Juliet Taylor

Biography

Juliet Taylor is an American casting director. A six-time Casting Society of America award winner, she has cast more than 100 movies, including 43 of Woody Allen's films. In November 2024, she received the Academy Honorary Award for lifetime achievement in film.

Taylor grew up in Greenwich, Connecticut, and attended Miss Porter's School and Smith College, where she majored in drama.

Taylor moved to New York following her graduation, and through a connection at Smith, she was hired as a receptionist for David Merrick, a theater producer. A year later she began working for casting director Marion Dougherty, who became her mentor. In 1973, Dougherty left casting to become a producer, and Taylor ran the company until 1977, when she was named director of East Coast casting for Paramount Pictures. In 1978 she began to cast films independently. Her first solo casting credit was for The Exorcist.[7] In 1979, in a feature story titled "The Casting Director," New York Magazine wrote: "It is commonly conceded within the film industry that Juliet Taylor is the best and by far the most important of the casting directors."

In addition to casting films including Taxi Driver, Sleepless in Seattle and Schindler's List, Taylor has cast 43 Woody Allen movies, beginning with 1975's Love and Death. He credits her with introducing him to Jeff Daniels, Mary Beth Hurt, Patricia Clarkson, Mariel Hemingway, Dianne Wiest, Meryl Streep, Joaquin Phoenix, and Parker Posey, among others.

Taylor was featured in the 2013 HBO documentary, Casting By.[10] She was awarded the Smith College Medal in 1990. She received the Academy Honorary Award for Lifetime Achievement in November 2024. She was the second casting director to receive the award, which was presented to her by Nicole Kidman.

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