Emmy Nominees Cathy Sandrich Gelfond & Erica Berger on Casting the Scrappy Young Doctors of “The Pitt”

Casting Directors Cathy Sandrich Gelfond and Erica Berger were recently interviewed by The Credits talking about different cast members and the work that was done in season one.

When The Pitt started streaming on HBO Max in January, the influx of intense young actors just kept coming. ER star Noah Wyle anchors the medical drama as the cracked tower of strength, Doctor Michael “Robby” Rabinovitch; nearly all the other characters on his fractious emergency room team are portrayed by relatively unknown talents delivering performances that are, by turns, wrenching and highly technical.

The Pitt, which earned 13 Emmy nominations, filled its ranks with actors picked by casting directors Cathy Sandrich Gelfond and Erica Berger. After working together on Mayor of Kingstown, they combed the country for actors unburdened by celebrity baggage. “We were trying pretty hard not to have well-known faces because we didn’t want anyone to be taken out of where we are in the story,” Gelfond explains. “We wanted the audience to feel like we’re in the grit and the grime and the blood.”

Speaking from Los Angeles, where The Pitt is filmed, Gelfond and Berger unpack the vetting process that led to the stacked cast of newcomers, as well as the veteran actress, Emmy nominee Katherine LaNasa, whose audition reduced the casting directors to tears.

Full Credit to: The Credits article. Check out the link below to see their amazing interview they had done!!

https://www.motionpictures.org/2025/09/emmy-nominees-cathy-sandrich-gelfond-erica-berger-on-casting-the-scrappy-young-doctors-of-the-pitt/