Casting, diversity and fluid identities in Australian television

Abstract

This article examines the practice and function of casting in the Australian television industry from the 1960s to the 1990s. It investigates the role of ethnicity and accents and the practice of casting actors of migrant backgrounds in Australian drama, variety and comedy. In an industry so often dominated by Anglo-Australian stories, faces and voices, the increasing presence of actors from non-English-speaking backgrounds and non-European ethnicities has been a key feature of the changing nature of Australian television production. By analysing ‘Showcast’ casting directories, supplemented with oral history interviews, this article suggests that actors have tended to adopt fluid or hybrid identities to navigate the casting process and find steady work in the television industry. The manipulation of identity, I argue, sits at the nexus of overlapping cultural spheres amid the challenging operation of multiculturalism in Australian media.