BIO OF CRYSTAL OLSEN – CRYSTAL CASTING

Crystal began her career in casting as an assistant for background casting… she quickly made the progression to Film and Television. She has worked on everything from major blockbuster feature films, television series, movies of the week, to commercials, industrials, background casting, and even street casting. She has a Certificate of Acting from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City and an Honours degree in Bachelor of Arts from the University of British Columbia.  

The Independent Film Touching Wild horses launched her company Crystal Casting. The film was in the 2002 Toronto Film Festival and the Sprockets Film Festival. She cast series for Global TV, Life Network, Discovery Channel, History Channel, & National Geographic. She has taught as a guest speaker at Sheridan College for the last couple of years, “How to cast your film on a student budget and get the best talent”.

Most enjoyable project to date was working with Ron Howard, Russell Crowe and Renée Zellweger on Cinderella Man alongside Diane Kerbel. Crystal has an affinity for independent feature films and short films. The independent feature film, “Things To Do”, just recently made it into Blockbuster shelves across Canada. The short film Stamps was picked up by Canada Post. The short film: The Business of Suicide, won first prize for short film at Microcinefest and was in the Baltimore Short Film Festival. Headhunter was accepted into the Los Angeles International Film Festival.  She has had the pleasure to work with many of the casting directors in the city: Kim Everest, Michael Stevenson, Juli-Ann Kay, Gloria Mann, Robin Cook, Tina Gerussi, and Clare Walker. She loves working with budding filmmakers and encouraging the independent film community.