Susie Figgis, a beloved casting director who cast blockbusters like Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, has died.
Videos by Suggest
Her agent confirmed to Deadline that she passed away peacefully on December 12, surrounded by her husband and daughter. The 77-year-old’s cause of death was not revealed.
According to Deadline, Figgis, a cousin of Leaving Las Vegas director Mike Figgis, was one of the UK’s leading casting directors for many years. Notably, she advocated for Daniel Radcliffe to play the titular role in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
Born in Kenya and sent to a UK boarding school at age 10, Figgis said the experience shaped her identity as an outsider. She once shared that she believed this perspective allowed her to “see things differently” and influenced her film career, keeping her separate from the “hip London trendy scene.”
RIP Susie Figgis, British Casting Director
— LegacyTributes (@InMemoriamX) December 17, 2025
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, The Full Monty, Dumbo, Bohemian Rhapsody, Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, Tomb Raider, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales#InMemoriam #RIP pic.twitter.com/y8bYP0K8bT
Her career took off in the early 1980s with the Oscar-winning film Gandhi. This was followed by notable films like Local Hero, The Killing Fields, The Mission, Mona Lisa, and the Oscar-winning The Crying Game. While working on the 1987 Richard Attenborough film Cry Freedom, she met her husband, Bill Anderson.
In the 1980s, she began a key creative collaboration with producer Stephen Woolley and director Neil Jordan. The trio worked on multiple films, including Interview with the Vampire, starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt.
Susie Figgis Starts a Key Collaboration with Director Tim Burton
Meanwhile, in the 1990s, she also began a key collaboration with director Tim Burton. She worked on films such as Sleepy Hollow, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Alice in Wonderland, and Dumbo with the Batman legend.
The 1990s also saw her contribute to the success of The Full Monty, celebrated for its excellent casting.
Per IMDb, Figgis’ television credits also include War & Peace, Walter & June, Burton and Taylor, Poldark, The Borgias, and Anne with an E.
Figgis’ final credited work was the 2024 film The Return, starring Ralph Fiennes and Juliette Binoche. The film was produced and directed by Uberto Pasolini, who also produced The Full Monty.
“Susie Figgis was a deeply generous human being,” Pasolini told Deadline. “I believe it was what made her an extraordinary casting director. I first met her in 1983 on the set of The Killing Fields. From that day, I took advantage of her friendship, her taste, her passion.”
“She would never settle for the easy solution, and brought to her work an idiosyncratic sensibility that would force you to think more deeply and openly about what you were trying to achieve,” Pasolini continued. “Her contribution, like that of most casting directors, was seldom publicly recognized. [However,] the success of so many films, our The Full Monty amongst them, would be unthinkable without it. Cinema has lost a true friend and artist.”