Jan Russ

Jan Russ is an Australian casting director, producer and actress of theatre and has briefly appeared in television guest roles. She is best known as the casting agent for various program's for Grundy Television/Fremantle Media, and is notable for launching the career's of many artists that became international stars.

Russ served as casting director on the TV soap opera Neighbours from the show's inception in 1984 (it went to broadcast the following year) to her departure in 2009 and previously served as the casting agent for serial Prisoner for 18 months until the show's cancellation.

Biography
Russ was born in Maribyrnong, a suburb northwest of Melbourne, Victoria and was a member of the Maribyrnong Youth Club when she was younger. In 1956, Russ, along with her drama group, won the Victorian Association of Youth Club's drama championship. Russ played Alice in an adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass.

She started working in professional theatre shows from 1967 onwards including Man of La Mancha, Oliver!, Fiddler on the Roof and Godspell, The New Adventure of Pinocchio and Funny Girl Russ lived in New Zealand while she worked in musical theatre and appeared on television shows. She later decided to move behind the camera and worked as a Production Assistant and Floor Manager, which made her the first female in the industry to do so.

During the 1960s, Russ gave birth to a daughter. She was forced to give the child up for adoption as she was young and unwed. Russ's story was later turned into a play, The Show Must Go On, which was written by Robyn Bishop and directed by Mike Bishop. Russ has a son, Samuel Hammington, who is an actor and comedian.

In September 2014 Russ was featured in The Past Is A Foreign Country, a two part episode of the ABC documentary series Australian Story.

Prisoner
When Russ moved back to Australia, she began working as the casting assistant for Crawford Productions. In the early 1980s, Ian Smith called Russ and asked if she would like to meet with the Producer at Grundy Television, Russ met the producer and was offered the job of casting director on the television show Prisoner. Russ worked on the show for eighteen months until its cancellation.



Neighbours
Russ got a call from Reg Watson who stated he was working on creating a new drama series, she was subsequently handed a series of under the working title "Living Together" and after reading them went to work assembling a cast, the new series now titled Neighbours was commissioned by Seven Network in 1984 and launched in early 1985 and which include a mix of seasoned veteran actors alongside several newcomers, she would go on the served as casting director for the program for the next 36 years including the regular and guest cast roles throughout her time with the show.

Russ has stated that of the popular original cast Alan Dale almost didn't make the cut and she and producer John Holmes had made a mistake, believing he was under contract, they contacted Watson who told Dale he was chosen as Jim Robinson.

She is credited not only for casting hugely popular older cast members including Ian Smith and Anne Charleston as Harold and Madge Bishop and Tom Oliver as Lou Carpenter but "discovering" and casting many upcoming younger cast, with many of the show's stars who have gone on to forge international careers, including Craig McLachlan, Delta Goodrem, Natalie Imbruglia, Guy Pearce and Jesse Spencer., Holly Valance Madeleine West and Brooke Satchwell.

In 1986, she cast Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan in their famous roles of Charlene Mitchell and Scott Robinson. Russ' casting talent has led her to be called "Australia's most enduring star-maker" and she later became the show's associate producer.

In 2006, Russ was responsible for choosing the winners of Dolly magazine's search for Neighbours '  next big stars competition. She had to go through seven thousand taped entries over several weeks, before starting live auditions. Adelaide Kane (Lolly Allen) and Sam Clark (Ringo Brown) were eventually chosen and given a three-month contract with the show. The Dolly competition ran again in 2008 and Russ handpicked Mauricio Merino Jr. and Chelsea Jones to star as Simon and Tegan Freeman, respectively.

In March 2009, Russ' future with Neighbours was called into question following a backstage "shakeup". It was announced that FremantleMedia, the series production company, were planning to bring in an external casting agency. Fremantle's spokesman said "The casting role is critical to the show, it is an enormous job and it continues to grow by the day. We continue to discuss with Jan her role with the show, as her skill and talents are incredible". Two months later, it was announced that Russ was in discussions about her future with the show and about her involvement in the Dolly magazine competition and the 25th Anniversary. Russ worked as casting director for Grundy Television, and its successor FremantleMedia for a total of twenty-five years.

In 2010, it was revealed that Russ would be casting a new television project, created and developed by the McMahon Entertainment Group.

Acting
Russ has had acting roles in Division 4, Homicide and The Clinic. Russ had a guest role as Mrs Daniels on Prisoner before she became the casting director.

Russ appeared at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in 2009 and in September of that year, she made a guest appearance in City Homicide alongside Daniel MacPherson, whom she cast in Neighbours in 1998. Russ had not performed on television since Prisoner in 1982. Her character was Robyn Turner, a community volunteer. Russ said she received an email from the City Homicide casting team, which said there was a role they wanted to see her for and would she be interested in auditioning. Russ call her audition "bizarre" and "strange".