "How do you know that?" I said, "I watched each episode of Gilmore Girls five times." I think children like to watch things over and over again — it’s comforting.
MR: It’s anxiety-binding and allows them to both work through things and control them.
SB: My daughter and I watched Across the Universe at least 15 times.
MR: Do you have a movie soundtrack that you love?
SB: I loved Across the Universe. I love the way Christopher Nolan uses music. I think it's pretty great. I love John Williams’ soundtracks with Spielberg's movies.
MR: Nolan is a lot of Hans Zimmer, right?
SB: Yeah, also — it was just the 35th anniversary of Point Break, which I cast with Rick Pagano. I just went to the screening, which was a beautiful print, with Mark Isham's score. And I thought the soundtrack was just as exciting today as it was then.
MR: I loved the American Graffiti soundtrack when I was younger.
SB: The music supervisor for Breaking Bad was Thomas Golubić, and the composer was Dave Porter, and I thought they were incredible. They also did Better Call Saul and now Pluribus.
MR: My dream job is to pick songs that match the mood of the movie or show. I think I have a preternatural talent for it.
SB: That's a music supervisor.
MR: This is my dream job.
SB: Thomas [Golubić] oftentimes starts his ideas just from reading a script, which is really a talent.
MR: That’s so cool.
"You're an actor? Which restaurant?"
MR: I know you talked about being into Broadway and movies when you were younger, but what about TV? Did your parents let you watch TV?
SB: I wasn't necessarily a TV baby. At a certain time, there was one TV in the house, and then we moved to two. In fact, I remember going next door to watch The Wizard of Oz because they had a color TV.
I was a big Star Trek fan because my older brother got control of the TV. I've only asked for three autographs in my life. And one of them was Nichelle Nichols, Lieutenant Uhura. I apologized and asked her if she'd sign her headshot to give to my brother.
MR: So obviously the next question is who are the other two?
SB: Tom Stoppard. I saw him after one of his plays on Broadway, and I just geeked out. And then Sean Lennon, just because my daughter was with me and I said, "Go ask for his autograph."
"Who is he?"
"It's a Beatle’s son. Just go ahead." That's it.
MR: Is it weird living in LA and doing what you do? I was thinking about an analogy before the interview — it’s like being head of the Presidential Personnel Office while living in DC.
SB: Right.
MR: You live in a place where you're the gatekeeper to the one industry in that town.
Do people know who you are?
SB: It's a good question. It's so different now than it used to be.
Because of social media, people sometimes will recognize you, and I'm always shocked by that, because that's what happens to actors.
It doesn't happen all the time, but it'll happen at restaurants with a reservation, because they know your name.
I have an old joke, "You're an actor? Which restaurant?"
So that has happened a number of times at restaurants.
MR: Do people bother you when you're eating your soup?
SB: No, they'll just say something, and then they're pretty cool and they leave you alone. Usually working actors will just introduce themselves and say, "It's so nice to have you at the restaurant. Please enjoy." Somebody who is less experienced and doesn't work a lot will literally say, "Can I give you a card or a resume?" And I'll say, "Honestly, I'll just lose it."
MR: I would be in the second group. I would be so pushy.
SB: I understand it. They have an opportunity.
MR: It’s like my bubbie said, “If you don’t ask, you don’t get.”
SB: That's right. And so, I don't get angry at anybody. I certainly understand.
But I'd be honest and say, "Just tell me your name. I'll write it down."
MR: I would be insufferable. I would read you the menu like it was Shakespeare.
SB: No, you wouldn't.
One thing I do hear is, "It's hard to get into your office." So I understand why someone would do that.
Cinematic Memory
MR: What part of your job takes up the bulk of your time?
SB: The bulk of the time is looking at emails, watching auditions, watching tapes, reading with actors and doing the homework of researching actors. When you're in a weekly television show, if it's on a network, those things move quickly. So you're auditioning people, looking at tapes, negotiating deals, being on the phone or emailing with agents. That takes up a lot of time.
My favorite thing to do is be in the room with actors, either a Zoom room these days, or live, because that's why I became a casting director. After Covid, it's really moved to self-tapes, and there's a whole discussion around it. I think most actors are frustrated by it, and I understand it, so we try to Zoom a lot.
The positive part is that it has also democratized the process and given more opportunities, so you don't have to live in LA. You can live in Albany, and if you have an agent or you've done some work, you can get a job right from home. I think that's wonderful. So, I watch a lot more auditions than I used to, because I can open it up to the whole world.
MR: Are you someone who's on TikTok and Instagram and YouTube a lot?
SB: I don't do TikTok. I watch things on YouTube, but I'm not on YouTube a lot. I'm on Instagram. I watch a lot of movies at home, a lot of television. And I know this is going to sound crazy, but I read.
MR: What are you reading right now?
SB: I am reading Jodi Picoult's book, By Any Other Name. It's really good, really good. I'm in a book club that I started, wow, almost 30 years ago, and we're still going. And without that, I would not be as well-read.
MR: What was the first book you read in the book club?
SB: The Reader. They made a movie of it with Kate Winslet.
MR: Who wrote the book?
SB: Bernhard Schlink.
Let me just double-check that I'm giving you the right guy [checks]. Yes, Bernhard Schlink, I was right. The memory still works. You have to have a good memory to be a casting director.
MR: Do you have an eidetic memory? Is it a photographic memory?
SB: It was. When I was younger, it was truly a photographic memory. We used to have these books called The Academy Players Directory, and I would remember where an actor was on the page.
MR: Oh, wow.
SB: And then I used to have a game of remembering who their agent was, who they were married to.
I used to go to Sundance with a group of casting directors, and we had a contest. Spot an actor, you get a point. Name his agent, you get a second point. Name who they're sleeping with, you get a third point.
MR: That's amazing.
Can you name me one of your high school teachers?
SB: Oh, yeah. Mr. Vertucci, for chemistry.
MR: Can you name me an elementary school teacher?
SB: Mrs. Marinbach, for math.
MR: Wow. And can you name me one of your kids' stuffed animals?
SB: Oh god, they had so many. Give me a minute.
Oh, my daughter would kill me for not remembering this. She had a lot of different ones, and they both collected Beanie Babies.
She named her blanket “Maki.”
Brad Pitt or NGE
MR: How do you organize your day?
SB: I usually go into the office three days a week, and I work from home two days a week. I try to get to the office by 10:00, which is nice.
And then you come home from work, but it’s not over. I confess, I work really hard (as does my whole office), and I think that's one of the reasons I've been able to stay successful. At night you're doing your homework — either watching tapes or watching TV. You can barely relax, because every time you're watching a television show, you're working.
MR: How do you keep track of your to-do list? Is it written down?
SB: I have a notebook.
MR: What kind?
SB: With lines.
MR: Are you particular about the brand?
SB: No.
MR: What about the pen you use?
SB: I will only write with one pen — it's a joke in my office. Pilot Precise V5 Rolling Ball Extra Fine. They hide them from me, and I’ll yell, “Isabel, where is my pen?”
We keep notes on every actor we meet and every audition.
MR: And what's an example of a note that you'll write?
SB: That I can share?
MR: Yes!
SB: Sometimes I'll write something about what they look like — a really great face. Sometimes I'll write — Vince [Gilligan] would love this face. You understand the aesthetic of Vince Gilligan and other producers you work with. Or you write down — great actor. Really handles language well.
Don’t believe them as the son of a New York billionaire.
He'll be great in a football movie.
That kind of thing.
MR: Is it ever mean?
SB: Sometimes just about the agent, we'll say, "What were they thinking?"
MR: Oh, interesting.
SB: If it's not good, I honestly just put NGE (“not good enough” for this). Because there are a lot of young actors who are really talented but not right for something for a specific reason.
MR: But you're never like, "This guy looks like Danny DeVito if he got hit with a brick."
SB: Not like that. It's more complimentary.
Like Brad Pitt, I remember writing down, "He's so not right for this, but oh my God, he's going to be a star. It doesn't matter."
Burning Down the House
MR: Where are your glasses from?
SB: Paris.
MR: Are you a clothes hound?
SB: No. I hate shopping. I'm one of the few American women who don’t like shopping. I took my daughter to Ireland, and there was an actor there who hooked us up with another actor, Cathal Sheahan, who was a tour guide. And he came to meet us and he said, "Where can I take you shopping?" And we both looked at him and said, "We don't want to go shopping. We want to see what makes Ireland special."
I like clothes, but I'm not a clothes horse.
MR: Do you collect anything?
SB: I collect signed books, and it's a pretty great collection.
MR: If the house is burning down, which one are you taking?
SB: This room did burn down, and many of my signed books didn't make it, and they're irreplaceable. It was just heartbreaking. I had a fire in this room because of the dryer. It was a dryer fire. The joke was my daughter burned my house down.
It was mostly the smoke, but the sprinkler system worked, and that drenched everything (so the house did not burn down). Maurice Sendak signed Where the Wild Things Are.
MR: I mean, I'm Max.
SB: Look at this — he drew something for my son.
MR: Wow.
SB: And then my son was really angry at me because I had a book signed by William Burroughs.
It said, "Thank you for making me a star," because I gave him his SAG card.
I have his book, but it's smoked, burned, everything.
I put him in a movie called Bloodhounds of Broadway. That's how he got his SAG card. And then I got the movie Drugstore Cowboy for two reasons. I knew how to pronounce Dilaudid, and all the other casting people he met did not, because I had a cousin who was a quadriplegic and he took Dilaudid for pain. And I had given Mr. Burroughs his SAG card, so Gus Van Sant cast him in Drugstore Cowboy.
MR: That’s in Naked Lunch, right?
SB: Yeah, that's what I have signed, Naked Lunch.
And I collected seltzer bottles. I don't have a big collection.
And I collect striped rocks. At first I just collected interestingly shaped rocks, then striped rocks, and then heart-shaped rocks. And it's really hard to find a heart-shaped striped rock.
MR: Do you think there's a throughline in these collections?
SB: Wow. The rocks, I know where I was when I got them, how I felt. The books have stayed with me. The seltzer bottle had meaning because I grew up in Brooklyn, and we used to make egg creams, with seltzer.
MR: Where in Brooklyn did you grow up?
SB: Flatbush.
MR: You still have the accent out there.
SB: A little bit. When I talk to my mom — who's still alive at 97 and a half — then it comes out. Or if I talk to New Yorkers.
I went to school at the University of Minnesota, and the theatre school got rid of the accent when I was there.
MR: I hear it very strongly.
MR: Do you have any apps on your phone that you use that people might not have heard of?
SB: I have the IMDb Pro app on my phone, and I use that a lot. And Duolingo for French.
MR: Do you have your own business?
SB: Yes — Bialy/Thomas & Associates, and we have an office in Sherman Oaks.
We're one of the few casting companies that still have offices. So many just audition through self-tapes.
After Covid we gave up our office, and when it was time to come back, I just said, "I didn't become a casting director to sit in my pajamas and watch self-tapes." So, Sherry Thomas (my business partner) and I decided to take the plunge and get another office. We like the team approach. We love the people we worked with.
MR: How many auditions do you do a day?
SB: In person, not that many a day. And it goes in waves. Some days 5, some days 15 (about 10% are live).
Waymo, the Horror!
MR: Have you seen these AI-generated Seinfeld episodes with Jerry Seinfeld and Donald Trump? And I think the number one song in Sweden for a while was from an AI band no one knew about.
SB: Yeah, I don't want to do that.
MR: How does it make you feel though?
SB: I don't believe AI will ever fully replace the creativity and spontaneous talent of actors. And I hope that audiences don't want to watch all AI movies.
MR: Let's say they do.
SB: It just will be a very sad day.
MR: You would be bummed out?
SB: Incredibly.
MR: But you don’t feel that way about doctors, for instance?
SB: I think there are some things that AI can do that would help a radiologist. They can read the X-ray quickly.
MR: Let’s say we got to the point where AI was better at diagnoses than ER docs.
SB: I think it's a tool to use as an assistant with a doctor, but I think sometimes you just cannot replicate being in the moment, being with someone, and seeing something.
Would I be comfortable with it? No, I won't even go in a Waymo.
MR: You won't go in a Waymo?
SB: To me, it's a horror movie. And the one thing I don't watch is horror movies, and all I can think of is, "I'm going to get in the Waymo, and the doors are not going to open."
MR: Is there a horror movie that particularly upset you in your life?
SB: Yes. When I was young — too young — I went to see The Exorcist with my friends. It scared me. I got home and slept with my mother and father in the middle of their bed for three nights. Finally, my mother said, "What's going on?"
And I was like, "I'm sorry, I went to see The Exorcist."
"Oh, it's fine. You're Jewish. Don't worry about it."
"Okay." And I went back to my bed.
MR: That’s so funny.
SB: That movie and The Birds. I'm terrified of birds from seeing The Birds at an early age. I'm still afraid of birds. I won't watch horror movies. They make money, and it's great, but early on when someone wanted me to meet Naomi Watts at the beginning of her career, I just could not watch The Ring.
MR: Where do you draw the line? Would you watch Seven?
SB: I'm good with violence. Seven was scary, but I don't consider Seven a horror movie. I consider it a disturbing movie. And when they're really well-made, I am analyzing the art of the filmmaking while I'm watching it, so it doesn't hit the same way.
MR: Psycho?
SB: I watched Psycho.
MR: Is that a horror movie?
SB: That's probably a horror movie.I had to watch it, but I think I watched it during the daytime.
Literally, I couldn't finish Widow's Bay. I watched the first three episodes, and I thought it was great. I think Matthew Rhys is fantastic, everybody in it is great, it deserves all the accolades. And I just couldn't do it because I watch TV at night. And I was like, "I can't finish. I'm scared."
MR: Do you call it a show or a program?
SB: I call it a show.
MR: You don't call it a program?
SB: No.
MR: I call them programs.
SB: I think because the executives call it programming.
You’ve Got That Thing
MR: You have spent a lot of your career with famous people. Who have you met in person who has that sparkle? Bill Clinton has it, for example.
SB: Movie stars have a charisma and a charm. They just have that sparkle. Bryan Cranston, when you're around him, he just has that charisma.
MR: He's the name that pops into your head?
SB: There are so many, but he has that.
Back in the day, I really thought Matt Dillon had that “it” thing.
MR: What about Don Rickles? Did you know Rickles?
SB: I didn't know him, but I hired him for an episode of The Unit, the David Mamet–Shawn Ryan show.
MR: That's funny.
SB: The crew was so excited. It was truly exciting.
You know who else? Aidan Turner. He was Poldark. Meeting him, he really had that “it” factor.
MR: I guess I’m surprised you’re not saying Tom Hanks or someone like that.
SB: Well, only because I haven't really met him.
MR: Is there anyone that you get weak-kneed over? Like if Paul McCartney were to walk into your office?
SB: I got weak-kneed over Sam Shepard. I couldn't even talk.
MR: Do you get stage fright?
SB: It used to be that if I would meet someone famous, the New York would come out in me. And that is how I hid my fear. With Russell Crowe, early on, I remember just being really New York.
MR: What does "the New York in you coming out" mean?
SB: Just my moxie, just to make somebody comfortable. The accent…I don't know.
MR: And what does not New York look like?
SB: A little more reserved.
MR: Do you curse?
SB: Yes. And I really try to stop, a lot.
MR: That's funny. So maybe that's New York.
SB: I try hard not to, but it's just…it’s an adjective.