Casting Spotlight: Brent Anbe, Background Casting Director, "Hawaii Five-O"

Brent Anbe

Brent is a local boy who graduated from McKinley High School. He received his degree from the University of Hawaii in Communications. In 2004, when Lost, North Shore and Hawaii came to Hawaii, Brent was one of the new staffers added to the Hawaii Film Office. In 2010, local casting director Laurie Foi hired Brent to be her casting assistant on the new ABC-TV program Off the Map. Brent credits Laurie for being a great mentor. Following Off the Map, Brent was hired as the local casting director for The River. Brent subsequently went on to work for Hawaii Five-0.

Hawaii Five-0 background casting process

Principal roles are cast by Rachel Sutton and background by Brent, Lan Deal and Johanna Bautista. Each department has its own talent pool. However, there are actors who are in both files. When a new script is received, Brent compiles the list of scenes where background actors are needed. After meeting with the assistant director, the background breakdown is given along with the budget, which dictates how many background actors can be hired. For featured background actors, photos are selected and given to the director and the producer for final selection. Brent looks for diversity unless the script calls for something specific. 

Inside the actor’s file

Front and center is your photo taken by the Five-0 staff, along with your information sheet showing contact info, height, weight, etc. If a resume and headshot are submitted, they are added to the file. However, casting looks at their own photo first because they can trust it is a true representation of how people look. Nothing is digitized for use on the computer.

How are actors categorized?

Brent has three files that he works from. The first file contains union background actors, the second one has non-union background actors, and the third file has actual police officers, firefighters, EMTs, nurses, etc. Each of these files is broken down into what the casting directors determine are the actors’ “portrayable” ethnicity and age range. Note: The casting directors determine your portrayable age range.

Casting sources

If he needs specific people, like football players, Brent will look to outside sources. He goes through people he personally knows to arrange contacts. He does not use social media sources such as Facebook or Hawaii Actors Network to search for talent.

Union talent

Brent wants to hire union members. They are reliable, professional and know the process. However, budget drives everything. Hawaii Five-0 is an AFTRA legacy show that by contract is required to have 21 covered background performers, including stand-ins.

Background versus principal work

If your ultimate goal is securing a principal part, let the casting office know. They will add the tagline "do not feature" to your information card. This means you won't be cast in a scene showing your face front and center. Hawaii is a small community, and Brent and Rachel are aware of the actors who are aspiring and training in their craft. Brent believes acting is a craft, and that you can't just do it once a year to keep in shape. He also believes that doing background work is beneficial because it exposes you to the way things work on the set.
 
Brent’s pet peeves about background actors

It really bothers him when background actors don’t respect the set, the crew or other background actors.

This item was originally featured in the October 2012 local newsletter.