Jerold Franks

Jerold Franks, Independent Casting Director, Lecturer, Educator and Actors' Advocate, is responsible for an extraordinary number of television, motion picture, theater, and live show productions and events. Considered one of the foremost experts in guiding talent, Jerry is the former Executive in Charge of Talent and Casting for 20th Century Fox Television. He also served as Director of Talent and Casting for Columbia Pictures Television and with the Long Beach Civic Light Opera as their Artistic Director. Before entering the Casting Director's world, he learned the basics from the other side of the desk and served a two year stint as a theatrical agent in Los Angeles and New York. His first solo casting assignment was on the Emmy Award-winning "Barney Miller." He worked at Warner Brothers Television (Formerly Lorimar) casting Movies of the Week and series', cast five years on MGM's successful pilot and series "FAME," and was the Casting Consultant for ABC Daytime Dramas. Through the years, Franks has worked with virtually every network and studio in Hollywood and New York. Highly respected throughout the industry, Franks was honored in 1995, 1997, and 2000 with Awards of Excellence for Contributions to the Entertainment Industry by the Southern California Motion Picture Council. He was the recipient of the 1999 Award of Excellence by the California Governor's Committee for 'Employment of the Physically Challenged' for his casting of the Movie of the Week, "Kids Like These." A three-time Emmy nominee for casting (in association with long time partner Al Onorato) he is most proud of the 1989 ARTIOS Award, the Casting Society of America's highest honor for his casting of the feature film, "Baghdad Cafe" and an Emmy-winning production of ABC's Wonderful World of Disney's "A Mother's Courage: The Mary Thomas Story." Twenty years ago he established Jerold Franks Productions, which serves as a well recognized special events production company. His humanitarian fundraising efforts have been acknowledged with countless accolades from many charitable organizations. Additionally, Franks has produced the annual Cedars-Sinai Hospital Thalians fund-raiser for the last 20 years. Education:Master's Degree - Psychology, Guidance & Counseling California State University - Northridge, California (1971) Master's Degree - Marketing and Public Relations - UCLA Theatre Arts Lecturer: 1980 - 2002 University of California - Los Angeles University of Southern California - Los Angeles California State University - Northridge California State University - Los Angeles Cypress College - Cypress, California American University - Washington, D.C. (guest) Professional Non-profit/profit clients: (partial list) The City of Hope - Duarte, California The City of Hope Diabetes Foundation - Duarte, California Cedar's Sinai Hospital - Los Angeles, California The NAACP - National Chapter (Washington, D.C.) The Thalians Mental Health Unit -Cedars-Sinai Hospital Los Angeles -pro-bono - since 1982 The Media Access Office (Board Member) Organization supporting employment of Physically Challenged Persons in the Entertainment Industry The Deaf Entertainment Foundation - Board Member The Norris Cancer Clinic (USC) AIDS Alliance Los Angeles (Board Member) The Actor's Fund of America Luckman Fine Arts Center - Los Angeles (grand opening of venue) Shanti AIDS Foundation - pro-bono The NAACP The Hugh O'Brien Youth Foundation Make A Wish Foundation The Crippled Children's Association of Southern California The American Cancer Society The American Heart Association The Spirit of American Foundation Multiple Sclerosis Association of Los Angeles Franks holds graduate degrees in Theatre Arts and Psychology and has served on the faculties of the University of California - L.A., Cypress College, and the University of Southern California. He is a past member of the Executive Committee for the Media Access office, a member of the Academy of Television Arts and the advisory board of Thalians Mental Health unit at Cedars Sinai Hospital. He serves as President Pro Tem of the Friends of the Theatre, California State University, Los Angeles. In 2004, he joined the Board of Direcotrs for RXLaughter (RxLaugher.org)in Los Angeles. Additionally, Franks serves on the Board of the Deaf Entertainment Foundation and is a consultant for the New York Equity annual fund-raiser, along with his active year round work on behalf of The Actor's Fund of America, The Christopher Reeve Foundation (crpf.org) and the Pat Tillman Foundation. (www.PatTillman.com) Franks is currently on a year round fund raising tour with his revised 2001 well received book "So You Wanna Be An Actor...Act Like One" and his second and third books "Bruised Heart" and "Gah goo means 'thank you'" will be released in 2005 by Barnes and Noble.