Marci Liroff

After attending the University of Denver, Liroff began her career in 1977 as an assistant to the VP of International Distribution for Dimension Pictures, where she learned about the marketing, sales and distribution of films—especially blaxploitation films (Black Shampoo, Dolemite, Dr. Black and Mr. Hyde, Dixie Dynamite – and assisted in selling the rights to such pictures all over the world.

A year later, Liroff became the assistant to a television agent at International Creative Management (ICM) in Los Angeles. While there, Liroff placed ICM clients on such shows as Happy Days, Mork and Mindy, WKRP in Cincinnati, Soap, Barney Miller, All in the Family, and Maude.

In 1979, Liroff started working with casting directors Mike Fenton[1] and Jane Feinberg of Fenton-Feinberg Casting.[2]

Liroff started as Fenton's assistant and worked on movies such as Raiders of the Lost Ark, and History of the World, Part I. She earned credit as a casting director on E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Porky's, Poltergeist, Blade Runner, A Christmas Story, and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

A chance meeting between producer Craig Zadan and Steven Spielberg resulted in Spielberg's recommendation of Liroff to cast Zadan's upcoming Footloose.

Liroff would go on to cast such films as St. Elmo's Fire, Pretty in Pink, The Cutting Edge, Mannequin, Jack Frost, The Iron Giant, Insomnia, Freaky Friday, Gothika, Mean Girls, The Spiderwick Chronicles , "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" and Mr. Popper's Penguins. She associate-produced and cast Untamed Heart and The Crush, and co-produced and cast The Spitfire Grill, which won the "Audience Award" at The Sundance Film Festival in 1996.

Liroff was a state witness in the New York rape trial of Harvey Weinstein in 2020. As the casting director of the 2014 Weinstein-produced film Vampire Academy, she testified about Weinstein staging a sham audition with Jessica Mann, one of the star witnesses in the case.[3]

In 2009, Liroff started private coaching of actors and created an Audition Boot Camp, in which she teaches the fundamentals of auditioning.

Liroff is also a writer for Backstage Magazine.

• "The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences"
• "The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences"
• "Teamsters 399"
• "Casting Society of America" National Board Member

• Marci Liroff – Official Website
• Liroff's columns on Backstage.com