{"id":11462,"date":"2026-01-16T15:37:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T15:37:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/?p=11462"},"modified":"2026-04-20T16:23:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T16:23:50","slug":"bernard-telsey-and-tiffany-little-canfield-wicked-for-good","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/news-and-advice\/the-industry\/bernard-telsey-and-tiffany-little-canfield-wicked-for-good\/","title":{"rendered":"Bernard Telsey and Tiffany Little Canfield: A Wicked Team"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Casting directors Bernard Telsey and Tiffany Little Canfield on casting \u2018Wicked\u2019 and being shortlisted for the first casting Oscar.<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The lead-up to the Academy Awards is always a time of great excitement and anticipation, but this year feels more momentous than usual. For the first time, the vital work of casting directors will be recognised with a Best Casting Award, and one casting team will go down in history as its first-ever recipient.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Casting directors Bernard Telsey, CSA and Tiffany Little Canfield, CSA are on the award\u2019s shortlist, and unless you\u2019re not in Kansas anymore, you\u2019ll have definitely seen the fruits of their craft. The film adaptation of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wicked<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a cultural phenomenon that\u2019s taken the world by storm, and it\u2019s thanks to Bernard and Tiffany that the cast included such iconic talent as Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey and Marissa Bode.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With Bernard and Tiffany having been involved in the casting process of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wicked<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for almost 30 years \u2013 from the modern-day films, all the way back to the original Broadway production \u2013 it\u2019s appropriate that <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wicked: For Good<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is the project that earned them their place on the shortlist.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We spoke to Bernard and Tiffany about their extensive careers, casting Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo, and their hopes for what the Casting Academy Award will do for the future of the profession.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>In this interview, you\u2019ll find out:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bernard and Tiffany\u2019s career paths, from theatre management and directing to building a major casting partnership.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The significance of the Academy Awards finally creating a category that recognises the craft of casting.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How the <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wicked<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> casting process required all actors to audition rather than roles being offered based on fame or status.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The moment that Bernard and Tiffany realised that Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo were their \u2018Glinda\u2019 and \u2018Elphaba\u2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Hi, Bernard and Tiffany! How did you first get started in casting and end up working together?<\/h3>\n<p><b>Bernard:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I&#8217;ll try to do the short story! I went to NYU for Theatre Management because I wanted to start a theatre company when I got out of school. One of my producing teachers said, \u201cThere are these two amazing casting directors, Meg Simon and Frank Hume, that we&#8217;re looking for somebody to work for part-time.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And I was like, \u201cThat&#8217;s sort of like producing, but not.\u201d I loved that it was a part-time job, because I needed time to start my theatre company.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I started working for them and I loved it. It was like I found something I never thought would be my journey. I stayed there six and a half years learning the ropes of the New York talent pool, learning how it works. Obviously, I knew what a casting director was, but I didn&#8217;t really <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">know<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I just started working for them and ended up becoming a full-time employee and an assistant on all the different theatre projects and some television stuff that they were doing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Then I left to go work for Risa Bramon and Billy Hopkins, who cast a lot of movies. I opened up my own office after a few years with them and just started doing off-Broadway and regional theatre. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Then I did this little project called <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rent<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which was off-Broadway at the time, and that sort of exploded. All of a sudden, the career elevated, and we were able to do more things and add more staff and projects, and then came adding Tiffany.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Tiffany:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I graduated with my BFA in Directing for the Theatre from the North Carolina School of the Arts and moved to New York. I&#8217;m from Northern California, so I actually didn\u2019t know what a casting director did, because in all the regional theatres it seemed like the producers or artistic director ran the auditions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I wanted to get in the door, do an internship or something, and I ended up getting hired to work with a casting director at Bernie&#8217;s office working on Baz Luhrmann&#8217;s <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">La Boh\u00e8me<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> specifically. It was just me and her, and then she got hired by Baz mid-process to join the company and work with him on the directing team, and I took over casting that show. So that was my first time being at Telsey, but I didn&#8217;t work specifically with Bernie.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When [<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">La Boh\u00e8me<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">] started to wrap up, we started to work together, especially in some plays and musicals, but also film and television. And then, in 2015, I moved back to California and opened the West Coast office for our company.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>This is the first time the Oscars will recognise casting with its own category. What does this mean to you?<\/h3>\n<p><b>Bernard:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It&#8217;s overwhelming with excitement. We all grow up watching the Oscars and reading about it. It&#8217;s the Mount Everest of award shows, and to think that this profession is being recognised\u2026 It&#8217;s already historic that it&#8217;s the first time there&#8217;s a shortlist, that five casting teams will be nominated and one person will be a winner and will be the first of many. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It&#8217;s hard to believe that it&#8217;s happening. When you think about 25 years from now, there&#8217;ll be 25 Oscar winners in casting,<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and what that&#8217;s going to mean for the profession from a sense of young people growing up and saying, \u201cI can do that, that is a job.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The thing that really makes me want to cry is to think of all those casting directors who paved the way to make this happen. When I think of Juliet Taylor, Marion Dougherty or Lynn Stalmaster, they would all probably have a dozen nominations by now.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There have been casting directors since the 60s who have been actively working on projects, and I know how hard they worked. Some of them helped start our union. So, I feel like this is for them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Tiffany:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I&#8217;m just so excited we&#8217;re getting to talk about our creative process because I do think that a lot of people think it&#8217;s scheduling or you get to be powerful and say \u2018no\u2019 or \u2018yes\u2019 and it&#8217;s really not like that. It&#8217;s truly a collaboration with the actors on one side and the studio and filmmakers on the other side. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It&#8217;s a really collaborative place to work and it&#8217;s been fun to really talk about the artistic process that is casting.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"actor-img\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"image-size aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Bernard-Telsey-headshot-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Bernard-Telsey-headshot-scaled.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Bernard Telsey \/ Image credit: Benjamin Rivera<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>Why do you think it took so long for casting directors to get the recognition they deserve?<\/h3>\n<p><b>Bernard:<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Having been on a committee with a bunch of wonderful casting directors who were trying to make this happen, it really was about education more than anything else. It&#8217;s obvious to you and us, but what we do has not really been written about.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Tiffany:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I think we work in a space that&#8217;s very vulnerable and<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">private. You came up with amazing questions, and so has everybody else in the last month, but those questions were never really asked. Because it wasn&#8217;t out there, people didn&#8217;t talk about it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Bernard:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When we were trying to make it out there, we really had to educate people, because they didn&#8217;t know. Even fellow members of the Academy were like, &#8220;So what is it that you actually really do?\u201d So education was the big thing. Once we were able to educate and had the support of the press, directors and actors, it became very easy.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>How does it feel to be shortlisted for \u2018Wicked: For Good\u2019 after being involved with the \u2018Wicked\u2019 franchise for 30 years?<\/h3>\n<p><b>Bernard:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Really exciting, really stressful. My heart goes out to all of those wonderful filmmakers and actors that we&#8217;ve been able to work with, because if there was no shortlist and you just found out who was nominated, you wouldn&#8217;t be thinking you were close. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It makes you want it more, but I can&#8217;t really do anything during the four weeks of being on a shortlist. It means something and it&#8217;s historic, and it will mean something if we go further and it will mean nothing if we don&#8217;t go further.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Tiffany:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I have more empathy than I have had when I send someone an offer and the agent says, \u201cThey won&#8217;t be able to look at it for three weeks because they&#8217;re on a press tour.\u201d Part of me used to always say, \u201cCome on, how many aeroplanes are they on? They can read it.\u201d Now I&#8217;m like, \u201cThey&#8217;re sleeping on the aeroplane.\u201d We have a little bit more understanding because we&#8217;ve been included.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Obviously, we&#8217;re not doing press to the level an actor is, but even just getting to be with Paul [Tazewell] in costumes and Dana [Fox] and Winnie [Holzman] in writing and Myron [Kerstein] in editing, we\u2019re usually so far from them in the process, which also might be a reason why we don&#8217;t get recognised. We&#8217;re not on set every day. We work in pre-production.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Bernard:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The greatest thing about being on the shortlist is that you&#8217;re included in all the panels and you&#8217;re in these discussions with Jon [M. Chu] and the other craftspeople, and you&#8217;re talking about what we did regardless of whether or not there&#8217;s a next step. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">t&#8217;s been so wonderful because all casting directors spend a lot of time working on these things, so to have that moment of community and collaboration with other artists or even other casting directors \u2013 that&#8217;s the greatest thing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>&#8216;Wicked&#8217; requires finding actors who can act, sing and dance at a world-class level. Do you think this is the perfect example of why casting is a craft that deserves to be recognised?<\/h3>\n<p><b>Tiffany:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We certainly got to flex all the muscles on this one! Dance calls are probably one of my favourite parts of casting. In theatre, it&#8217;s quite common to do them, but in film it&#8217;s quite rare. Here, it was such a big part of the world-building for <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wicked<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">People might see a lot of people and think they&#8217;re extras, but in our version, a lot of them are unbelievably talented dancers and we got to be in the room watching them come in and get to work with Christopher [Scott]. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">T<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hen, obviously, casting the kid versions. We just got to really play with the casting process on this one in every direction.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Bernard:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What was so great about this project is everybody had to audition for [\u2018Elphaba\u2019, \u2018Glinda\u2019 and \u2018Fiyero\u2019]. Nobody was ever offered a role. You could easily have put them on a list, but it was Cynthia coming in to audition, it was Ariana coming in to work, it was Jonathan coming in that got them those parts.<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And I applaud them for doing it, because not every actor would be able to or want to take the risk of auditioning and maybe being passed on. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They embraced the casting process, and look what happened. Now they&#8217;re all iconic. They&#8217;re so identified with these three roles. That\u2019s what makes us the most proud: it&#8217;s not that we did it, it was \u2018casting\u2019 that did it.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Last year, \u2018Wicked\u2019 earned 10 nominations, including Best Picture and acting recognition for Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. Having cast them both, how did it feel watching them walk the red carpet as Academy Award nominees?<\/h3>\n<p><b>Bernard:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It&#8217;s so rewarding and I&#8217;m so appreciative, because they did the work. Even when Tiffany and I did a panel last week in Los Angeles, which Ariana moderated. It was so nice to hear from her side when she would say something like, \u201cWe loved the casting process of this movie.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We had all the time in the world and we took the time to find the right people and she would interject, \u201cYeah, you took a lot of time between my first audition and my second audition.\u201d It was like, &#8220;I love you even more.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Every accolade that they&#8217;re getting is so deserving. There are a million great actors out there who all do a great job, but what they did in these roles is so life-changing. You&#8217;ll be watching this movie in 50 years, the way we watched Judy Garland in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Wizard of Oz<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. They made this powerful story come to life and affect so many people.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Can you tell us a bit about your casting process for the films?<\/h3>\n<p><b>Tiffany:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You always start with a breakdown and<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a description of roles so that you can communicate to the world what you&#8217;re looking for, and whether the world is agents, schools, dancers \u2013 however you&#8217;re trying to get out. We knew on [<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wicked<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">] we&#8217;d be dealing a lot with represented talent, but also doing a search. We knew \u2018Nessarose\u2019 would be a search, and we knew there were going to be kids. I always say kids are a volume game.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Then you prepare the material that&#8217;s going to best explore what you need. Because these films were done at the same time, there was no breaking down <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wicked<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wicked: For Good<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. We cast them at the same time because they shot it at the same time. It was more like act one and act two of a play.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We had material from the original Broadway show so we could really explore the range of the roles and vocal ranges. Then you\u2019ve got to find the accompanist who can change the keys, because you don&#8217;t want to miss someone just because they don&#8217;t sing in the original key of the song. You want to create an environment where they can come in and show you their potential, not their finished product.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Then you&#8217;re having callbacks with your team, both on Zooms and in person. We&#8217;re all flying all over, and while we&#8217;re in those audition rooms, we&#8217;re working with the actors. Jon\u2019s giving direction. We&#8217;re all kind of talking, \u201cWhat if we tried this?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">T<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hen we&#8217;re editing those self-tapes, to be clear, not to hide anything, but to show that we&#8217;re dealing with potential during the process. It&#8217;s all about potential. How do we share that with our other team members so they can weigh in and really see where we&#8217;re at and what we&#8217;re learning, because sometimes roles really evolve during the casting process. So, all that&#8217;s going on, and we&#8217;re doing that in New York, Los Angeles, virtually, in London. So, it took some time.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>You\u2019ve mentioned in other interviews that there was no pressure to cast \u2018names\u2019 for \u2018Elphaba\u2019 and \u2018Glinda\u2019. At what point in the audition process did you realise that two established stars like Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande were actually the performers you were looking for?<\/h3>\n<p><b>Bernard:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ariana came in a few times and worked with Jon and worked with us. You started to see, it&#8217;s not Ariana anymore. It&#8217;s \u2018Glinda\u2019. That&#8217;s hard, like, she&#8217;s Ariana Grande. We know who she is and \u2018Glinda\u2019 has to be the star, not the people going in. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That was our goal, which Jon Chu said over and over again. When we got to the final callbacks and she was reading with a few other &#8216;Elphaba&#8217;s, you just saw it. It&#8217;s like a flower blossoming right in front of your face. It just started happening with her and it was so wonderful. She even started improvising as \u2018Glinda\u2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Y<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ou almost don&#8217;t want to tell the person who&#8217;s not in the room, \u201cWe found \u2018Glinda\u2019. It&#8217;s Ariana Grande,\u201d because you wanted people to come in with an open mind and<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">see that <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">she\u2019s<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> gotten the part, not Ariana. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">T<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hat&#8217;s what I love about casting! When you can go back to the process and let everyone have a chance, and you come in and do the work.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Tiffany:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I would say it&#8217;s the same thing [with Cynthia]. The thing with Cynthia is that we knew her vocal strength. Bernie cast <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Color Purple<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> musical on Broadway with her starring in it. We knew about her; we saw her in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Harriet<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, an Oscar-nominated performance. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I guess what we thought was that we know she has the power and the strength, but does she have the vulnerability of part one? Can she feel like \u2018Elphaba\u2019 in the early scenes? And comedy. There&#8217;s quite a bit of dry humour in the first one, and humour that has to be attached to pain and being \u2018other\u2019ed and all of that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When Cynthia came in to do her audition, she wore a t-shirt and jeans and a beanie and was so simple and vulnerable. Watching her work with the other actors in the chemistry reads, you saw that, her and Ariana, their preparation was actually the thing they had in common because we wouldn&#8217;t think of these two going together. In fact, we thought Cynthia couldn&#8217;t go with Ari. They&#8217;re such different kinds of artists.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> what they have in common is they&#8217;re both perfectly right for the part. They also have the same work ethic. They were so prepared and generous in the audition. They knew their vocal line. Very rarely in a chemistry read do you actually sing duets, because both people need to know the song well enough to know their part and sing in harmony and all that. They knew and it was really amazing to watch that.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Bernard:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the things that was so clear in their work ethic being the same and their preparation being the same, is how they listened to either the other actor or to Tiffany, who reads most of the time with them, especially since these were female scenes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">T<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here was so much going on in each of these women when they were just listening to the monologues or the lines that Tiffany was doing. That&#8217;s so needed in a film. So many times in auditions, people don&#8217;t do that. They just get to what they&#8217;re singing or saying next. [Ariana and Cynthia] let it breathe and they let it live, which really showed you that they were allowing the other character to change them. I know Jon carried that into the way he made the film.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>What was it about Jonathan Bailey\u2019s audition tape that made you certain he could play \u2018Fiyero\u2019?<\/h3>\n<p><b>Bernard:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We know him from his theatre work, having seen him in London and <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bridgerton<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. He&#8217;s such a wonderful actor. He&#8217;s a dancer. He&#8217;s unbelievably handsome. He&#8217;s charming and likable and also pretentious. I&#8217;m joking! <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">H<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">e came in early on to do a general with us when he was passing through New York, way before we ever started working on the show. We weren&#8217;t even talking about <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wicked<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Tiffany:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The self-tape that we finally received \u2013 that we chased and chased and wanted so badly \u2013 it was so cheeky because \u2018Fiyero\u2019 is really tricky to put all those qualities in. Bernie&#8217;s talking about dancing, the charm, all of that. But he&#8217;s got to have this devil-may-care attitude, plus be kind of brainless, right? <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There&#8217;s a whole thing there. And what Johnny did was do [the self-tape] five minutes before he&#8217;s going on for a play in the dressing room to a karaoke track, which we usually discourage. I think he changes keys, he makes jokes about it. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It didn&#8217;t matter, because the energy of \u2018Fiyero\u2019, that cheekiness, that sort of \u2018Go ahead, I&#8217;m gonna fail\u2019. He didn&#8217;t care about failing, and that to me was like, \u2018Holy moly, we\u2019ve got to get this guy out of his projects,\u2019 because he was pretty much unavailable when we first were dealing with it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We had to find spots to make it work, and he was flying back and forth to Toronto. We actually had to keep in touch with his manager because he was pretty much not available. Bernie says there was a Covid moment that helped a spot open up, and that&#8217;s the one good thing about Covid \u2013 Jonathan Bailey got to do well, especially us after having seen that self-tape.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"actor-img\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"image-size aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Tiffany-Little-Canfield-Headshot.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Tiffany-Little-Canfield-Headshot.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Tiffany Little Canfield<\/em><\/p>\n<h3>How has your approach to diverse casting evolved from the early days of \u2018Rent\u2019 to a massive blockbuster like \u2018Wicked\u2019?<\/h3>\n<p><b>Bernard:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today we make offers and we do self-tapes <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> all these things have evolved <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> but they just add to the project. We have much more access to actors in a way I didn&#8217;t have in 1990 when we were doing <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rent<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. The great thing that has evolved as another casting tool is Zoom auditions. That&#8217;s how we found Marissa [Bode, who plays \u2018Nessarose Thrope\u2019].<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Tiffany:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I remember when we found her. You always look deeper to see where this person comes from, especially someone you&#8217;ve just met for the first time and you&#8217;re considering for one of the five leads of the show. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I saw an article about Marissa that when she was 11, she was in American Girl Review performing and was on her way to rehearsal when she was in a horrible car accident. That&#8217;s when she was paralysed and the show had to go on without her while she was in the hospital. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When she was out of surgery and better, the [cast] went to the hospital to do the final performance and she got to perform in it. Isn\u2019t that the most beautifully tragic thing you&#8217;ve ever heard? <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That&#8217;s the first thing they say to \u2018Nessarose\u2019 when she arrives, \u201cOh, she&#8217;s tragically beautiful,\u201d right? And then \u2018Elphaba\u2019 calls herself, \u201cBeautifully tragic.\u201d That&#8217;s the search. That&#8217;s the thing you could never know about someone if they just were a name on a list that you&#8217;re offering.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Bernard: <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">We do still get in the room with an actor. If anything, I&#8217;m reminded that&#8217;s how we got that incredible cast for <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rent<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and that&#8217;s how we got the incredible cast for <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wicked: For Good<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. So, that hasn&#8217;t changed in 26 years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Bernard, you\u2019ve also been nominated for an Artios Award for Plainclothes. Could you tell us about your work on this film?<\/h3>\n<p><b>Bernard:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was a wonderful independent film that was also cast by two other casting directors in the office, Adam Caldwell and Amelia Rasche McCarthy. It\u2019s great. Tom Blyth and Russell [Tovey], both British actors, are great. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was a small independent film and that&#8217;s where you spend a lot of time \u2013 trying to get people to attach themselves to it so that it could be made. It was a very tiny budget and it&#8217;s filled with so many great New York actors who all went up to Buffalo to shoot this. But I personally love the film and it&#8217;s a really touching story.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Besides &#8216;Wicked&#8217;, what has been one of your favourite projects to work on across your career?<\/h3>\n<p><b>Bernard:<\/b> <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rent<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. I say that because it was so monumental for me personally. It put me on the map as an independent casting director and introduced me to so many young actors that I never would have known if I hadn&#8217;t gone through the process. They all became iconic, and their careers started the way mine did, and it opened up an avenue on Broadway for pop-rock musicals. Then it became a great breeding ground for all these other projects that we were working on. Even to this day, it&#8217;s the most memorable. I remember almost all of the auditions because it was so hard.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Tiffany:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For me, it&#8217;s really hard. I feel so lucky across my whole career. But I would probably have to say <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This Is Us<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> because it was one of the first shows I did when I moved to LA. You have a lot of fear about making a change in your life like that, and I loved the work I do with Bernie and the New York office, and obviously New York theatre was a big part of my life. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So visiting rather than living that daily life was really hard, but working with Dan Fogleman, John Rico and Glenn Farar on [<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This Is Us<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">] was so fun. Dan wrote one of the most beautiful television scripts I think ever written.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>What is your number one piece of advice for actors?<\/h3>\n<p><b>Bernard:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To understand and know that everyone you&#8217;re auditioning for wants it to work out. There&#8217;s this myth that, &#8220;You didn&#8217;t really want me.&#8221; Then we wouldn&#8217;t have done the audition! Even if you don&#8217;t get the job, all it means is you didn&#8217;t get the job. It doesn&#8217;t mean you were rejected. There&#8217;s only one person who gets hired and there are so many amazing actors.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Tiffany:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">People say, \u2018Think of the audition as a rehearsal. It&#8217;s your part. Go in and do it\u2019. And that&#8217;s what my advice is: bring yourself to your audition. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Really find your connection to it. I know it can be painful if you don&#8217;t get it, because you fall in love with it and that process. But if you do that every time a casting director sees you, we learn you more and we can find the part that&#8217;s right for you. We start to know you better so that when someone describes a part, we start to think about you. It&#8217;s not just about one job.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3>Finally, what are you currently watching that you\u2019d recommend?<\/h3>\n<p><b>Bernard:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I just finished <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Morning Show<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2019s most recent season, which I loved. So many wonderful actors going at it, like Oscar winners and Emmy winners and I am a real big fan.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Tiffany:<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I just finished <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pluribus<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on Apple TV and really enjoyed that. I had not watched <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Better Call Saul<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, so I wasn&#8217;t as familiar with Ray Seehorn, so that was really exciting. It&#8217;s very rare that I see someone in a lead part that I haven&#8217;t ever seen for an audition. I think she&#8217;s always been working since I moved to LA, and I&#8217;m just excited for her because she&#8217;s tremendous on the show.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Bernard Telsey and Tiffany Little Canfield\u2019s Actionable Insights:<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trust that casting directors are actively rooting for you to be the right fit for the role.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bring your authentic self to every audition to help casting directors understand your unique potential for future projects.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Focus on your ability to listen and react naturally during scenes to demonstrate the vulnerability needed for on-camera storytelling.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thank you, Bernard and Tiffany, for sharing your casting experience and Oscars journey with us!<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Take a look at our website for <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/news-and-advice\/?tag=interview\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">more awards interviews<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/news-and-advice\/?tag=casting+directors\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">advice from casting directors<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Casting directors Bernard Telsey and Tiffany Little Canfield on casting \u2018Wicked\u2019 and being shortlisted for the first casting Oscar. The lead-up to the Academy Awards is always a time of great excitement and anticipation, but this year feels more momentous than usual. For the first time, the vital work of casting directors will be recognised [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":11464,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[36,64,49,95,79,81],"class_list":["post-11462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-industry","tag-awards","tag-casting-directors","tag-film","tag-interview","tag-musical-theatre","tag-theatre"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Bernard Telsey and Tiffany Little Canfield: A Wicked Team | Spotlight<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u2018Wicked\u2019 casting directors share why stars like Ariana Grande had to audition and how the Oscars are finally honouring casting.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/news-and-advice\/the-industry\/bernard-telsey-and-tiffany-little-canfield-wicked-for-good\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bernard Telsey and Tiffany Little Canfield: A Wicked Team | Spotlight\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u2018Wicked\u2019 casting directors share why stars like Ariana Grande had to audition and how the Oscars are finally honouring casting.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/news-and-advice\/the-industry\/bernard-telsey-and-tiffany-little-canfield-wicked-for-good\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spotlight\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-16T15:37:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-20T16:23:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Bernard-Telsey-and-Tiffany-Little-Cangield-Wicked-Team-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1789\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Natasha Raymond\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Natasha Raymond\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"20 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spotlight.com\\\/news-and-advice\\\/the-industry\\\/bernard-telsey-and-tiffany-little-canfield-wicked-for-good\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spotlight.com\\\/news-and-advice\\\/the-industry\\\/bernard-telsey-and-tiffany-little-canfield-wicked-for-good\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Natasha Raymond\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spotlight.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/021d61758a4139218cb5ce312c49be84\"},\"headline\":\"Bernard Telsey and Tiffany Little Canfield: A Wicked Team\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-16T15:37:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-20T16:23:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spotlight.com\\\/news-and-advice\\\/the-industry\\\/bernard-telsey-and-tiffany-little-canfield-wicked-for-good\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":4540,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spotlight.com\\\/news-and-advice\\\/the-industry\\\/bernard-telsey-and-tiffany-little-canfield-wicked-for-good\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spotlight.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/Bernard-Telsey-and-Tiffany-Little-Cangield-Wicked-Team-scaled.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"awards\",\"casting directors\",\"film\",\"interview\",\"musical theatre\",\"theatre\"],\"articleSection\":[\"The Industry\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spotlight.com\\\/news-and-advice\\\/the-industry\\\/bernard-telsey-and-tiffany-little-canfield-wicked-for-good\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spotlight.com\\\/news-and-advice\\\/the-industry\\\/bernard-telsey-and-tiffany-little-canfield-wicked-for-good\\\/\",\"name\":\"Bernard Telsey and Tiffany Little Canfield: A Wicked Team | Spotlight\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spotlight.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spotlight.com\\\/news-and-advice\\\/the-industry\\\/bernard-telsey-and-tiffany-little-canfield-wicked-for-good\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spotlight.com\\\/news-and-advice\\\/the-industry\\\/bernard-telsey-and-tiffany-little-canfield-wicked-for-good\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spotlight.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/Bernard-Telsey-and-Tiffany-Little-Cangield-Wicked-Team-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-16T15:37:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-20T16:23:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spotlight.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/021d61758a4139218cb5ce312c49be84\"},\"description\":\"\u2018Wicked\u2019 casting directors share why stars like Ariana Grande had to audition and how the Oscars are finally honouring casting.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spotlight.com\\\/news-and-advice\\\/the-industry\\\/bernard-telsey-and-tiffany-little-canfield-wicked-for-good\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spotlight.com\\\/news-and-advice\\\/the-industry\\\/bernard-telsey-and-tiffany-little-canfield-wicked-for-good\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spotlight.com\\\/news-and-advice\\\/the-industry\\\/bernard-telsey-and-tiffany-little-canfield-wicked-for-good\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spotlight.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/Bernard-Telsey-and-Tiffany-Little-Cangield-Wicked-Team-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spotlight.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/01\\\/Bernard-Telsey-and-Tiffany-Little-Cangield-Wicked-Team-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1789,\"caption\":\"L to R: Cynthia Erivo is Elphaba and Ariana Grande is Glinda in WICKED FOR GOOD, directed by Jon M. Chu.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spotlight.com\\\/news-and-advice\\\/the-industry\\\/bernard-telsey-and-tiffany-little-canfield-wicked-for-good\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spotlight.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Bernard Telsey and Tiffany Little Canfield: A Wicked Team\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spotlight.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spotlight.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Spotlight\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spotlight.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spotlight.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/021d61758a4139218cb5ce312c49be84\",\"name\":\"Natasha Raymond\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/0f34c44ae04aeed211eb14f5b1c839b8dac29d2447d589a747f5481232b7b9e5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/0f34c44ae04aeed211eb14f5b1c839b8dac29d2447d589a747f5481232b7b9e5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/0f34c44ae04aeed211eb14f5b1c839b8dac29d2447d589a747f5481232b7b9e5?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Natasha Raymond\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.spotlight.com\\\/author\\\/natasharaymond\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bernard Telsey and Tiffany Little Canfield: A Wicked Team | Spotlight","description":"\u2018Wicked\u2019 casting directors share why stars like Ariana Grande had to audition and how the Oscars are finally honouring casting.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/news-and-advice\/the-industry\/bernard-telsey-and-tiffany-little-canfield-wicked-for-good\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Bernard Telsey and Tiffany Little Canfield: A Wicked Team | Spotlight","og_description":"\u2018Wicked\u2019 casting directors share why stars like Ariana Grande had to audition and how the Oscars are finally honouring casting.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/news-and-advice\/the-industry\/bernard-telsey-and-tiffany-little-canfield-wicked-for-good\/","og_site_name":"Spotlight","article_published_time":"2026-01-16T15:37:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-04-20T16:23:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1789,"url":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Bernard-Telsey-and-Tiffany-Little-Cangield-Wicked-Team-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Natasha Raymond","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Natasha Raymond","Estimated reading time":"20 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/news-and-advice\/the-industry\/bernard-telsey-and-tiffany-little-canfield-wicked-for-good\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/news-and-advice\/the-industry\/bernard-telsey-and-tiffany-little-canfield-wicked-for-good\/"},"author":{"name":"Natasha Raymond","@id":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/#\/schema\/person\/021d61758a4139218cb5ce312c49be84"},"headline":"Bernard Telsey and Tiffany Little Canfield: A Wicked Team","datePublished":"2026-01-16T15:37:48+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-20T16:23:50+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/news-and-advice\/the-industry\/bernard-telsey-and-tiffany-little-canfield-wicked-for-good\/"},"wordCount":4540,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/news-and-advice\/the-industry\/bernard-telsey-and-tiffany-little-canfield-wicked-for-good\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Bernard-Telsey-and-Tiffany-Little-Cangield-Wicked-Team-scaled.jpg","keywords":["awards","casting directors","film","interview","musical theatre","theatre"],"articleSection":["The Industry"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/news-and-advice\/the-industry\/bernard-telsey-and-tiffany-little-canfield-wicked-for-good\/","url":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/news-and-advice\/the-industry\/bernard-telsey-and-tiffany-little-canfield-wicked-for-good\/","name":"Bernard Telsey and Tiffany Little Canfield: A Wicked Team | Spotlight","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/news-and-advice\/the-industry\/bernard-telsey-and-tiffany-little-canfield-wicked-for-good\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/news-and-advice\/the-industry\/bernard-telsey-and-tiffany-little-canfield-wicked-for-good\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Bernard-Telsey-and-Tiffany-Little-Cangield-Wicked-Team-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2026-01-16T15:37:48+00:00","dateModified":"2026-04-20T16:23:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/#\/schema\/person\/021d61758a4139218cb5ce312c49be84"},"description":"\u2018Wicked\u2019 casting directors share why stars like Ariana Grande had to audition and how the Oscars are finally honouring casting.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/news-and-advice\/the-industry\/bernard-telsey-and-tiffany-little-canfield-wicked-for-good\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/news-and-advice\/the-industry\/bernard-telsey-and-tiffany-little-canfield-wicked-for-good\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/news-and-advice\/the-industry\/bernard-telsey-and-tiffany-little-canfield-wicked-for-good\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Bernard-Telsey-and-Tiffany-Little-Cangield-Wicked-Team-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Bernard-Telsey-and-Tiffany-Little-Cangield-Wicked-Team-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1789,"caption":"L to R: Cynthia Erivo is Elphaba and Ariana Grande is Glinda in WICKED FOR GOOD, directed by Jon M. Chu."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/news-and-advice\/the-industry\/bernard-telsey-and-tiffany-little-canfield-wicked-for-good\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Bernard Telsey and Tiffany Little Canfield: A Wicked Team"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/","name":"Spotlight","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/#\/schema\/person\/021d61758a4139218cb5ce312c49be84","name":"Natasha Raymond","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f34c44ae04aeed211eb14f5b1c839b8dac29d2447d589a747f5481232b7b9e5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f34c44ae04aeed211eb14f5b1c839b8dac29d2447d589a747f5481232b7b9e5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f34c44ae04aeed211eb14f5b1c839b8dac29d2447d589a747f5481232b7b9e5?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Natasha Raymond"},"url":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/author\/natasharaymond\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11462"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12849,"href":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11462\/revisions\/12849"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11464"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.spotlight.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}