Kate Antognini is a New York-based casting director and street scout for feature films, TV shows and commercials.

As every single person on camera is critical to making an imagined world feel real, Kate helps productions hand-pick all elements of their casts, from leading roles to background. Depending on a project’s needs, the scope of her searches can span the globe or be localized to a city.

WORK

Kate has contributed to the casting on a number of feature films and series, including:

-The Drama, the forthcoming A24 film from Kristoffer Borgli (Dream Scenario, Sick of Myself), starring Robert Pattinson and Zendaya, for which she did additional casting. Kate spearheaded a nationwide campaign to cast the younger version of Zendaya’s character in the film.

-Bugonia, the forthcoming film from Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things, The Lobster), starring Jesse Plemons and Emma Stone, on which she did extensive street casting for additional roles on location in Atlanta, GA.

-Lucky Lu, directed by Lloyd Lee Choi, which premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival. Featuring an almost entirely Mandarin-speaking, New York–based cast, the film reflects the rich cultural fabric of the city’s Chinese diaspora.

-Between the Temples, directed by Nathan Silver, starring Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane, distributed by Sony Pictures Classics.

-Blue Sun Palace, set in the Chinese immigrant community of Flushing, Queens, for which Kate cast much of the ensemble from new, first-time actors. The film premiered at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

-Tendaberry, directed by Haley Elizabeth Anderson, which premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Set in Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach, the film features a tapestry of non-professional performers from the neighborhood’s diverse cultural communities, most of whom were discovered through street casting.

-Palm Trees and Power Lines, which won the Best Director Award in the US Dramatic Competition at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, and garnered Breakthrough Performance and Best Supporting Independent Spirit Award nominations for Lily McInerny and Jonathan Tucker, respectively.

-How To with John Wilson for HBO Max, produced by Nathan Fielder, an Emmy-nominated absurdist love letter to New York City and all its varied inhabitants.

-Port Authority, produced by Martin Scorsese, which made history as the first film starring a trans woman of color to premiere at Cannes. To cast the film, Kate spent an extended period of time within the vibrant underground kiki scene, attending community balls, meeting with hundreds of kids, and listening to their life stories to create an ensemble cast that felt organic.

PHILOSOPHY

Kate is dedicated to finding individuals with striking, expressive faces that convey rich inner lives.

Her unique process combines the casting of professional actors with "real people" (non-actors sought out to play narrative roles).

Kate's passion for championing untapped talent has left her with a track record of discovering exciting, untrained professionals, including Havana Rose Liu, whom she street scouted and helped develop, Lily McInerny, whom Kate found via social media and was cast as the lead in Palm Trees and Power Lines, and Leyna Bloom, whom she and her co-casting director discovered for the film Port Authority.

Recently, Kate was instrumental in discovering Lily Collias, who Kate previously cast in Palm Trees in Power Lines, and is recently starred in India Donaldson's acclaimed feature debut Good One. 

Kate equally values more traditional acting performances, and experienced actors are typically incorporated alongside real people in most projects.