With ongoing discussion of diversity in front of and behind the camera, Tamara Hunter is breaking barriers. This week, Variety revealed Sony offered her the newly created position of Vice President of Casting. Previously, Hunter worked with legendary casting directors Nancy Foy and Donna Isaacson at Fox.
Hunter oversaw casting on two upcoming titles: X-Men: Apocalypse (with Alexandra Shipp as Storm) and Hidden Figures. Hidden Figures is about a team of African-American women, who provided NASA with important mathematical data needed to launch the program’s first successful space missions. The film stars Taraji P. Henson, Kirsten Dunst, Mahershala Ali, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe and Kevin Costner. She also worked on comedies like Wilson (starring Woody Harrelson) and Why Him? (starring James Franco and Bryan Cranston). Before joining Fox, she worked on casting Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., in addition to indie features like Jon Favreau’s sleeper hit Chef.
In her new position at Sony, Hunter is tasked with casting across all of Sony’s labels, including Columbia, TriStar, Screen Gems, Affirm and Sony Pictures Animation.