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Ben Harris is an American casting director and actor, born in Los Angeles, California, who is best known in the industry for his Emmy Award-winning work on the HBO comedy series Veep1 and for his extensive career placing talent across some of television's most celebrated comedies. He appeared on screen in Ghostbusters: Answer the Call (2016) as a Higgins Institute student, and also served on that film's casting team as a Casting Associate.2
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Harris built his reputation as one of Hollywood's leading comedy casting directors over a career spanning more than a decade. His early television credits include NBC's The Office and Fox/NBC's Brooklyn Nine-Nine, two ensemble comedies whose large recurring casts demanded sustained casting attention across multiple seasons.3
His most recognised casting work came during his years at HBO, where his projects included Veep, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Eastbound & Down, Avenue 5, and White House Plumbers.3 On Veep, Harris shared the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series with casting director Allison Jones at the 68th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards (2016).1 He received two further Emmy nominations in the same category for Curb Your Enthusiasm in 2020 and 2022.1
Beyond HBO, Harris served as casting director on Max's Our Flag Means Death, FX's What We Do in the Shadows, and Netflix's Space Force, among other series.3 His feature film casting credits include Lady Bird (2017), Bombshell (2019), Booksmart (2019), Wine Country (2019), A Simple Favor (2018), Palm Springs (2020), Moxie (2021), Barb and Star Go to Vista del Mar (2021), Queenpins (2021), You People (2023), and Sing (2016).2
In February 2025 Harris was promoted to Director, Drama/Comedy Series Casting at Netflix, where he had overseen the streamer's comedy series casting since Netflix launched its in-house casting department in July 2021. In his expanded role he reports to both Netflix's head of comedy, Tracey Pakosta, and head of drama, Jinny Howe.3
Alongside his casting work Harris has taken small on-screen roles in several productions he was associated with, including The Office (as Todd), Veep, The Good Place (as Waiter Stenn, 2018), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2017, 2021), Booksmart (as Yacht Waiter, 2019), Bombshell (as a Convention MSNBC Reporter, 2019), Moxie (2021), and Barry (2019, 2022).2
Harris contributed to Ghostbusters: Answer the Call in two capacities. As a member of the film's casting department he worked as a Casting Associate, helping assemble the ensemble directed by Paul Feig.2 The film featured a large supporting and background cast centred on the Higgins Institute of Science, the academic setting where Erin Gilbert, Abby Yates, and Jillian Holtzmann work.
Harris also appeared briefly on screen as a Higgins Student, one of the unnamed university students seen in the early scenes at the institute.2
"Ben Harris - Emmy Awards, Nominations and Wins," Television Academy, accessed 2026-06-13, https://www.televisionacademy.com/bios/ben-harris ↩ ↩2 ↩3
"Ben Harris," IMDb, accessed 2026-06-13, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2380339/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5
Deadline, "Comedy Casting Executive Ben Harris Promoted At Netflix" (February 2025), https://deadline.com/2025/02/ben-harris-promoted-netflix-casting-executive-1236288926/ ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4
