Mike Fenton

Mike Fenton was an American casting director.

With a career that spanned over more than forty years, collecting nearly 300 casting credits to his name, Fenton was behind some of Hollywood's most beloved and revered films including The Godfather: Part II (1974), Young Frankenstein (1974), E.T.: The Extraterrestrial (1982), and the Back to the Future and Indiana Jones franchises.

A graduate of UCLA film school, Fenton had originally aspired to direct, but ended up working as a talent agent at MCA before signing on as a casting director with Paramount in 1963.

He would begin his career in television as the casting director of programs such as Gomer Pyle: USMC, I Spy, That Girl, The Andy Griffith Show, and The Courtship of Eddie's Father.

From there, he took off on the big screen, responsible for casting films such as American Graffiti (1973), Chinatown (1974), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Shampoo (1975), Marathon Man (1976), Norma Rae (1979), Breaking Away (1979), Blade Runner (1982), Footloose (1984), The Goonies (1985), Aliens (1986), Beaches (1988), Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989), The 'Burbs (1989), Arachnophobia (1990), White Fang (1991) The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), Chaplin (1992), Congo (1995), and Dante's Peak (1997).

Fenton died December 30, 2020, in Los Angeles, California. He was 85.