Emmy-winning casting executive Meg Liberman, EVP of casting at CBS Studios, is retiring after a 40-plus-year career, she and CBS Studios announced on Wednesday.
Later Wednesday, it was additionally announced that Deborah Aquila, who currently heads casting for Paramount TV Studios, will step up as head of casting for both PTVS and CBS Studios. Aquila will resume joint responsibilities for casting across studios this spring.
In her 14 years at the studio, Liberman oversaw casting of more than 350 projects, including the “NCIS” and “Star Trek” franchises, “The Good Wife” and “The Good Fight,” “Dead to Me,” “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” and “Jane the Virgin.”
Prior to joining CBS Studios, she cast such illustrious series as “Seinfeld,” “The Comeback,” “The Larry Sanders Show,” “Band of Brothers,” “Fame,” “From the Earth to the Moon,” “That ‘70s Show,” and “3rd Rock from the Sun.”
Liberman began casting with her mother, Pat Harris, and her business partner, Marsha Kleinman. “I shouldn’t have been surprised when I took to it so readily — it was in the genes,” she wrote in her farewell letter.
Her first office was at Paramount Studios, where she helped cast “Happy Days,” “Laverne & Shirley” and “CPO Sharkey” starring Don Rickles.
She thanked the “tough and brilliant” Kleinman, about whom she wrote, “She set the standard of excellence I have tried to uphold.”
Among her favorite projects were: “Ghosts,” “Unbelievable,” “Dead to Me,” “American Vandal,” “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” “The Comey Rules,” and the upcoming “King Shaka” and “Dinner With the Parents.”
“I know I am biased, but we have the best casting team in the business, and I expect that to continue long after I depart,” she wrote.
CBS Studios president David Stapf said, “Meg is much more than a casting savant — she is an incredible human being. She is smart, passionate, generous and always unflappable — the epitome of grace under pressure.”
He added, “Her creative instincts have always been second to none, and there’s been more than one occasion where she could have reminded me she was right, but didn’t. Her legacy at the studio will forever be the incredible casts across the hundreds of shows, but also the outstanding colleagues she has nurtured, including those in her phenomenal department.”
Stapf continued, “It has been a privilege and an honor to say I worked with the great Meg Liberman and I know many of you feel the same. While she will be missed, I know we’ll continue to champion the creative environment of passion, excellence, inclusivity, and caring mentorship she helped create and foster.”
Liberman has been nominated for 11 Emmys and won three for “Band of Brothers,” “From the Earth to the Moon,” and “The Pacific.” She has received 56 Artios Award nominations from the Casting Society of America and in 2011, was honored with the society’s Hoyt Bowers Award for career achievement.
She also cast movies, including “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” and “EuroTrip.”
