About Catherine

Who is Catherine Willis?

Catherine Willis is one of the UK's leading casting directors for television comedy and drama, with more than 100 credits across the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Sky, Netflix and Disney+.

She fell for theatre first. As assistant to the artistic director at Derby Playhouse, then a leading new-writing house, she ran auditions and scouted showcases, and realised that the part of drama that excited her most was getting the right people in the room. Six years in-house at the BBC followed, casting Casualty, Waking the Dead and The Afternoon Plays, before she set up CW Casting in 2006.

Since then she has become a casting director that writers and directors return to, and 27 of her shows have run to two or more series, among them Detectorists, Cuckoo, Plebs, Alma's Not Normal, Here We Go and Changing Ends. Her film work includes Brian and Charles and The Ballad of Wallis Island, both nominated for Outstanding British Film at the BAFTAs.

Catherine is best known for finding people. She co-cast the first series of Top Boy from the streets of Hackney, held open auditions in Bolton for Alma's Not Normal and in Liverpool for The Gathering, and chose Oliver Savell from over 700 auditions to play the young Alan Carr in Changing Ends. Around 40% of the actors in her productions are people she had never met before.

In 2023 she won the RTS Craft and Design Award for Casting for Somewhere Boy. She has four Casting Directors' Guild award nominations and continues to cast for theatre.