Highly Sought-After Casting Director Winsome Sinclair Dies At 58

Sinclair founded Winsome Sinclair and Associates and became one of the most in-demand casting directors following decades under Spike Lee.

Casting director Winsome Sinclair, who has worked on several Spike Lee films, has died at 58 years old following a battle with colon cancer.

Loved ones were at Sinclair’s bedside, according to Clorissa Wright-Thomas, who told The Hollywood Reporter that the New York native died on Monday in hospice care. Sinclair left her mark as a critical player in the entertainment industry as a casting director, producer, writer, and public speaker. “Winsome Sinclair brought light to everyone she encountered, with a unique ability to see more in people than they could see in themselves,’ Wright-Thomas wrote on Instagram in a tribute to the entrepreneur’s life and passion for the arts.

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The Florida A&M University graduate became a highly respected Hollywood casting director under Lee and collaborated with the acclaimed film director on feature film projects for over two decades. In a 2017 interview with Georgia Box Office, Sinclair recalled when she wrote a letter to Lee’s Brooklyn office after seeking spiritual direction regarding her career path. “I started out as an intern, that’s why…I’ve always had interns,” she said. “…That was my entrée into the industry…giving people of color an opportunity to learn something, see something, [or] try something they normally wouldn’t get an opportunity to do.”

The film industry veteran branched out on her own and launched Winsome Sinclair and Associates out of her New York hometown in 1996, according to IMDb, and later relocated her firm to Atlanta full-time. The business move led to collaborations with several other esteemed directors like Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone, John Singleton, and Lee Daniels. Sinclair is credited for casting principals and extras for countless film and television projects like Malcolm X, Waiting to Exhale, The Best Man, Cadillac Records, Being Mary Jane, Barbershop 3, and All Eyez on Me, the Tupac Shakur biopic. Her credentials also extended into the documentary genre, casting for three of Oscar-nominated director Sam Pollard’s projects: Slavery By Another Name (2012), The Ground On Which I Stand (2014), and Maynard (2017).

Sinclair traveled the world as a panelist, educating other film industry professionals and hopefuls on panels for Fayetteville State University’s True To Yourself Conference, the Multicultural Media Correspondents Associations State Of The Union, and Clark Atlanta University’s Women in Creative Careers event. She sat on the board of directors for the African-American Women In Cinema Foundation. She held memberships with the Women In Film and Television Atlanta, the Television Academy, and the Casting Society of America.

Sinclair adopted two sons in 2017 before she shared the joy of motherhood in her first children’s book, You Are My SONshines, in 2020.