Leslie M. Greene Describes Casting Animation for the First Time: “Oh My God, it Was Amazing”

January 23, 2025 | Neil Turitz
Leslie M. Greene, courtesy of Kelli Klein.

Leslie M. Greene is not someone who takes no for an answer. The Atlanta-based casting director spent a long time trying to break into casting, after being repeatedly turned down for jobs by industry professionals. That didn’t stop her, though, and thanks to an admirable amount of perseverance, she found her way.

Greene’s built a thriving career in indie film, and last spring delved into animation for the first time, casting the Netflix remake of the 70s smash, Good Times. She has followed it up with several TV movies and has no less than a half dozen projects in some form of production. The casting director spoke to us from her home office.


Insights: Lessons from Leslie M. Greene

  • Don’t let rejection stop you. Continue to improve and seek out new opportunities relentlessly.
  • Build a strong backstory and connect personally with the character to convey authentic emotions in auditions.
  • Listen to your performance without visuals to assess vocal emotion, and watch without sound to check for convincing facial expressions and body language.

How did you get into casting?

Funny story. I used to do marketing and PR, and I was doing plays and concerts, anything that came to the Atlanta Fox Theatre. When I was doing the concerts I would get people to sign up for first dibs on plays and concerts and buy group tickets at discounts.

When Tyler Perry started doing his plays, I submitted people and they started coming to Tyler’s plays. A friend of mine said, “hey, these guys I know are doing a movie here in Atlanta and they need extras. Can you send it out to your database?” It was Stomp the Yard.

I sent it out, and I’m looking at all these emails coming in like, “what am I supposed to do with this?” I put everything together in a PDF for each day that the submissions came in and I sent it over. They were like, “oh my God, you are so organized, you are the best extras casting director we’ve ever had.” I’m like, “wait, what?” I started researching extras casting, and then what casting was.

What was it that spoke to you about casting?

When I did the Stomp the Yard extras, I thought it was really interesting. I am one of those people, I have to be doing something. I’m a creative, I have to keep both parts of my brain working. And with casting, that fulfilled it for me.

You do a lot of stuff for Black filmmakers. Is that something that you set out to do or has this kind of happened since?

It just happened that way. This is such a relationship-based industry and casting is definitely about relationships.

When I started casting, Shay Griffin was the only player in town. I reached out to her and said, “hey, you know, I would love to work with you. I’d love to do more in casting. I have some time I’d love to volunteer.” She basically said thanks, but no thanks.

I just kept on researching and a friend of mine worked out in LA at BET, and she connected me to Robi Reed, who gave me some pointers, but no work. I was like, “oh, okay, I see how this goes.” This happened a few more times, so I kept on researching, and then I started working with kids at [Savannah College of Art and Design], and that was it. Then I had some friends who were independent makers, then I started working with them.

I’m curious about your perseverance because you kept being told, “thanks, but no thanks.” What was it about you that made you believe that people not having time for you or not having space for you was not an impediment?

I’m a dark-skinned Black woman, so I’m used to rejection and was raised around a lot of it. I was told no a lot. As I grew up, my grandmother used to say, “don’t worry about the no, just prove them wrong.” I had to also tell myself it wasn’t personal.

That’s a pretty spectacular attitude, and also really conducive to having good relationships with actors who feel that way every single day.

I started telling actors we all have to deal with rejection. If you do a great job and we can’t use you — simply because of factors that you do not know of, there are so many variables that go into putting these puzzle pieces together — I tell them just as long as you can deliver 100% when you audition, whether it’s on tape or in person, a good casting director is making note of who you are.

Was it a different challenge casting for animation?

Absolutely. You are impaired because you can’t see the person.

What I had to do was, for each submission, I used it as if I was listening to music. I had to listen to the tones, because to listen to some of those scenes over and over and over.

It was hard. I had to block out what they were saying and listen to how they said it. It made me realize how we use our oratory skills and our diction and how different people say the same sentence. Oh my God, it was amazing. I loved it.

Do you find that there are common mistakes that actors make in auditions when they come in to audition for you?

Absolutely. For me, the biggest thing I see is they don’t connect to the character. They say, “oh, I fit the age, I fit the look, but then they don’t read the side and build a backstory to say, who is this person? How do I connect personally?”

Sometimes when they deliver the lines, the dialect and the body language are great, but their eyes don’t say anything. Their face says nothing and their words are just words. I see that a lot.

What piece of advice or wisdom would you give to an actor coming to audition for you?

I always tell actors, before you submit anything, blindfold yourself and listen to it without seeing it. How do you feel? Do you hear your tones? Do you feel emotion in what you’re saying?

If you pass that part and you still think it’s good, watch it with no volume. Look at your facial expressions. Look at your body language. Do you believe what you’re saying? Do you believe that any emotion is coming across? Can you believe this person? Because you have people that won’t be able to hear your words, but they can see you. Will they still cry if it’s a touching piece? Will they see your anger even if they don’t hear you?

I want you to connect with the character. When you walk in the room when you open your mouth and start talking, I want to think, “This is that person.”

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