Hi, I’m Andrea.
Andrea’s first Broadway show was Les Miserables, where her dad got in trouble for fist-pumping along to the music. Despite the personal embarrassment, that performance sparked a lifelong appreciation for the art of acting.
With over 14 years of experience as a casting professional, she has had the honor of working on multiple original Broadway casts, numerous national tours and regional theatrical productions, as well as film, TV, and commercial projects for major companies.
In her spare time, Andrea is a longtime animal shelter foster mom and volunteer. Feel free to ask her any questions about cat & dog adoption.
Photo: Luke Fontana
Core Values
I am simultaneously an independent casting director, freelancer, and small business employee. The below speaks to both Andrea Zee the individual and Zee Casting the entity, with the hopes that the sharing of these values and actions provide definition, accountability, solidarity, and a tool for measuring compatibility. I invite anyone to reach out and I promise open and safe discussion, acknowledging that I do not have all the answers and welcome the opportunity to learn.
PERSONAL VALUES
I believe in…
- constant growth and education, which includes unlearning my own biases, prejudices, and behavioral patterns.
- understanding my impact on others (and vice versa) as a way to foster empathy and respect.
- fully acknowledging the costs of the audition process. This includes recognizing and respecting the time, skill, money, effort, resources, knowledge, emotional soul-baring, and vulnerability (and more!) required of an actor to walk into an audition room.
- carefully weighing if I am the appropriate casting director for a project, and either hiring an education consultant, seeking a co-casting director, or stepping away if a project is outside of my own context or expertise.
ANTI-RACIST ETHOS
I believe in…
- authentic representation. This includes acknowledging the Global Majority and the nuances and layers of heritage and culture within ethnicity.
- decentralizing whiteness, as whiteness is not neutral.
- the power and merits of color-conscious casting over color-blind casting.
- the redistribution of power, especially when it concerns historically marginalized communities.
- calling out and actively eliminating discrimination, and being sensitive to the intersectionality of race, gender, religion, body type, class, ableism, etc.
ACTIONS & PLEDGES
I will…
- acknowledge structures of power in the audition room (including my own positional power as a casting director) and create avenues to alleviate power play.
- hold creative teams, producers, and all others behind the table accountable to fairness, kindness, and respect.
- practice harm reduction, harm prevention, and harm repair.
- lobby for livable wages for actors, monitors, readers, accompanists, assistants/associates, etc. (which includes eliminating unpaid internships).
- nurture an environment that promotes and celebrates equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI).
- combat the financial and socio-economic restrictions built into the traditional audition process by making access easier.
- acknowledge others both as professionals and as human beings.
- provide transparency about pay, company/theater policy, and who is in leadership positions/positions of power for the project as soon as the information is available.
UPLIFTING OTHERS
Below are links for the main organizations that I will be supporting this year, with either financial donations or volunteer service. I invite you to learn more about each organization and the good work that they do by clicking on the corresponding name. I concentrate on 10 different institutions each year and incorporate multiple interests and passions.
2024 Organizations: