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As an Independent Casting Director for The Walt Disney Company and Jeffrey Katzenberg, Matt Casella auditioned over 85,000 kids during 1988-1994 for "The All New Mickey Mouse Club". From these auditions, which he did by holding open calls throughout the United States and Canada, Matt discovered, directed and launched the careers of: Ryan Gosling, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Keri Russell, JC Chasez and Tony Lucca, among others.
Matt began his award-winning career directing Shakespeare in high school. For three years in a row, he directed 3 different Shakespeare comedy scenes that all won first place at the Southern California High School Shakespeare Festival (D.T.A.S.C.). At the age of 20, he directed the critically acclaimed West Coast premiere of the stage musical "Runaways" (with Jennifer Jason Leigh) and became the youngest director ever nominated for the Los Angeles Drama Critics' Circle Award. Several years later he won that directing award when his World Premiere production of "In Trousers" went on to win 5 L.A. Drama Critics Circle Awards including Best Direction and Production. Matt has directed many critically acclaimed stage productions including, the West Coast premieres of "Strider", "The Baby with the Bathwater," "Daniel in Babylon" (with Anthony Edwards), "Grand Junction-The Train Play" (Coast Playhouse), "Pump Boys and Dinettes" (Old Globe Theater-San Diego) and the original workshop production at South Coast Rep of Randy Newman's musical "The Education of Randy Newman" (with Paul McCrane and Billy Porter). He developed and directed the World premiere of "Paper Moon-The Musical" (with Christine Ebersole, Chandra Wilson and Gregory Harrison). His productions of "Paper Moon" played at the Papermill Playhouse (NJ), the Goodspeed Opera House (CT), the Walnut Street Theater (Philadelphia) and Ford's Theater (D.C.). Matt traveled the world and directed Liza Minnelli's World Tour "Gently" at the Acropolis Theater in Greece, the Kremlin in Moscow, the Pantages in Los Angeles, and the Ancient Greek Amphitheater (Teatro Greco) in Taormina, Italy; among many other world class venues.
In his spare time between theater gigs, he cast over 10 television movies, 5 pilots and did talent searches discovering actors for the feature films: "Flashdance," "Grease 2," "Good Morning Vietnam," "Rainman," "Beaches," "Peter Pan" and "Spanglish." He also conducted a worldwide Latino talent search for Jeffrey Katzenberg and Dreamworks.
As an executive producer, he sold eight 1 hour episodes of "The Most Talented People in America" to the WB. Along with producing partner Helen Hunt, he sold the sitcom pilot "Foreign Exchange" to Sony/CBS. He also worked with Brett Ratner developing a musical feature at Disney. Under a development deal with Mark Pedowitz at ABC Studios, Matt executive produced and appeared in the television special "Rediscovered" which aired on the ABC network.
Most recently, Matt was under an exclusive deal, as an advisor and consultant with Universal Music Group in NY. After taking a break from the business he now lives in Los Angeles where he is developing several TV formats including "Scout of this World," based on his experiences scouting talent and 2 scripted musical series one about the old Hollywood studio system. Matt is a member of the Directors Guild of America and can be reached at the Union.
