How do shows always seem to find the perfect actor or actress for each character?

By having a huge casting staff….

Thats what they do and get paid well for doing it.It all boils down to having a creative mind and knowing what people like in a charcater and then finding that character from within a large pool.

You’re talking about the shows that have become successful. The shows that don’t make the cut are the ones that chose the wrong actors.

I don’t think they always do frankly. Good casting directors choose well. But there are many times when I have seen a character and thought “that could have been done better by so and so.” Also, a lot of times, we think an actor is perfect for a character because we haven’t seen that character any other way. We have only seen Wolverine done by Hugh Jackman, so we associate the role with him now. If they changed the actor, people would be upset because they think he was perfect for it. But they have no real way of knowing, it’s not like they got to compare hundreds of different people playing the same role.

The Hugh Jackman example was just that – an example. I don’t think that he was a bad Wolverine or anything. I thought of him because I just read an article saying he’s hosting the Oscars

Yeah, I think occasionally they fail, but then so does the show. Thus, the only ones that remain are the successes.

You only see what’s there, not what’s not there. Someone off in India is probably a better Michael Scott than Steve Carell, but no one knows it, because all you see is Steve Carell. The absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence.

@Mtl_zack That would be Ricky Gervais, but he’s not from India.

They have tryouts and the people just practice really good.

Well, in sitcom world, you don’t really know the character until the person playing it, plays it. The person becomes the character as you know it, so that may be why it seems perfect. Also, once the character takes root, editing to fit around that perception takes over.

I’ve seen at least a few movies based on books, where the person playing it didn’t match the person I had envisioned the character to be.

@figbash that is very true wow you are smart!!!!