Casting director, Lori Lewis, is the owner of FreeSpirit Casting LLC, launched May 1, 2013. Lori’s return to casting was prompted by repeated requests from producers, directors and talent urging her to end her hiatus and get back into the game.
Lori began her career in casting by accident when she volunteered one day at an extras casting company. The next thing she knew, she was off on the road helping find extras for THE RING followed quickly by working on THE HUNTED. By the time that project ended, Lori was hooked on casting, but wanted to focus on principal casting vs. extras.
She next went to work for a principal casting company in Portland, OR. Lori quickly proved to her boss that she knew her stuff. Within her first two years, Lori was given total responsibility for running the Commercial Casting Division, including all decisions on talent. When the films began to roll in, Lori’s responsibilities were expanded to include running the local talent casting sessions for TWILIGHT, UNTRACEABLE, EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES and more. Some great memories were formed working with directors like Catherine Hardwicke and Robert Benton. One of her fondest memories was running camera and sound in the callbacks for FEAST OF LOVE where she had the privilege of “listening in” as Robert Benton directed the talent. It was an incredible lesson.
Lori reignited her return to the casting world by casting the award winning indie DEEP DARK. She quickly followed that up with LILY ON SATURDAY and UNWRITTEN; most recently casting the Oregon indie film LOSING ADDISON. Her additional credits include short films, music videos and numerous commercials (full list available on request). Currently Lori is in discussions to cast several projects in development.
Lori has a great way of connecting with actors and putting them at ease during auditions. She credits this ability to her days as an actor making the casting call rounds. She learned first-hand how stressful and impersonal auditioning often is for talent. When she launched her own casting company, Lori’s pledge was to make casting less stressful and more fun for actors. Turns out you get better auditions that way too!