John Jackson began his career in film as an actor in Los Angeles. Working under the name John Durbin, he appeared in a combination of over one hundred films, television movies, series television and plays. Returning to the Midwest in the 1990’s, John met film maker Alexander Payne. The two have worked together on four films, SIDEWAYS, ABOUT SCHMIDT, ELECTION, and CITIZEN RUTH. As his interest in acting diminished, his work in casting grew. John is a winner of two Casting Society of America Artios awards for SIDEWAYS and ABOUT SCHMIDT. Additional casting projects include feature films: THE OBJECTIVE with writer/director Daniel Myrick (BLAIR WITCH PROJECT) and SHOE AT YOUR FOOT with French film maker Jennifer Devoldere. Most recently, John completed casting feature films entitled, EXPIRED, AMERICAN ZOMBIE, THE HOST (U.S. casting), HUMBOLDT COUNTY, OTIS and ALIEN RAIDERS. John is currently in pre-production as both Co-producer and Casting Director of the independent feature film, TENNIS WITH JESUS and is attached as Casting Director for the next Alexander Payne project, DOWNSIZING.

Presenting the Seminar Casting—A Primer for Directors and Actors