The Casting Call 03.27.09

The Casting Call brings together the latest casting news to keep you informed on who is showing up on which show. Find out who is joining your favorite show as a series regular, a recurring character, a guest star or special cameo. The Casting Call could reveal upcoming story-lines, so be aware, there may be spoilers ahead.

100 Questions for Charlotte Payne (NBC)
Joy Suprano has joined NBC’s comedy pilot 100 Questions for Charlotte Payne. The show centers on a young woman navigating her life and friends. Suprano will play her best friend.

Big Love (HBO)
Branka Katic will reprise her role as Bill’s former fourth wife, Ana, when the show returns for its fourth season early next year. “I’ll be back to cause some trouble,” says Katic. “I think she’s somewhere out there licking her wounds. I think she divorced out of pure compassion because the damage she was causing the family was something she certainly didn’t want to happen.”

Cougar Town (ABC)
Carolyn Hennesy has joined the cast of Cougartown. Her character works in the same real estate office that Courteney Cox does. She is very ladylike and conservative, and then at night it’s literally like Jekyll and Hyde. The claws come out, and the men have to go into hiding—the young men are all very afraid.

Day One (NBC)
Catherine Dent has joined NBC’s drama Day One.

Empire State (ABC)
David Call has been added to ABC’s drama pilot Empire State. The show is a contemporary Romeo-and-Juliet tale about the love between the blue-collar Sam (Mike Vogel) and the wealthy Annabelle (Beau Garrett) whose fathers are nemeses. Call will play the man’s younger brother.

Law and Order: SVU (NBC)
Jeri Ryan has been cast to play a lawyer on Law & Order: SVU. Ryan will play attorney Patrice Larue on the April 7 episode, which is titled Baggage, and will recur in the role for at least two future episodes. In Baggage, the murder of an artist uncovers a string of unsolved homicides by a serial killer. The same episode will feature supporting roles for Delroy Lindo and John Ashton.

Masterwork (Fox)
Matt Passmore has landed the lead on Fox’s drama pilot Masterwork, the season’s last central pilot role that hadn’t been filled. Also cast for the show are Natalie Dormer and Tom Ellis. The project, from Prison Break creator Paul Scheuring, centers on an FBI agent (Passmore), a specialist in the acquisition of stolen art and a fine-arts expert who teams with an MI-5 agent (Dormer). Ellis plays her fiance, a special agent at Scotland Yard.

Medium (NBC)
James Van Der Beek will appear on the April 6 episode of Medium as “a very strange” son whose mother who’s gone missing.

Mercy (NBC)
Michelle Trachtenberg will co-star on NBC’s drama pilot Mercy. On Mercy, about the friendship of three nurses, Trachtenberg will play one of them, who is tragically unhip.

Nip/Tuck (FX)
George Newbern will play Dr. Curtis Ryerson, an old pre-med buddy of Sean’s, in at least two episodes of the FX drama’s upcoming sixth season. A prominent doctor on the verge of receiving a prestigious award, Curtis has carved out the perfect life for himself – both personally and professionally.

No Heroics (ABC)
Tom Riley has landed the fourth lead on ABC’s comedy No Heroics.

State of Romance (NBC)
Stephen Rannazzisi has joined NBC’s comedy pilot State of Romance. The show revolves around the relationship between Mike (Steve Howey) and Emily (Lindsey Broad). Rannazzisi will play Mike’s roommate.

The Cleaner (A&E)
Whoopi Goldberg is joining the drama for a multi-episode arc as Banks’ (Benjamin Bratt) former sponsor. She’ll first appear in the show’s second season premiere this summer. The episode also features a guest turn by Gary Cole as a national news anchor who falls off the wagon after two decades of sobriety.

The Good Wife (CBS)
Josh Charles has joined CBS’ drama pilot The Good Wife. The show centers on a politician’s wife (Julianna Margulies) who gets a job as a junior associate at a top law firm. Charles will play a partner at the firm.

The Eastmans (CBS)
Donald Sutherland is set to star on CBS’ drama pilot The Eastmans. The show revolves around a dysfunctional family of doctors. Sutherland will play the rogue and wealthy patriarch, a distinguished cardiologist. The role is reminiscent of his larger-than-life Tripp Darling on ABC’s Dirty Sexy Money.

Three Rivers (CBS)
Joaquim de Almeida has been added to CBS’ drama pilot Three Rivers. The show is about organ transplants through the eyes of doctors, donors and patients. De Almeida will recur as the director of the institute of transplant medicine.

Ugly Betty (ABC)
David Rasche has been cast to play the recurring role of Matt’s Richard Branson-esque father, Cal Hartley.

Untitled Justin Adler Pilot (NBC)
Allison Munn has landed a lead on NBC’s untitled Justin Adler comedy pilot. The show is about a multigeneration family led by a controlling mother who is not thrilled when her youngest son (Nick D’Agosto) brings his first series girlfriend (Munn) to meet the family.