Marcia Ross

Early career

Ross' first professional job was as an apprentice in summer stock theatre at the Westchester Playhouse in Yonkers, New York, followed by touring with a children's theatre company working as an assistant stage manager for producers Barry and Fran Weissler in 1976. She worked at Circle in the Square Theatre in New York City in 1976 and the Monty Silver Talent Agency in 1977. Her first casting job was at CBS Television in New York City in 1979. She then relocated to Los Angeles to work with casting director, Judith Holstra - starting as her assistant, then associate, and partner in Holstra / Ross Casting between 1980 and 1988.^[3]

As casting director

Ross worked as an independent casting director (Marcia Ross Casting)^[4] and casting executive for motion pictures and television, working on feature films, network series, pilots, movies for television, and mini-series. She worked for 16 years as EVP for Casting for the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group,^[4] and for five years as SVP for Casting and Talent Development at Warner Brothers Television between 1988 and 1993.^[5][4]

As a casting director, Ross has been credited with introducing several new acting talents,^[4][6] such as Heath Ledger in 10 Things I Hate About You,^[7][8][9] Anne Hathaway in The Princess Diaries,^[10] Rachel McAdams in The Hot Chick,^[11] Paul Rudd and Brittany Murphy in Clueless,^{[12][13][14][15][16]} Chris Pine in The Princess Diaries 2,^[6] Megan Fox in Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen,^[17] and Jennifer Garner in Mr. Magoo.^[4]

Some of her other notable credits for casting include thirtysomething, Romy and Michele's High School Reunion,^[18][19] The Lookout,^[20] The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy,^[4] Parental Guidance, Small Time,^[21] and Oblivion.^[21]

As producer

Between 2012 and 2015, Ross co-produced the feature-length documentaries The State of Marriage, Father Joseph, and The Savoy King: Chick Webb and The Music That Changed America, with Jeff Kaufman.^[22]

In 2018, Ross co-produced Every Act of Life, a documentary on the playwright and LGBT activist Terrence McNally.^[23] It was broadcast as part of the American Masters series on PBS^[22][24] and received an Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Series.^[25]

In 2020, Ross and Kaufman co-produced Nasrin, which follows the life and work of the Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh, up until the time of her second arrest and imprisonment in 2018.^[26] The film was nominated for Best Political Documentary at the 6th Critics' Choice Documentary Awards.^[27]

Honorary accolades