Today we’d like to introduce you to Arlie Day.
Hi Arlie, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Let’s see…my name is Arlie Day and I’m a Casting Director for film and television. My journey began in the Twin Cities of Minnesota where I grew up. I went to the University of Minnesota and majored in Communication Studies and minored in Journalism and Mass Communications.
My dream dating back to childhood was always to work in news. I interned at a couple of news stations in college and shortly after graduating, landed my first paid gig in news at Kare 11, the NBC news station in the Twin Cities. I was one of two writers for their website. As much as I learned and enjoyed working there, I realized my right-brained mind was not feeling fulfilled by writing news and that I needed to do something more creative in my career. That’s when I applied to the NBC Page program in Los Angeles and got accepted.
Bright eyed and bushy tailed, I moved to LA exactly 20 years ago and became a Page. The program was designed to help transition college graduates into the entertainment industry. It has jump-started many careers including a lot of famous faces we all know. One of our daily duties as Pages was to seat the audiences for Jay Leno’s “The Tonight Show”, “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and “Last Call with Carson Daly”. We also gave guided tours of the studios on the lot, which included showing off the one of many impressive cars that Leno drove in to work each day. Our job was also to show guests the set of “Days of Our Lives”, which was always a big hit with the soap lovers. Some of us would be tasked with escorting the celebrity guests to their dressing room each day, which was so exciting when the guest was someone you were a fan of.
In the summer, the musical guests for “The Tonight Show” performed outside behind the studio and it was such a treat because it meant all of us Pages got to watch the show that day, which felt like a very intimate concert. I’ll never forget being at the front of the stage while my favorite musician Jack Johnson performed for a small audience on the lot. A definite highlight for me. Another perk of being a Page was that we got to sit in on rehearsal for the musical guests, which was one of my favorite parts of the gig.
Another responsibility of being a Page was working in the mail room, where we read a lot of fan mail. This was really fun because there were a bunch of us Pages in a room just hanging out and catching up and getting to know each other. We were a tight-knit family, part of what felt like a secret society. We were transplants from all over the country paying our dues and making very little money pursuing our dreams of working in Hollywood. Everyone was so wonderful to me at the program and I will cherish every moment I set foot on that NBC lot.
For several years prior to moving to LA, I was fascinated by the job of casting, yet I really had no idea what it entailed. I just knew it sounded fun and interesting. While I was a Page, my boss in the program introduced me to some of the casting executives at NBC so they could show me the ins and outs of casting to see if it might be something I’d actually like to pursue. An exec named Damona Resnick and I really hit it off and she said, “Look, I need an assistant and I make my own budget, so if you want to talk to your boss at the program to see if she’ll let you work for me a few days a week while you’re still a Page, then let’s do it, that way you can get a taste for casting to see if it’s for you.” So that’s what I did.
I really loved working for Damona. We had the privilege of casting and producing the very first NBC Diversity Showcase, which was such an eye-opening experience. While working with her, the idea of continuing a career in casting was solidified for me. However, I quickly figured out that the corporate space of casting wasn’t quite as creative as I was hoping it might be. At that point, Damona helped finesse my resume and got me in touch with CSA (Casting Society of America) to hunt for a job in independent casting, where you meet and audition actors and really discover talent. I interviewed for the pilot of ABC’s “Brothers & Sisters”, and got the gig. I experienced my first pilot season, and it was extremely intense but very creative and a lot of fun. My bosses Jeanie Bacharach and Gillian O’Neill were so warm and welcoming. We worked hard but laughed A LOT. We were lucky enough to have that pilot get picked up (many don’t see the light of day) and the show ran for five seasons. I went on to cast dozens of pilots and series with that duo and really felt that I had found my calling.
After many years of working in tv casting, I wanted to get my feet wet casting for film. I was working with the lovely Jennifer Cooper at the time, and she helped me spread my wings to go out on my own as a Casting Director. After casting several features under my Arlie Day Casting banner, I realized I thoroughly enjoyed working in film.
In 2016, I met with the iconic director Gregg Araki about a film now called “I Want Your Sex”. It was casting that film that made me truly realize that I have a real passion for the craft. After several years of various independent filmmaking challenges, we’ve recently wrapped on the Olivia Wilde starring film for Black Bear. Also cast in the film is Cooper Hoffman, Mason Gooding, Chase Sui Wonders, Daveed Diggs, Johnny Knoxville, Margaret Cho and megastar musician turned actress Charli XCX. I can’t wait to see where this one lands.
Another project I’m incredibly proud of is a film called “To Leslie”. The sole producer on the project at the time sent the screenplay to me in 2018. After reading it, I was so in love with the script that I told her I needed to be involved with the film in any capacity. We helped assemble a wonderful team with a brilliant director and cast an immensely talented group of actors in the film, which garnered our lead actress Andrea Riseborough an Academy Award nomination!
At the top of 2020 (just in time for a worldwide pandemic to hit), I decided things were getting too busy for my casting associate Christina Blevins and I to handle alone (I should have realized this when I was doing actor deals on my honeymoon!) so I put it out into the universe that I’d like to bring on a partner. It so happened that Mike Page who I had known since the “Brothers & Sisters” days (he was a PA on the show), was ready to transition from being a casting executive to getting back in the trenches as a Casting Director. We immediately formed Day & Page Casting and have had a beautiful partnership for over five years and are going strong.
We’ve been fortunate enough to work in both film and tv, in comedy, drama and various other genres. We’ve gotten the opportunity to work on so many projects that we’re incredibly passionate about. We have some exciting announcements coming out in the trades soon, so stay tuned!
Casting has been such a fun and interesting journey, and I have met some incredible people along the way. I’ve gotten to cast many of my idols over the years, from Snoop Dogg to Anthony Hopkins. It hasn’t come without challenges, but I’m so pleased to work in a field that fills my creative cup and gives me the flexibility to be at home with my family. Being a mama to my two-year-old son is by far my biggest accomplishment. He’s my greatest gift.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Life is a beautiful voyage with so many unexpected gifts and surprises. It does come however, with inevitable pain and triumph and takes a whole lot of resilience. Like many, I’m no stranger to overcoming challenges, both personally and professionally. I believe it’s about the person we become when making it through to the other side.
Personally, I’ve experienced great loss. I have suddenly and unexpectedly lost people I loved beyond measure…but I’m still here. Living in gratitude for having loved and been loved so deeply.
Professionally, there have been some disappointments and “what if’s” along the way. “What if I had gotten that job I was up for and really wanted?”, “what if I hadn’t passed on that project that went on to have great success?”, “what if that series didn’t get canceled when it did?” etc. but I am a genuine believer that we are on our own divine path and nothing happens by mistake.
The pandemic in 2020 was a big hit to the entertainment industry (and so many industries). We still haven’t fully recovered. When Hollywood was finally beginning to gain momentum, the WGA (Writers Guild of America) went on strike, which caused another almost complete shutdown of the industry. The strike went on for 148 days and took a huge toll on Hollywood. We are all still very much feeling the effects of that.
We will prevail, but it will take a lot of patience and strength, and I don’t think it will ever be quite the same as it once was.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a Casting Director who specializes in film and television. I have cast many actors in all different genres. I personally love coming of age projects and rom-coms, which I’m casting a lot of these days. I’ve been told by filmmakers that they appreciate my “no stone unturned” mentality. There are always ways to find the perfect fit in a role. I put in the work, but also don’t take it all too seriously. My thinking is that, we work in entertainment…it should be entertaining. I work hard but have fun, otherwise what’s the point?
I’m proud of a lot of the work I’ve done so far. From putting now well-known actors in their first projects, to flipping a role on its head by casting actors who are completely unexpected. It’s so gratifying when I’m watching an audition and I have that “ah ha” moment of “this is it”. It’s especially exciting when it’s an emerging actor who we haven’t seen much of yet.
As mentioned above, I’m particularly proud of casting the film “To Leslie” as well as “I Want Your Sex”. Completely different ends of the spectrum in terms of script and tone, but both equally beautiful in their own way. I spent several years working on both projects and I do have to say, it has been worth the effort.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I am a Midwest girl through and through. I was born in Chicago and lived there with my dad and his side of the family for a few years before moving to Minnesota, where I grew up with my mom and stepdad Bernard. I was very outgoing and made friends easily, which was essential because we moved around a lot. I learned to make something out of nothing, which has come in handy in my adult life.
I was very business-minded at a young age. We lived in Florida for a few years before moving back to Minnesota and I would put a quarter in the newspaper machine, pull out the entire stack, place them in my little red plastic shopping cart, and sell them door-to-door for a dollar a pop. It wasn’t until much later that I learned this was actually theft, but hey I made a good living for a five-year-old.
Another money-making idea I had when I was very young was to create art by painting and drawing pictures, then display them around the entire bathroom. I would invite my parents to come shop at my “gallery” and let them take home their favorites for a hefty price. It’s a surprise that I didn’t end up an entrepreneur with a start-up rather than a Casting Director.
My mom worked on the road a lot when I was young, so Bernard and I spent a ton of time together as he helped raise me. He absolutely LOVED film. He mostly enjoyed foreign films and black and white cinema. He was a true cinephile. He introduced me to movies very early on. We would be the last remaining people in the theater watching the credits roll until the end. He was fascinated by all aspects of filmmaking and had a deep respect for the process. He inspired me in so many ways.
Bernard had a niece, my cousin Dana, that lives in Los Angeles so we would take trips to visit her on occasion. He could see the sparkle in my eye when we were in LA and often asked if I’d consider making the move. I didn’t think I really had what it took to get out of my comfort zone in the Midwest and make it in Hollywood. However, during our last visit, I had an epiphany and knew I needed to make LA my home.
At that time, I decided to quit my day job and get a bartending gig to raise some quick cash to make the move. After six months of working in a bar, I packed up my car with all of my essentials and made the trek west. I was 25 years old and finally ready for the next chapter of my life to begin.
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