Jennifer Rudnicke ’90 receives compliments so frequently these days that even her neighbors are accepting some of the praise. On a recent vacation in Ireland, Rudnicke’s neighbors struck up a conversation with some locals at a pub. “They asked (our neighbors) if they watched The Bear,” Rudnicke said. “And they know my involvement, so of course they came home and told me people are watching it in Ireland.
“It’s unreal what this little show has become.”
Appears InRudnicke is a casting director who forms half the leadership of Paskal Rudnicke Casting. She’s partnered with Mickie Paskal for 22 years, and their Chicago-based agency is thriving. Their contribution to The Bear, a dramedy airing on FX and Hulu, represents their most acclaimed work yet. The show following a young chef returning to Chicago to run his family’s sandwich shop racked up loads of nominations and wins this awards season, and that included a Primetime Emmy award for Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series.
“It’s been mind-blowing and humbling,” Rudnicke said. “(An Emmy) was never a goal, and it’s something I never even imagined when I first started doing casting.”
Rudnicke and Paskal provided location casting for The Bear, which means they auditioned and recommended local actors for the series. They’re not the stars, but they’re not the extras, either; they all have speaking roles. Some are day players, appearing in just a single episode, but some are cast regulars like Richard Esteras, Jose M. Cervantes, and Corey Hendrix, kitchen fixtures in the show’s fictional restaurant, The Beef. (The real-life Mr. Beef is a River North establishment where much of the show is filmed.)
“Those actors started off being offered just a couple episodes. But next thing you know, I’m making their deals to do all the episodes,” Rudnicke said. “Now they’re part of the team, part of the family. It’s turned into something really wonderful for them.”
A handful of actors cast in The Bear act out their scenes inside the show’s fictional setting of The Beef, the real-life Mr. Beef on Orleans in Chicago’s River North neighborhood.
Their characters—and the approximately 60 others in the series cast by Rudnicke’s team—add color and authenticity to a show that is distinctly Chicago. That strength has become a calling card of Paskal Rudnicke Casting.
“It helps when you have people involved who are true locals who know that true Chicago feeling,” said Rudnicke, who grew up in the northwest suburb of Palatine. “Chicago often becomes its own character.”
Rudnicke also cast for hit series Shameless and South Side. Those shows have contributed to a boom in productions set and filmed in Chicago over the past decade, with legendary producer Dick Wolf’s Chicago franchise also playing a major part. A massive, 21-acre film studio on Chicago’s northwest side opened earlier this year to accommodate the surge in productions.
“I think Dick Wolf proving that you could make a successful show here let other people know they could do it, too,” Rudnicke said.
Paskal Rudnicke Casting doesn’t just work on hit studio shows. They cast for independent films and voiceovers. Commercials are a big chunk of their business. Rudnicke collaborated with fellow Illinois State University alum Jane Lynch ’82 in casting Illinois tourism commercials directed by Lynch.
“A hemorrhoid cream commercial can pay twice as much as our episodic work, and Jennifer cares about it just as much,” said Paskal. “Jennifer will treat that commercial and that producer the exact same way she treats one of our episodic producers. There is no difference to her.”
Rudnicke manages the business side of the agency, negotiating contracts and serving as the liaison between actors and producers. That skill comes in part from her first career as a stage manager, which began at Illinois State University. Rudnicke served an internship at the Goodman Theatre and continued as a stage manager in smaller storefront theatres in Chicago after graduation.
Needing a side hustle, she joined a talent agency where she answered phones and sent faxes during the day before heading to the theatre at night. She eventually connected with casting director Cherie Mann and became her assistant. Rudnicke started her own boutique casting agency, Jaz Casting, and made another important connection with Paskal a few years later. Rudnicke filled in for Paskal while she was on maternity leave, and the temporary partnership soon became a permanent one.
Their complementary skills have served them well. “I’d be lost without Jennifer. She’s an outrageously good business partner,” Paskal said. “Without her, I’m out of business 20 years ago.”
The business has grown over nearly a quarter century. Four full-time staff members and a handful of freelancers contribute to the operation’s success. Rudnicke and Paskal have honed their skills as “personal shoppers” for producers and directors, and that sometimes includes pushing back against typecasting.
“You read the scripts and the doctors are men and the cleaning people speak broken English, and there are a lot of the stereotypes we’ve been stuck with for years,” Rudnicke said. “So, we pride ourselves on pushing them on those things.”
Paskal said her partner is an expert at expanding clients’ imaginations.
“We were casting once for something, and they asked for a white man in their 40s—which is what they always ask for—and Jennifer asked if we could go with a Black actor or a Samoan actor,” Paskal recalled. “And she does that all the time. She’s constantly pushing boundaries. She’s inventive, and she’s brave.”
The work is rewarding when an actor she pushed for shines in a role, but there are times when it’s even more fulfilling. “We had an actor come back and tell us he was able to pay off his condo because we helped him get a job,” Rudnicke said. “Those moments are more rewarding.”
Managing relationships is a big part of the job, and Rudnicke is a master. Paskal marveled at the bond her partner formed with Bashir Salahuddin, one of the creators of South Side. Weekend and after-hours discussions between the two were common, and Rudnicke’s voluminous mental Rolodex allowed her to quickly identify just the right actor when one was needed in a pinch.
“She doesn’t just go the extra mile, she goes the extra marathon,” Paskal said. “Jennifer’s relationship with Bashir is part of what made South Side work.”
Challenges beyond relationship management and crusades against typecasting include screenwriters’ and actors’ strikes that disrupted projects last year, not to mention lasting impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic. Self-taped and video auditions have become the norm, eliminating extra nuggets a casting director captures during an in-person audition.
But Rudnicke makes it work even on a Zoom screen with an actor who’s nervous or struggling with the technology. “She knows just the thing to say to put someone at ease,” Paskal said. “She’ll share the perfect tidbit from her life to draw something out of someone and get them talking.”
“She doesn’t just go the extra mile, she goes the extra marathon.”
—Mickie Paskal, on Jennifer Rudnicke
Some jobs present more challenges than others, but The Bear presented few. Trust earned from showrunner Christopher Storer, another Chicago native, made for a pleasant experience—and perhaps helped that “little show” become the award-winning powerhouse it’s become.
The Emmy win for Paskal Rudnicke Casting feels like a lifetime achievement award for the agency’s founders. Their phones are ringing a little more often these days. Sometimes for new jobs. Sometimes just letting them know how much their work is enjoyed.
“It’s funny. I was at a school function for one our kids and the principal came up to me. She said, ‘I heard a rumor. Are you up for an Emmy?!’” Rudnicke said, laughing. “The acknowledgments have come from so many people and so many places you would never expect, so it’s been really lovely.
“It’s been wonderfully weird.”
Photography by Mary Rafferty
