Selome Hailu The acting awards tend to be among the most anticipated recognitions doled out at the Emmys every year, while several below-the-line awards are announced off-the-air.

It makes sense, given that the lead, supporting and guest actor categories are where all the A-list names are housed, but it’s one of the quieter races that provides the TV Academy with talent to root for in the first place: the Emmy awards for casting.Among the 20 nominations earned by “The White Lotus” are noms for stars Connie Britton, Jennifer Coolidge, Alexandra Daddario, Natasha Rothwell, Sydney Sweeney, Murray Bartlett, Jake Lacy and Steve Zahn.

Casting director Meredith Tucker describes the process to cobble together those actors as “fast and furious.” “We didn’t start casting until after Labor Day, and they wanted everyone in Hawaii by Oct.

15,” she says. “But we were one of the few new shows that was actively casting. Most of the other stuff that was shooting had been delayed from the spring right with the [pandemic] shutdown, so it really was sort of an embarrassment of riches in terms of actors who wanted to be on the show.”Bartlett, who played tortured resort manager Armond, has been a standout of the season, but had yet to be seen as a leading man before “The White Lotus.” Tucker had admired his performance as Oliver Spencer in a single episode of “Sex and the City” for years, but “didn’t have that much opportunity to bring him in, because for a lot of the stuff I worked on, he was just too pretty,” she laughs.

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