Recognized by many as the industry leader in actor showcases designed to highlight diverse talent, the CBS Diversity Institute Talent Showcases is attended by senior level CBS Entertainment executives, as well as showrunners and casting directors from series on CBS as well as other networks and high level talent agents.
To date, across all categories, 354 actors have appeared in the CBS Diversity Talent Showcases—which, as a direct result, have lead to more than 2,600 auditions, and from those auditions, actors have landed over 600 roles.
Under the guidance of director Rick Najera (whose writing credits include In Living Color, MADtv and Latinologues on Broadway), 23 actors and 60 writers were selected from more than 4,000 who applied—and who wrote more than 1,300 sketches and performed all-original material.
The four-day event was produced by CBS Casting SVP Fern Orenstein, who has been in charge of Diversity Talent Showcases for CBS since 2002.
Some past participants in the CBS Diversity Sketch Comedy Showcases include Justin Hires (Rush Hour), Kate McKinnon (Saturday Night Live), Geoffrey Arend (Madam Secretary), Eugene Codero (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), Masi Oka (Hawaii Five-O) and many more.