Casting Director Amanda Mackey Dies

Cathy Sandrich Gelfond (L) and Amanda Mackey attend the Television Academy's celebration of The 66th Emmy Awards nominees for Outstanding Casting in 2014. Image: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic

SEPTEMBER 7, 2022 - While you might not have seen her on screen, she was responsible for many of the faces you have seen in film and television. After a career spanning forty years and over 170 credits, casting director Amanda Mackey died on August 27, from myelodysplastic syndrome, according to The Hollywood Reporter. She was 70 years old.

 Mackey’s work in the Star Trek universe includes casting Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and co-casting Star Trek: Nemesis, with her long-time business partner, Cathy Sandrich Gelfond. Together the two formed their own independent casting company, which became the first to operate on both coasts.

Outside Star Trek, Mackey’s many film and television credits included A League of Their Own and Smokin’ Aces. She won an Artios Award for the former, and she shared another Artios with Sandrich Gelfond for the latter. The Artios Awards have been conferred by the Casting Society of America (CSA) since 1985.

Sandrich Gelfond said Mackey was “an unwaveringly steadfast friend and champion in a time when women weren’t as supportive to other women as they are now. She believed in me, lifted me up and gave me a career. She was the sister I never had and changed my life in countless ways.”

Mackey’s daughters, Nicola and Emma, said she “was one of a kind. Our mother was beautiful, powerful, and always stood up for what she believed in.”

For more on Mackey’s life and career, head over to The Hollywood Reporter.

Please join all of us at Daily Star Trek News in offering our condolences to the family and friends of Amanda Mackey.