Winsome Sinclair, the casting director who helped bring in actors for , , , and a dozen films directed by , has died. She was 58. Sinclair died Monday in hospice care on Long Island after a long battle with colon cancer, publicist Clorissa Wright-Thomas told .
Her family was at her bedside. The New York native launched the global casting agency Winsome Sinclair and Associates in New York in 1996, then relocated the business to Atlanta in 2014 amid that city’s production boom. Sinclair also cast extras for the -directed features (1995), (2003) and (2011), for the Malcolm D.
Lee-helmed (1999) and (2016) and for the Dee Rees-directed (2011) and (2015). She handled similar duties on the Hughes brothers’ (1995), Forest Whitaker’s (1995), Steven Spielberg’s (1997), Craig Brewer’s (2006) and Lee Daniels’ (2009). Sinclair served as a casting intern on Lee’s (1990), then worked with the director on (1991), (1992), (1994), (1995), (1996), (1998), (1999), (2002), (2004), (2006), (2008) and (2012).
Winsome G.M. Sinclair was born on Long Island on Oct.
27, 1965. Her parents, Walter and Shirley, had immigrated to the U.S.
from Jamaica. She graduated from Uniondale High School and Florida A&M University before getting into the business. Her first casting director credit came on Hype Williams’ (1998), starring Nas and .
Sinclair’s casting résumé included the films (2008), (2012), the Tupac Shakur biopic (2017) and (2018) and the BET series . She also produced a handful of films, including , a 2017 documentary about Maynard Jackson Jr., the first Black mayor of Atlanta.
In 2017, Sinclair adopted blood brothers Micah, now 10, and Kairo, now 8, and they served as the inspiration for her 2020 book, . They survive her, as do her parents; her brothers, Nick, Mark, Barry and Kirk; and a host of cousins, nieces and nephews. A has been set up to help her kids.
Sinclair “brought light to everyone she encountered, with a unique ability to see more in people than they could see in themselves,” producer and publicist Cassandra Butcher on Instagram. “A true fan of life and culture, her passion for the arts and her deep love for family and community will continue to inspire those who know her. Winsome’s legacy in the film industry and the lives she touched will live on, reminding us of her vibrant spirit and the stories she helped bring to life.
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