JOHN ORCSIK - Actor / Director / Writer

John Orcsik is one of Australia’s high profile actor/writer/directors. In a professional career spanning over thirty years he has performed, written and directed in all mediums. In film & television he has performed in most Australian productions with major sustaining roles in series and has compiled probably more than 1000 hours of television drama. He has also written for both film and television and has directed television commercials, cooperate videos, telemovies and episodic television.

MARK RAFFERTY

Mark has had fifteen years in the Film and Television industry as an actor and filmmaker. His acting credits include 3 years playing the evil Dr Darcy on Neighbours, roles on various US  and Australian TV shows and feature films, numerous stage plays and 70 plus commercials.

As a writer and director his films have featured in festivals here and abroad and he has various credits as a Film editor. This wealth of professional experience in all areas of FIlm and TV makes Mark uniquely placed to teach an acting class that encompasses all aspects of the acting experience. His belief is the more an actor knows about the entire Film and TV process the more effective and professional the actor will be. He has been teaching at TAFTA for 3 years and many of his students now appear in feature films, TV show and commercials.

MICK PRESTON

Mick Preston trained as an actor in New York, where he studied with the late Uta Hagen, including being personally invited by Ms Hagen to be one of only a handful of students  to perform in  the documentary, ‘Acting Class by Uta Hagen’. Mick lived in the US for 11 years, 9 of those years in New York and 2 in Los Angeles. During his time there he also studied several other styles of acting including Method, Meisner technique, Michael Chekov and Le Coq.

As a performer Mick has worked extensively in film, television, theatre, commercials, voice overs and corporate role plays. As a teacher, he holds a Bachelor of Education degree and has taught acting in NYC, LA, Sydney and Melbourne. For a full list of Mick’s credits please visit his website, www.mickpreston1.com.

JOHN STEWART

Bio coming soon ...

David Cameron graduated from Sydney’s National Institute of Dramatic Art to become a critically acclaimed stage and screen actor.  He was a core member of Sydney’s PERFORMANCE SYNDICATE and appeared on stage in Australia’s major Theatre Companies.  David’s acting film credits include MAD MAX and MY FIRST WIFE and numerous leading television roles including his multi award-winning role as ‘Neil’ in the mini-series WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE.

David’s directing career began with the stage production, A LIFE IN THE THEATRE for the Playbox Theatre Company and the television sit-com, US AND THEM.  He went on to direct the D-Gen’s comedy film clip successes, FIVE IN A ROW and FIVE MORE IN A ROW and continued to explore various screen techniques and styles by directing scores of television commercials for major agencies and clients, including COCA COLA, KELLOGS, NATIONAL BANK and MYER/GRACE BROTHERS.

As a screen director, David has brought his strong visual sensibility and knowledge of performance to numerous television drama and comedy productions such as, GOOD GUYS, BAD GUYS; his AFI-award winning episode of THE WAYNE MANIFESTO; STATE CORONER; the ABC’s SEACHANGE; Jonathan M.Shiff’s HORACE AND TINA; and one of the DOGWOMAN telemovies for Beyond Simpson Le Mesurier.  David recently directed the telemovie LIFE for Beyond Simpson Le Mesurier and was also their set-up director for the undercover cop series, STINGERS, which he continued to direct into its eighth series. 
Currently David is the Voice Director on DOGSTAR; a new animated Co-Pro, and is continuing his Corporate Documentary work for Telstra.

He also runs the TV and FILM Acting Course, for the graduating VCA School of Drama students.

SAM ATWELL

Bio coming soon ...

MELISSA AGNEW

With 27 years of experience as a Voice teacher, Melissa consults on voice, speech and dialect in the film, television, theatre and broadcast industries, in the corporate sector, and in education. She has helped many Australian actors to focus their on-camera performance by honing their vocal skills, perfecting their dialect, and speaking the text truthfully. Screen credits include The Proposition and the American HBO miniseries The Pacific.

She has coached over 30 productions for Queensland Theatre Company, including The Little Dog Laughed, I Am My Own Wife, The Glass Menagerie, The Goat or Who is Sylvia?, The Road to Mecca and Sweet Panic.

One of Australia's highest qualified voice teachers and dialogue coaches, Melissa holds a doctorate from The University of Sydney's National Voice Centre. She regularly attends, and presents papers at international voice conferences and is in demand across Australia as an accent/dialect coach, especially for General American, British and Australian dialects. Melissa can help with any accent or dialect, and she can fix any voice issue. She has been described as "the voice magician".

BRUCE SHAPIRO - American Dialect Coach 

"Bruce is the author of Speaking American: the Australian Actor's Guide to an American Dialect with CD (Currency Press, 2000). As the leading American dialogue coach in Australia, he has worked on over 30 productions. He was previously the Head of Performance and Acting at the Victorian College of Arts, School of Drama. He also taught and directed at the Aboriginal Center for the Performing Arts in Brisbane, the Academy of the Arts at the Queensland University of Technology and was for eight years the Artist-in-Residence and Lecturer in Acting, Directing, and Dramatic Literature at Tufts University in Boston. He is the author of numerous articles and two other books: Reinventing Drama: Acting, Iconicity, Performance (Greenwood, 1999) and Divine Madness and the Absurd Paradox; Ibsen's PEER GYNT and the Philosophy of Kierkegaard (Greenwood, 1990)."

THEA MCLEOD

Thea McLeod, who is a regular in our Screentest Courses, has just been given the green light to cast one of the 'Underbelly' Tele-movies to be shot here in Melbourne. Thea has agreed to do some special casting sessions EXCLUSIVELY with TAFTA in Melbourne.

DAVE NEWMAN

Dave Newman, has been a casting associate at Christine King Casting for over 5 years. Dave has been personally involved in thousands of auditions for both US and Australian projects including THE PACIFIC (HBO, DREAMWORKS & PLAYTONE) , WOLVERINE ORIGINS (FOX), NARNIA:VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER (FOX), DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK (MIRAMAX), MATCHING JACK (CASCADE FILMS), RED DOG (WOSS FILM GROUP) and the award winning EAST WEST 101 (SBS) series 1 & 2.

He has also worked extensively with actors during US pilot season. In addition, coming from an acting background, he can provide important insights to the casting/audition process from both sides of the fence.

DINA MANN

Dina originally trained at NIDA and worked as a professional actor for some years.

In the late 80’s she became the Casting Director at ABC Melbourne and during her seven years there cast projects such as: ‘Phoenix I & II’, Embassy I, II & III’, ‘Police Crop’, ‘The Magistrate’, ‘Street Angels’, ‘The Four Minute Mile’, ‘A Matter of Convenience’ and ‘The Fast Lane’.

Since becoming a freelance casting director in the 90’s Dina has cast a variety of projects including the tele-feature ‘Waiting at the Royal’ (AFI Best Actress).   Feature Films, ‘Only The Brave’ (AFI best performance award), ‘Road To Nhill’, ‘Crackers’, ‘Head On’, ‘Mallboy’ (AFI best performance award) ‘Japanese Story’ (AFI Best Actress, Best Film 2003), ‘The Widower’, ‘The Jammed’ (IF Best Film 2007) and ‘Lake Mungo’.
Shooting has just been completed in Sydney on the Feature film ‘Black & White & Sex’ and Dina is currently working on the feature film ‘Dog Club’ 

FIONA DANN

Since 1993 Fiona has cast numerous award-winning commercials both locally and internationally as well as feature films, short films and television series. She takes pride in producing quality work, discovering new talent and working with seasoned professionals. She has a genuine passion for performance an eye for talent and enthusiasm for her work.

Fiona has recently been working with director Tony Rogers on Wilfred Series 1 and 2 which has been screening on SBS.

Some of her other drama credits include;
Frank and Jerry (feature film) Directed by Nick McGee
The Last Ride (feature film) Directed by Glendyn Ivin
Jerry Can (short film) Directed by Julius Avery
Crackerbag (short film) Directed by Glendyn Ivin
Rats and Cats (feature film) Directed by Tony Rogers

Fiona is kept constantly busy casting commercials and short films for local and international Directors including the current Commonwealth Bank TVC’s for Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet (MicMac’s, Amelie, Delicatessen etc.)

ALISON TELFORD

Alison Telford is the Casting Director for ABC TV.  Alison has worked in this position for the past 15 years, enjoying the variety of programs that the ABC is committed in making.  She has cast some of the broadcasters most successful shows, Seachange, Kath & Kim, Librarians and Summer Heights High and some of their most dramatic, Bastard Boys,  Curtin – Before Dawn, Simone de Beauvoir’s Babies.  Alison is currently casting Angry Boys, Bed of Roses Series 3 and Librarians Series 3.  She has another comedy coming up that will take her to the end of 2010.

JAN RUSS - Casting Director 

After 25 years as Casting Director for Grundy Television/Fremantle media and having worked on "Neighbours" from the very first initial stages, auditioning and casting the original cast and continuing the casting throughout the following 24 years - as well as the last 18 months of "Prisoner".

In the last twelve months, Jan was invited to return to the stage and appeared at the Melbourne Comedy Festival of 2009, as well as a lead guest role on "City Homicide", she also collaborated with playwright Robyn Bishop on a play on her own life and had it performed at La Mama Courthouse in July 2009.
Jan has been involved in teaching at many workshops throughout Australia and UK and has been teaching at TAFTA for many years on intensive workshops with actors and some 8 wk tv soap courses.

She is currently in discussions with some producers for possible upcoming castings.

PETER RASMUSSEN

Bio coming soon ...

FAITH MARTIN

With an inexhaustible enthusiasm for the work, Faith Martin has a passionate commitment to the art of storytelling through film and television, and to the unquestionable contribution of the actor to the Art.

Faith began her professional career as an Agent representing actors, writers and directors, establishing the foundations of some highly successful careers.  In the early 8O’s a strong change of direction and instinct found her establishing her role in the Industry as a Casting Director both locally, and more recently internationally.  Brief credits/some highlights as follows:

Film
THE CROSSING
STRICTLY BALLROOM
PAPERBACK HERO
THE SUM OF US
PETER PAN (Australian Casting Director)
ACOLYTES
MEI MEI

Television series
THE FOUR DAY REVOLUTION (HBO) (Phillipines and Australia)
LONG WAY HOME (Thailand, NZ & Australia) HBO
KANGAROO PALACE
THE BATTLERS
RAIN SHADOW

Television
SPARTACUS (Starz/US – Season 1 and Prequel)
THE LEGEND OF THE SEEKER (ABC/US )
BLUE HEELERS – 12 Seasons Main Cast & Executive Casting Director)
WATER RATS – 6 Seasons
TWO TWISTED
MORTIFIED
K 9
US PILOTS – Various US Networks over 4yrs.

GREG APPS

Bio coming soon ...

JODIE BREARLEY (nee McKenna) - Casting Director

Jodie’s casting career began at Prototype in Sydney and from there she moved to Mulinars for several years casting TVC’s and the like. She moved to Faith Martin Casting and worked on several shows including the successful Water Rats. She moved to Melbourne four years ago to cast Blue Heelers. A job she has done with great success.

MARIANNE JADE

Bio coming soon ...

LEIGH PICKFORD

Bio coming soon ...

KELLY O'SHEA

KELLY O’SHEA is a freelance Casting Director, with over 20 years experience casting Film, Television and TV Commercials.
Her credits include hundreds of hours of Television including Good Guys Bad Guys, Halifax fp and feature films Bad Eggs, The Extra, Loves Brother. Most recent credits are ABC 6 x part series “Dirt Game”, Channel 10 telemovie “Hawke” and currently casting series # 4 of “City Homicide”.

TOM McSWEENEY - Casting Director

Tom McSweeney is the only Casting Director in Australia to hold membership in the Casting Society of America (CSA) and has been a member for the past 17 years, serving on the Board of Directors of the organization prior to his move to Australia in 1998.

Tom has been recognized by his peers on numerous occasions, receiving four Artios award nominations from the CSA and was honoured with an Emmy nomination by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in 2007 for his work on the mini-series “The Starter Wife”. Tom has been instrumental in providing Australian actors with the opportunities which introduced them to international audiences including:  ANNA TORV, EMILY BROWNING, MARTON CSOKAS, KARL URBAN, CLAUDIA KARVAN, JESSE SPENCER, EMILIE DeRAVEN, TAMMIN SURSOK, RACHAEL TAYLOR, CRAIG HORNER, DOMINIC PURCELL, CLAIRE HOLT, DICHEN LACHMAN, CAROLINE GOODALL and MIA WASIKOWSKA

One of Australia’s most reputable and leading Casting Directors, Tom McSweeney has worked on over 200 feature film, mini-series and tele-movie projects, as well as over 500 hours of episodic television production for the US, UK, Canadian and Australian markets.

In addition to casting Tom McSweeney Productions offers in-depth training in acting for film, television, stage, musical theatre, cabaret, presenting and commercials for the domestic as well as international markets. The company provides both on-going and short-form training in the form of; Short Courses, Workshops and Master Classes by working industry professionals and Tom McSweeney's Monthly Intensive 8 hour Master Class. Tom also teaches extensively around Australia, offering Master classes in Sydney, Melbourne and other major cities several times a year.  The company is also actively involved in producing product for the stage and screen.

KATE LEONARD

Kate has been working in casting for the past eight years. She started her career in casting in 2002 on the feature film Ned Kelly, and went on to cast numerous TV commercials in Melbourne from 2004 - 2006. At the beginning of 2007, she was asked to coordinate the extras casting and cast the full time trained marines on Spielberg and Hanks’ WWII series The Pacific.

Since then she has worked on back-to-back feature films and television series’ casting Extra and Bit Parts for films including Charlie and Boots, I Love You Too and recently Miramax’s thriller Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark. Kate is currently working with Alison Telford in the ABC TV casting department on Chris Lilley’s new series Angry Boys and will stay on to cast bit parts and featured roles on The Librarians.  

Jo Rippon has worked in a freelance capacity in a wide range of roles throughout the film and TV Industry over the past 25 years and is very well respected.

Jo has encouraged and supported both emerging and experienced Australian acting talent, and treats actors with sensitivity, care and confidentiality.

Over the years, she has enjoyed a love of all aspects of the entertainment industry and has been fortunate enough to work with a varied range of actors, producers, writers and creative teams.

Jo has also worked as a Directors’ Assisant/Continuity/Vision Switcher/AFM

Most recently has been working as a Casting Producer.

Danny has been involved in the entertainment industry for 20 years; casting is a profession she understands from both sides of the camera. After graduating from the VCA Danny worked as an actor in theatre and TV. She then worked at Barrett Casting for 5 years, as an assistant, associate and casting director. Whilst at Barrett Casting Danny worked on many features such as: The Tree, The Boys Are Back, Australia, Lou, Mao's Last Dancer, Fury Road, Sleeping Beauty, The Black Baloon, Clubland, Candy, The Proposition, Happy Feet, Prime Mover, Footy Legends, Kokoda, Legend OfThe Guardians & Uninhabited, as well as various Telemovies, TVC's and Australian searches for US films & pilots. Danny recently started her own casting company and has been working in association with Greg Apps on MY PLACE 2 and with Baz Luhrmann (casting research for a project in development).

Danny has enormous respect for actors and is committed to drawing the best performance out of them.

DAVID CAMERON

David Cameron graduated from Sydney’s National Institute of Dramatic Art to become a critically acclaimed stage and screen actor.  He was a core member of Sydney’s PERFORMANCE SYNDICATE and appeared on stage in Australia’s major Theatre Companies.  David’s acting film credits include MAD MAX and MY FIRST WIFE and numerous leading television roles including his multi award-winning role as ‘Neil’ in the mini-series WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE.

David’s directing career began with the stage production, A LIFE IN THE THEATRE for the Playbox Theatre Company and the television sit-com, US AND THEM.  He went on to direct the D-Gen’s comedy film clip successes, FIVE IN A ROW and FIVE MORE IN A ROW and continued to explore various screen techniques and styles by directing scores of television commercials for major agencies and clients, including COCA COLA, KELLOGS, NATIONAL BANK and MYER/GRACE BROTHERS.

As a screen director, David has brought his strong visual sensibility and knowledge of performance to numerous television drama and comedy productions such as, GOOD GUYS, BAD GUYS; his AFI-award winning episode of THE WAYNE MANIFESTO; STATE CORONER; the ABC’s SEACHANGE; Jonathan M.Shiff’s HORACE AND TINA; and one of the DOGWOMAN telemovies for Beyond Simpson Le Mesurier.  David recently directed the telemovie LIFE for Beyond Simpson Le Mesurier and was also their set-up director for the undercover cop series, STINGERS, which he continued to direct into its eighth series. 
Currently David is the Voice Director on DOGSTAR; a new animated
Co-Pro, and is continuing his Corporate Documentary work for Telstra.
 He also runs the TV and FILM Acting Course, for the graduating VCA School of Drama students.

BILL HUGHES

Bill Hughes is one of Australia's most experienced and innovative Film and Television Producer - Directors. For ABCTV he devised the “new look” for television drama with the critically acclaimed 26 hour police series "Phoenix". He has worked on many of Australia's high rating series as a Producer, Director, Writer and Script Editor. 

Bill produced the highly successful TV Movie of the Week "FABLE" and the cinema feature "THE INTERVIEW". He has recently completed producing 93 hours of the top rating TV drama series for the Seven Network in Australia - "All Saints". He has worked as a contractor and has also initiated and financed content in his own right.
During his 30 year career as a producer Bill has been trusted with, supervised and managed more than A$90,000,000 worth of expenditure across feature film and TV production. As a producer he is renowned for delivering excellent, award winning productions on time and on budget.

Bill has also Directed some 60 hours of children’s adventure series and 250 hours of prime time adult television drama.

NICK BUFALO

Nicholas Bufalo’s vast television credits span comedy, children’s television and adult dramas. He has directed for Totally Full Frontal, Skithouse, Sit Down, Shut Up!, Wiggle Bay, where he gained a Logie Peer nomination, Rock it!, McLeod’s Daughters and All Saints. Nicholas received and ADG award nomination in 2008 for his direction of episode 421 of All Saints. Nicholas has most recently been directing for City Homicide and Packed to the Rafters.  

His 2005 short film, Estranged, has screened at various film festivals including: The Seattle Trye Independent Film Festival; Corta! International Film Festival, Portugal; Durban International Film Festival; and Sapporo Short Film Festival, Japan.

DEAN O'FLAHERTY

Bio coming soon ...

CATH RODEN

CATH RODEN is a TV Industry professional of over 20 years standing, the last 14 as a TELEVISION DRAMA DIRECTOR. Her credits include MCLEOD’S DAUGHTERS, ALL SAINTS, HOME AND AWAY, NEIGHBOURS, ALWAYS GREENER and THE STRIP (NZ). She has also branched out into Scriptwriting with credits on HOME AND AWAY.

JET WILKINSON

Jet Wilkinson is a 35 year old Director/Producer from Sydney.

She has a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the University of Western Sydney majoring in Communications, where she specialised in Media Studies and Film Theory. Since then she has worked consistently for the past 15 years in the industry.

She has directed Australian Television Drama series such as City Homicide, All Saints, Home and Away and Neighbours.

In 2009 Jet was nominated at the Australian Director’s Guild Awards in the category of Best Achievement in Direction for a Television Drama Series.

Jet was the Senior Producer for Foxtel’s premium Australian music television network Channel[V]. She spearheaded live to air shows for stella music events such as Big Day Out, Homebake, The Arias and Waveaid. She was also the producer for the network’s flagship request show – What U Want with hosts Andrew G, James Mathison and Yumi Stynes.

SAMANTHA LANG

Bio coming soon ...

LYNN-MAREE DANZEY

Bio coming soon ...

MARCUS COLE

Marcus Cole is an award-winning television drama director of thirty years experience working in Australia, the United States, Canada, Ireland and England.

His many hours of Australian series include City Homicide, All Saints, Packed To The Rafters, Blue Water High, Snowy River: The McGregor Saga, Prisoner, The Flying Doctors and Rafferty’s Rules.

He also directed the mini-series A Fortunate Life, The Great Bookie Robbery and Tracks of Glory.

Living in Los Angeles for eight years, he directed telemovies and mini-series starring Lauren Bacall, Ellen Burstyn, Marcia Gay Harden, Jane Seymour, James Earl Jones, Treat Williams, Keith Carradine, Anthony LaPaglia and Naomi Watts.

He has twice been Acting Head of the Directing Workshop at AFTRS.