In brief:

Alexis Jade Links or "AJ" (she/her) is an Emmy-winning + three-time Artios Award Winning Casting Director currently based in Chicago, IL. She is a Chinese Jew who is passionate about diversifying the worlds we present both on screen and on stages. 

Her work has been featured on HBO, Showtime, Netflix, and several of her films have enjoyed premieres at Cannes, TIFF, Berlinale, Sundance, SXSW, Tribeca and Frameline.

Bio:

AJ LINKS, CSA (she/her) is a Sonoma County, CA native and a Chicago transplant. She attended The Theatre School at DePaul University where she focused on directing and dramaturgy. 

At the young age of 19, AJ was the inaugural "Post-show Literary Intern" at Steppenwolf Theatre  leading over 100 post show discussions for Steppenwolf audiences. During this internship, she had the honor of observing Chicago legends Tracy Letts and Francis Guinan work throughout the run of American Buffalo, simultaneously falling in love with Alana Arenas, Jaqueline Williams and K Todd Freeman who were performing upstairs in the world-premiere of Tarrell Alvin McCraney's Brother/Sister Plays. Here, she fell in love with the Chicago actor. 

She graduated from The Theatre School with a B.F.A. in Theatre Arts and immediately interned for esteemed casting directors Mickie Paskal, CSA and Jennifer Rudnicke, CSA  where she was later hired as a part-time assistant. In just a few short months, AJ became a full-time Casting Associate, and five years later, a Casting Director. Over the course of nearly 11 years at PR, AJ became integral to every step of the casting process from partnering with Mickie and Jennifer to generate lists of ideas, weighing options with directors as they debate final selections, and inventing creative ways to direct and block otherwise challenging audition scenarios. 

Casting has allowed AJ to work intimately with a plethora of creatives on all kinds of projects, from micro-budget Indies to studio feature films. Throughout her career, it has been most satisfying to provide opportunity for others and to truly open doors. Stephen Cone's HENRY GAMBLE'S BIRTHDAY PARTY centers around Henry, a freshly-17 year old boy, wrestling with sexuality and faith at his birthday party. When looking for love interests for Henry, two young actors stood out: Joe Keery (now of Stranger Things and Fargo fame) and Daniel "DK" Kyri (now a series regular on Chicago Fire). 

For Showtime's series WORK IN PROGRESS, creators Lily Wachowski and Abby McEnany wanted to represent the queer Chicago community on screen. AJ rethought the audition process and expanded the search beyond the traditional avenues; instead of relying entirely on the agents, she expanded the search to unrepresented drag performers, spoken word artists, dancers and other professionals. In lieu of a traditional audition, AJ organized "meetings" with Lily and Abby where the performer could talk about themselves outside of the boundaries of a character description, and didn't need to focus on memorization of material. Instead of forcing an actor to fit a role, the series altered the roles to fit the person. It is WORK IN PROGRESS that gave voice to trans, non-binary and queer actors in Chicago and it was AJ who helped hold the door open (literally).

When Academy Award-winning director Steve McQueen asked for rap duos to play two low-level henchman in WIDOWS, AJ jumped at the opportunity to reach out to Chuck Inglish and Mikey Rocks of The Cool Kids. Though they had no real acting experience, AJ had been a fan since she had seen them play Outside Lands in SF many years prior. It was the laid-back energy to their rap style with a distinct and edgy structure that made them the perfect counter to Daniel Kaluuya. After coaching their scene work for well over a regular appointment time, AJ sent in their tape. Steve McQueen only called them back to meet with them, never had them read the scene, and hired them on the spot. 

It is essential to AJ that she not only expand the minds of her audience, but that she also challenge the teams she works with to imagine roles more openly. It is not uncommon for AJ to cast a female-identifying actor in a role originally designated for a man. 

Commercially, she finds it important to bring a grounded reality to the work and relationships at play. During the COVID shut-down, AJ honed her skills at being specific with self-taping instructions, finding ways to have actors show off their personalities and families as she encouraged them to tape with real partners and kids. 

She left PR Casting at the conclusion of 2023 and a few weeks later, won the Primetime Emmy Award for her contribution to the local casting of season of THE BEAR. 

AJ is thrilled to continue her work in casting as the owner of AJ LINKS CASTING LLC is proud to serve the Chicago film community she adores. AJ is a proud member of The Casting Society of America and the Television Academy. 

Outside of casting, AJ fostered her love of directing and coaching actors by teaching on-camera acting technique in her free time. Over the years, she's developed her own methods and tips for how to quickly and efficiently make deep + unique choices that are memorable to casting without being distracting. She has taught these methods in classrooms all over the midwest:  Ball State University, University of Wisconsin Green Bay, UIC Chicago, Columbia College, Roosevelt, The Acting Studio Chicago, Black Box Acting, Actor's Training Center  and The Green Room. She has participated in The Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival at regional level for 8 years and taught at the national festival in 2024 working with the directors, dramaturgs and Irene Ryan finalists. 

You can find AJ's IMDB linked here and in the "See More" section. 

TV CREDITS INCLUDE:

both FX's THE BEAR (Emmy win, Artios win) and the fourth season of FARGO (Artios nomination), Showtime's SHAMELESS and WORK IN PROGRESS, HBO's STATION ELEVEN, LOVECRAFT COUNTRY (pilot, Artios win) and SOUTH SIDE, adultswim's JOE PERA TALKS WITH YOU, AppleTV's THE SHINING GIRLS, AMC's 61ST STREET, Amazon's UTOPIA and PATRIOT, ABC's MIND GAMES and RED LINE, USA's SIRENS, and the upcoming Marvel series IRONHEART

FEATURE FILM CREDITS INCLUDE:

Aaron Sorkin's THE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7 (Artios win), Steve McQueen's WIDOWS (Artios nomination), Michael Bay's TRANSFORMERS 4, Joe Swanberg's WIN IT ALL, Yorgos Lanthimos' THE KILLING OF THE SACRED DEER, Austin Vesely's SLICE, Brian Taylor's MOM AND DAD, Haroula Rose's ONCE UPON A RIVER, Elizabeth Chomko's WHAT THEY HAD, Robert Jury's WORKING MAN, Andrew Cohn's THE LAST SHIFT, Kris Rey's I USED TO GO HERE, Jennifer Reeder's KNIVES AND SKIN, PERPETRATOR, and SIGNATURE MOVE, Stephen Cone's HENRY GAMBLE'S BIRTHDAY PARTY and PRINCESS CYD

MIDWEST/CHICAGO SEARCHES INCLUDE:

Ava Duvernay's A WRINKLE IN TIME, F. Gary Gray's STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON, Stephen Chbosky's WONDER, Jeffrey Homaday's HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 4, Theodore Melfi's ST. VINCENT DE VAN NUYS, ABC's FRESH OFF THE BOAT, and Netflix's CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA

Awards

  • Primetime Emmy Nomination for Outstanding Casting of a Comedy SeriesTHE BEAR
  • Artios Award for Outstanding Casting of a TV Pilot/First Season - ComedyTHE BEAR 
  • Artios Award for Outstanding Casting of a Big Budget DramaTHE TRIAL OF THE CHICAGO 7
  • Artios Award for Outstanding Casting of a TV Pilot/First Season - DramaLOVECRAFT COUNTRY
  • Artios Nomination for Outstanding Casting of a Big Budget Drama: WIDOWS
  • Artios Nomination for Outstanding Casting of a Limited Series: FARGO
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