This fine arts alum has been one of the casting directors for the highly successful series that just wrapped up its sixth season.
Toni Brock has been around show business long enough to know not only is there no business like it, there is also no such thing as an accident around it.
Several years ago, through a series of mutual acquaintances, she found herself being introduced to a man named Dallas Jenkins, and it was as a result of that connection as well as Toni’s previous impressive body of work through the years that she landed what some might consider the gig of a lifetime.
For more than six years now, she has served as one of the casting directors for a series called “The Chosen,” a faith-based streaming juggernaut that recently wrapped up its latest season. “The Chosen” depicts the life of Jesus as recounted in the New Testament gospel of Luke.
“I told someone recently that I am really lucky in terms of the job I get up and do every day,” she said. “I absolutely think there was something divine about this.”
Toni appreciates where she is because she knows how far she has come from those days as a theater arts major at Texas Tech University in what is now the J.T. & Margaret Talkington College of Visual & Performing Arts.
Likewise, she also understands hard work is its own reward and a track record of excellence almost always gets noticed. The opportunity to be part of the series came about because she and business partner Sally Allen had previously worked on several faith-based film projects with producer Chad Gundersen.
“We had reached a point where we were pretty much working with Chad almost exclusively,” Toni said. “I don’t know that’s still the case, but that was how he introduced us to Dallas Jenkins because Dallas had reached out to Chad and his production company to help secure some locations for filming.”
For the unfamiliar, “The Chosen” debuted with a pilot episode on Christmas Eve 2017 and has since produced six eight-episode seasons starting in 2019. Since launching, the show has been watched by an estimated 280 million people around the world and has become the No. 1-watched series in the world.
“In the world,” Toni reflected, savoring the words. “Wow. I don’t really think of this as a series. It’s been more of a mission, and, you know, I’ve been a Christian for a very long time, and I was always a little bit embarrassed about faith-based films because so many of them were just not well done.
“But this is just so awesome, and we’re so proud of it because it’s beautifully done and incredibly well cast. It has a very authentic feel, and we are responsible for bringing Jesus to an incredible number of people. It has been very, very rewarding on a lot of levels.”
The show’s first episodes were filmed near Weatherford, just outside the Dallas-Fort Worth area with Toni’s office helping coordinate local casting. The show’s budget was tight during that first season, but it didn’t take long for the series to find its audience and additional funding.
“The budget meant Texas casting for the first four episodes because that was how much money Dallas had at that point,” Toni recalled. “We knew we could make just those four, but once people started seeing those first episodes, we had our funding for the other four episodes in about two minutes. It was just so quick.”
Once the additional funding arrived and the show’s popularity mushroomed, Toni’s office, with its primary location in Austin, was elevated to co-casting office along with a Los Angeles-based firm.
“We became the first casting directors for the project, and that was the start of it,” she said. “As things progressed, we were able to add some larger names to the project, just fabulous actors.”
Filming for the sixth season concluded in September with episodes scheduled to drop late next year. The series is expected to conclude following the seventh season, set to be shot in 2027 and released in 2028.
“We have one more season to go,” Toni said, “and then we will see where we go from there. Right now, I am forever grateful to have been part of this.”
Toni explained that the casting process for the series is rigorous, especially as the show’s appeal has grown. Typically, her office will receive thousands of submissions from actors and actresses interested in specific roles.
They work with agents in paring down the list before talking to Jenkins about top candidates and who they see as the best fit. Of course, having been attached to the project for so long, Toni said they have a good idea of what Jenkins is looking for.
“We aren’t the final decision,” she explained. “We collaborate with Dallas. We show him who we have and discuss certain roles. When we have someone we think would be good for a role, we check in with him. But it’s the casting offices that find the people.”
For Toni, “The Chosen” is just the latest in a string of professional triumphs. She says Texas Tech helped equip, train and prepare her for a career in entertainment. She reflected on the influence of Texas Tech faculty members like Ron Schulz, Clifford Ashby, Larry Randolph and others, who all helped her learn and grow.
Her husband Brett is also a Texas Tech theater arts alumnus with a number of acting credits, including “The Vast of Night,” “Truth Be Told” and “From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series.” Brett grew up in Lubbock and is a graduate of Monterey High School, and he and Toni met during their days at Texas Tech.
She said it was something of a challenge balancing demanding careers in which they were both trying to break into the business while raising three children, including a set of twins, along the way.
“It can be tough,” she reminisced. “Poor Brett, I mean, within two years he had a wife and three kids. One of us would stay with the kids, and one of us would be out working, and we would spend as much time together as we could on weekends. Then, as the kids got older and were able to function without their parents, Brett and I would join each other for projects.
“In other words, if he was somewhere working, I would try to join him, and if I was somewhere working, he would try to join me.”
Toni got a hands-on education at Texas Tech where she learned how to run lights, build sets and become a stage manager. Those experiences and many others helped prepare her for what was to come.
After graduating from Texas Tech, Toni did a lot of directing because of her talent, knowledge and knack for knowing the right people. She worked at the Dallas Theater Center and the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. Toni also spent four years as an agent in Dallas, which gave her another window into the business.
“Directing has always been one of my go-to things,” she said. “I liked acting OK, but it is really, really hard work, and directing sure seemed like a breeze, even though it didn’t seem like it to anyone else. But it was the chance to be in charge of the whole thing, and that’s what I wanted.”
Despite her affinity for directing, Toni has found her calling, so to speak, in the world of casting. Again, the right opportunity came along at the right time.
“A casting director who I had worked with as an agent called and asked me to be part of some projects,” she said. “That’s how I got into casting, and I have never looked back.”
Guess what? She is still looking forward today. Toni is in no hurry to see her career wind down, especially with the momentum generated from being part of “The Chosen.”
“This series has touched me deeply almost from the beginning,” she recalled. “When we did the first four episodes, the third one was about Jesus with the children, and it touched me in a way where I had not felt my spirit lifted like that in a long time.
“I love working on this series, and when the scripts drop for a new season, I drop everything so I can read them. It has been such a dream come true for me to work on this. It is fascinating what has happened with this series. I am a Christian anyway, but this has done nothing but encourage my beliefs.”
So, what’s next? Toni isn’t exactly sure, but she knows the Bible’s book of Acts is considered a companion to Luke’s gospel, and when the series wraps up production, perhaps another Dallas Jenkins faith-focused project will take its place.
“I would love to do another film or series with Chad and Dallas,” she said. “We have worked with a lot of great people over the years, but this one, I’d really kind of hate to lose that momentum of what we’ve got going, so I hope there’s another.”