Ellen Parks

Following a performing arts career in dance, musical theater, repertory theater and the classics, Ellen ran a NYC casting office for 30 years, in the service of studio and independent films, network series and cable miniseries. 

Clients have included Martin Scorsese, Merchant/Ivory, Alexander Payne, David O. Russell, Joel & Ethan Coen, George Romero, David Letterman, and numerous indie talents like Debra Granik, Bette Gordon, Steven Shainberg and Austin Chick. Actors in her casts have won dozens of awards and nominations, in films premiering at the New York, Cannes, Tribeca, Telluride, Sundance and Toronto Film Festivals, the Film Independent Spirit and Gotham Awards. 

Ellen has taught On-Camera Acting, Character and Imagination at NYU Tisch School of the Arts and more recently created the Advanced Casting Workshop for Columbia's MFA Directing program. Additional Master Classes have been delivered at NYU’s MFA Directing program, Rutgers, Smith College, Atlantic Theatre Conservatory, William Esper Studio, T. Schreiber Studio, One on One Studio, The Barrow Group, and Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center. 

Now retired from full-service casting, Ellen continues to consult, mentor, teach privately and coach on-set in New York and abroad. During the pandemic, she co-founded Craft Lab, an online program for actors and writers developing original material for film. Internationally, she's trained professional actors from The Central Academy and The Dome Studio in Beijing. 

Ellen has been a devoted mentor at Stowe since the first Story Lab in 2013.