We had the good fortune of connecting with film & television Casting Director, Amanda Lenker Doyle, CSA and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Amanda, how do you think about risk?
When I reflect on all of the various choices I have made throughout my life that have brought me to this moment, it feels as though each and every one was inherently risky…though I prefer the word aspirational.

In 2006, I moved from the middle of Ohio to Los Angeles, CA when I was 22 years old with basically no plan but to try to break into the industry I so desperately wanted to participate in. I had no family on the West Coast, so my friends who I moved from school with became my chosen family.

My first job in casting was in a commercial casting office in Santa Monica, CA. In 2008, when the economy collapsed, I lost my job at that commercial office, but the Casting Director I worked for knew I wanted to work in film and television casting and so she offered to introduce me to her former associate who was now a successful theatrical CD, Sharon Bialy. I took an unpaid internship with Bialy / Thomas & Associates and was then hired for pilot season in 2009. The first show I worked on was the pilot and first six episodes of THE WALKING DEAD. I have a few casting stories that I would call my favorite, but my TWD story takes the cake.

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When we started the show, we were still recording auditions to chip cameras and then burning DVD’s for everyone to watch to consider the actors. I was asked when we started if I knew how to use iDVD. I, of course, had learned by that point that if you don’t know something, you just say yes and then figure it out. Fake it ’till you make it, as they say. We went through the process and about 2 months in, the producers still hadn’t selected anyone to test for the lead role of “Rick Grimes.”

One Friday evening, one of their associates, Gohar, and I had stayed late to finish working and preparing for Monday’s auditions. It was around 11pm and Gohar turned to me and said “I love LOVE ACTUALLY” – to which I responded, “Me too!” Then she suggested Andrew Lincoln for “Rick.” Great idea. She requested that he tape for the role for us that weekend. On Monday, we received his self tape. He was fantastic. I burned his audition to Monday’s DVD and sent it off.

Every Friday, Frank Darabont (the show’s EP and Director) and Sharon Bialy would hop on Skype to discuss the auditions he reviewed that week. As I stood outside Sharon’s office door listening, I heard Frank say – “You all must really like this Andrew Lincoln guy – he has been on every DVD since Monday!”

My heart sank into my stomach. I had obviously messed something up. I thought for sure I was going to get fired in that moment. I ran to my desk to check the duplicate DVD’s I had made. I popped each into my computer. Andrew was NOT on them. I ran down to the writers room to borrow one of those old TVs on a rolling cart with a DVD player. When I started popping the DVD’s in, I realized Andrew’s tape was stuck above the menu – and I had inadvertently forced Frank and the rest of the team to watch all 20+ minutes of Andrew’s audition no less than 5 times that week before they could get to the menu to watch the other actors. That is when I heard Frank say, “You know what, let’s test him.”

And that is how Andrew Lincoln got the role of “Rick Grimes” in THE WALKING DEAD.

Now, obviously, this story isn’t meant to diminish the spectacular work of the casting team on this pilot or the incredible work Andrew put in to get himself this job. It is, however, my favorite example of the Universe working through me – in my clumsiness and dumb-ambition – to position Andrew exactly where he was meant to be.

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In 2020, after spending almost 15 years on the ground in Los Angeles navigating Hollywood and the film industry in our respective crafts, my husband Devin (who went to Ohio University with me and is a cinematographer) and I realized it would take a bit more bravery to survive the most dramatic event our industry and generation had seen to date. With much consideration (and calculation), we took a leap and sold our house in Los Angeles, and drove away. Again, no plan but to figure out how to survive. We spent 2 months in Colorado living with my in-laws and our 2.5 year old daughter while we re-assessed, eventually making our way to Atlanta in January 2021.

The second we landed in Atlanta, Devin jumped on to Netflix’s THEY CLONED TYRONE as the 2nd Unit DP and B Camera Operator, and his career here took off from there. I survived by pivoting to exclusively pursuing independent film casting. We are so lucky to report that the risks we took to get here have yielded the most artistically fulfilling versions of our work to date. Atlanta is such a gift to us. We are forever grateful to have been welcomed with open arms and hearts.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
It took a long time for me to be able to articulate my definition of the art of casting.

When I was serving on the board of the Casting Society (2014 – 2020), I put a series of interviews together for the organization called THE ARCHIVAL PROJECT. I was given the opportunity to interview some of the greatest Casting Directors of our time. At the end of each interview I asked “how would you define the art of casting.” I learned that so many of them did not consider themselves artists – and I knew I needed to work to change that.

In my time in the craft, I have realized that the art is not only in curation – I like to say we are akin to museum curators, but with humans instead of paintings – but also in the ability to see something in someone that they may not even be able to see in themselves.

Identifying potential is not something everyone is capable of. Sure, most people can watch a performance and know if it is great, but the art of casting lies in seeing that before anyone else can.

I have not only learned to spot that potential, but have learned how to create an environment that supports the artists I am working with to give them a space to thrive.

Bringing artists together is my greatest joy and will hopefully be my life’s work.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Devin and I are huge antiquers, so we would obviously start with a tour of our favorite antique shops: Mother Lode, Kudzu Antiques + Modern, Diggers Antiques & Uniques, and Atlanta Vintage Books.

We would take you to Muchacho, Slutty Vegan and Sessions Stand / Brasserie (Marietta) for a latte and lunch, and we would be sure to take you to Forza Storico, The Optimist, BeetleCat, Kimball House and Mac’s Chophouse (Marietta) for dinner.

We also love the Atlanta Botanical Gardens & strolling Piedmont Park.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I of course would love to recognize all of my incredible Casting mentors.

Casting Directors Sharon Bialy & Sherry Thomas (The Walking Dead, Handmaid’s Tale, Barry, The Righteous Gemstones) who were my first teachers and really shaped my taste in actors.

Casting Director & Intimacy Coordinator, Marci Liroff (E.T., Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Arc, A Christmas Story, Pretty in Pink, Footloose, Mean Girls) who has never wavered in her support of my ambitions. She is a true friend and I am so lucky to know her.

And Casting Director, Matthew Lessall, who I met while we both served on the board of the Casting Society (CSA) – he as a former President. Matthew is one of my best friends and has been my rock over the years. His guidance and mentorship supported me through the darkest of times. He is the reason I have not given up. I owe him everything.

Website: www.castingbyamanda.com

Instagram: @casting.amanda

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-lenker-doyle-csa-b58b80127

Other: www.devindoyle.net

Image Credits
Julia Fenner (LeggyBird Photography), Lisa Kelley Remerowski (LKR Photo), Austin Call – @duhrivative (the artwork of me), ABC’s THE MUPPETS, Film WE BROKE UP, WAYNE (now on AmazonPrime).

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