The EDI Group

(Equality, Diversity & Inclusion)

The EDI Group (Equality, Diversity & Inclusion) was started two years ago on an informal basis by several CDG members who wanted to find ways to be proactive in promoting these values within our profession, both within the Guild itself, and in our work. Over the past few months we have formalised the group, assigning ‘leads / point people’ to different areas, and establishing a formal system of communication with the CDG committee. Some of the bigger projects we have been working on include creating a paid casting internship for people who are currently underrepresented; professionally auditing audition spaces for accessibility; initiating a system of diversity data monitoring within the CDG; meet and greet events for D/deaf and disabled actors to meet Casting Directors; and upping representation in the CDG’s social media output. We are also working alongside the committee to update the Guild’s Code of Conduct, and have working relationships with the PMA’s Diversity Group, and the Independent Commission for Race Equality launched by Equity.

The EDI Group can be contacted on edigroup@thecdg.co.uk. We also welcome you to contact any of us directly if you prefer – our point areas are listed below, at the end of our biogs.

Sonia Allam

Sonia has been working in casting since 2008. After working alongside some of the UK’S leading casting directors at Gary Davy casting, Catherine Willis casting, ITV, BBC and Lime Pictures, Sonia Allam Casting was founded in January 2019.

Her credits include projects for BBC, STARZ, Amazon Prime, ITV, C4, E4, C5, Discovery ID, National Geographic, Comedy Central, CBBC, Disney, nickelodeon & BFI.

Sonia was one of the founding members of the EDI group and champions better representation on and off screen. Sonia’s point areas are Disability & Race.

Heather Basten

Heather Basten is an English casting director based in London. She has been recognised as a Screen International ‘Star of Tomorrow’, a BAFTA Breakthrough Artist, and a CSA Artios Nominee.
Heather has most recently cast DREAMING WHILST BLACK: the first UK TV series from A24.
Other notable recent works include BIFA-winning stone age film THE ORIGIN; the sophomore feature from UK producer Oliver Kassman (Saint Maud), and US feature HOUSE OF SPOILS for Amazon Studios & Blumhouse.

Heather’s point areas are EDI Liaison, Race and is a Group Liaison alongside Verity

Aisha Bywaters

Aisha Bywaters started working in casting in 2007. Aisha worked for Shaheen Baig for 6 years, she assisted Shaheen on numerous projects including films the IMPOSSIBLE, STARRED UP, BLACK MIRROR and PEAKY BLINDERS. In 2015 she set up her own company, her credits as a casting director include Cyberbully (starring Maisie Williams), THE WATCHMEN (starring Stephen Graham) and ENTERPRICE (written by and starring Kayode Ewumi) for TV. Her film credits include DIRTY GOD and THE LAST TREE (which both premiered at the Sundance Film Festival 2019).

For her work on THE LAST TREE she was nominated for A British Independent Film Award for Best Casting alongside Shaheen Baig. Her upcoming projects include Channel 4 comedy LADY PARTS written and directed by Nida Manzoor. In September 2020 Aisha was named one of Screen International’s UK & Ireland Stars of Tomorrow.

Aisha’s point areas is Race.

Francesca Bradley

Fran has been working in casting since 2010, with her first job being on Captain America: The First Avenger, since then she worked across multiple genres in both film and television including sci-fi, action, horror, crime and mystery. Her credits include Logan, 6 Underground, Ford vs. Ferrari and Transformers: The Last Knight. More recently she worked on co-casting the third series of the critically-acclaimed Das Boot.

Francesca’s point area is Disability.

Ri McDaid-Wren

Ri McDaid-Wren has been Casting Associate to Andy Pryor since 2016. Alongside that she occasionally works on her own projects as Casting Director. She is an impassioned advocate for better representation in the industry both on and off screen, and has been an active member of the EDI Group since its inception.

Ri is Co-Casting Director on the second series of ‘Traces’, alongside Andy Pryor. Credits as Associate to Andy include: ‘It’s A Sin’, ‘Years and Years’; ‘Gentleman Jack’ s1 + 2; ‘Doctor Who’ s10 – present; ‘The A Word’ s.2-3; ‘Traces s1’; ‘Summer of Rockets’; ‘Hard Sun’; ‘Cold Feet’ s8; ‘Stan & Ollie’. Solo Casting Director credits include short films ‘Pork Scratchings’; ‘The Cost of Living’; ‘I Luv Mat Johnson’, as well as various theatre productions.

Ri’s point areas are Getting In To Casting & LGBTQI+.

Ollie Gilbert

Ollie Gilbert is one half of Gilbert and Covell Casting which was established in 2016 by Casting Directors and long-time friends Ollie Gilbert & Katy Covell – we cast TV Series, Films & Commercials of all genres and lengths and enjoy working with promising new film-makers and long established creatives alike. Credits include Feature Film OBEY (Prod Co. Beyond Fiction) which earned lead actor Marcus Rutherford a BIFA nomination for ‘Most Promising Newcomer 2019’.

Ollie’s point area is Communication.

Jill Green

Jill is originally from Newcastle and has been casting for theatre for 20 years and has been a member of the EDI Group since 2018

Jill also casts dancers for film which include PADDINGTON 2 and BLITZ directed by Steve McQueen.

Jill has been nominated for 3 CDG Awards.

Together with Olissa Rogers Jill has worked with Deaf Talent Collective who have created a bespoke Deaf / hard of hearing Awareness Session for Casting Directors for the CDG. Many full / probationary members and their assistants have taken this session and they will continue to work on this throughout 2023.

Jill’s point areas are Deaf / hard of hearing awareness

Olissa Rogers

Olissa Rogers is a Casting Director working on a freelance basis. She began working in the industry back in Germany in 2008. She worked there until 2016 mainly on TV Series. In 2016 she met casting director, Jeremy Zimmermann, and went to be casting assistant for him on several films until 2018. She then moved on to become casting assistant to Kharmel Cochrane for commercials and TV/Film projects. In March 2019 Olissa was approached by Theo Park and was working on big TV projects (e.g Ted Lasso) as her associate where she was until October 2019. From November 2019 until February 2020 Olissa was one of the casting associates to Amy Hubbard. Olissa has also worked for Fiona Weir as one of her associates from June 2020 – April 2022

Olissa’s point areas are Deaf / hard of hearing awareness

Katie Mozumder

Katie worked in TV production before moving into casting in 2017.
Now a Casting Associate at Rachel Sheridan Casting, working on a range of projects for television.
Prior to this, Katie worked as a Casting Associate at Crowley Poole Casting, with Casting Directors Suzanne Crowley and Gilly Poole for 5 years.
Most notable projects include the Emmy and Bafta award winning Killing Eve seasons 1-4 (BBC America) with Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer; The Durrells (ITV), Ragdoll (AMC+, Alibi), We Hunt Together (UKTV) Finding Alice (ITV) and Around the World in Eighty Days (BBC1).
Katie has assisted in casting for several theatre projects for Hampstead Theatre. In 2021, Katie worked as a Casting Director for Tara Theatre and The Lodger at the Coronet Theatre.
Katie is a probationary member of the CDG and is a member of the Equality, Diversity & Inclusion committee.

Katie’s point areas are Getting In To Casting & LGBTQI+

Verity Naughton

Verity Naughton, is a London based Casting Director. She recently completed UK Casting on The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Verity has worked in casting for over 10yrs, working extensively across TV & Film with Jina Jay, Kate Ringsell and Dixie Chassay.

In theatre Verity has cast projects for The Globe, Southwark Playhouse, Chichester Festival Theatre, and the Almeida theatre.
Having originally specialised in young person casting, Verity has cast children in a wealth of West End shows including Frozen (Theatre Royal Haymarket), Mrs Doubtfire, The Ferryman (Royal Court and Gielgud Theatre), School of Rock (New London Theatre), Billy Elliot The Musical (Victoria Palace) and Matilda The Musical (Cambridge Theatre)

Verity’s point areas are EDI Liaison, Disability & Communication and is a Group Liaison alongside Heather

Tom Payne

Tom (they/them) is currently a senior assistant/associate at Daniel Edwards Casting where they have been for the last 3 years and have worked across multiple television projects. A notable mention is they are extremely proud to have worked on Emmy and RTS award winning series Heartstopper S1 & S2 (Netflix).
Tom is one of the founders of GAP workshops of which had its inaugural course during the summer of 2022. These free workshops helped educate, support and introduce 9 new Trans actors to the industry. They are passionate about supporting talent from underrepresented groups, especially those from the Trans community and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

Tom’s point area is LGBTQI+

Gabriella Shimeld-Fenn

Currently working at the BBC as a Casting Director, primarily on Doctors. Prior to this I was an Associate to Amy Hubbard, and was in-house at the BBC for nearly 5 years, mainly working on Casualty, as well as Father Brown, Shakespeare & Hathaway, and the Sister Boniface Mysteries. I also previously assisted Louise Cross with, amongst other things, Midsomer Murders S20 and Hidden S1, as well as taking the lead in casting fringe theatre productions and readings for venues such as The Hope Theatre, Park Theatre, Southwark Playhouse, and King’s Head Theatre. I have a degree in French & Italian from the University of Manchester, which now only really comes in useful when ordering at restaurants.

Gabriella’s point are is Size Inclusivity.

Sarah Harkins

Having trained as an actor and worked on and off in the industry for over 10 years, Sarah transitioned into casting over 4 years ago and has since worked across theatre, television, commercials, and films. She has worked with Annelie Powell, Julia Horan, Ginny Schiller, Dan Hubbard, and she is currently at Catherine Willis Casting. Sarah also freelances with Changeling Theatre amongst other projects.

Sarah’s point area is Class/socio-economic

Rob Kelly

Rob grew up in South London and trained at The Brit School. He is a London based Casting Director who has become well known for finding fresh, new and award-winning actors. He is a strong advocate in elevating diverse, underrepresented, working class and LGBTQ+ talent. Starting his career as a performer, he went on to launch successful talent agency RKA Talent. He stepped away from agenting to move into casting and has since been working on TV and Film projects globally.

Rob’s point areas are Class/socio-economic & LGBTQI+