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An ensemble cast is a cast in which the principal performers are assigned roughly equal amounts of importance in a dramatic production.

This kind of casting became more popular in television series because it allows for flexibility for writers to focus on different characters in different episodes. In addition, the departure of players is less disruptive to the premise than it would be if the star of a production with a regularly structured cast leaves.

Some films have ensemble casts, usually ones that revolve around one large theme, like the The Lord of the Rings or Star Wars movies, or ones that revolve around interrelated themes persistent throughout individual subplots of the characters.

In theatre, the same principle applies, however the definition may be extended to mean that the whole cast 'moves and thinks as one'. Where the group is fully aware of everyone else in the cast, reacting to other movements in the cast, it requires heightened senses and a lot of concentration, with great amount of the focus being on peripheral vision and hearing. Ensemble performance can be recognised by the 'flow' of performance, with scenes flowing together seamlessly, often the piece doesn't contain many props, with one prop doubling as various different objects. A lot of dance theatre contains aspects of ensemble performance.

Contents 1 Plays with ensemble casts 2 Television series with ensemble casts 3 Movies with ensemble casts 3.1 Paul Thomas Anderson films 3.2 Robert Altman films 3.3 Francis Ford Coppola films 3.4 Steven Soderbergh films 3.5 Quentin Tarantino films 4 Operas with ensemble casts

• A Chorus Line
• Cats
• Rent
• Noises Off
• The Importance of Being Earnest

• Arrested Development
• Babylon 5
• Boston Public
• Battlestar Galactica
• Beverly Hills, 90210
• Cheers
• Chicago Hope
• Crossing Jordan
• CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
• CSI: Miami
• CSI: NY
• Dallas
• Dawson's Creek
• Deadwood
• Desperate Housewives
• Earth 2
• ER
• Firefly
• Friends
• Grey's Anatomy
• Heroes
• Hill Street Blues
• Home and Away
• Knots Landing
• L.A. Law
• Las Vegas (TV series)
• Lost
• M*A*S*H
• Meteor Garden
• Neighbours
• Newsradio
• Northern Exposure
• Oz
• Picket Fences
• Scrubs - although based around J.D.'s narration in most episodes, other characters have also narrated one-off episodes and most episodes focus around all characters equally
• St. Elsewhere
• Stargate SG-1
• Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager
• The O.C.
• The Office
• The West Wing
• The Wire
• The X-Files
• Trailer Park Boys
• Third Watch
• Will & Grace
• WKRP in Cincinnati

• Grand Hotel (1932)
• 12 Angry Men (1957)
• How the West Was Won (1962)
• The Dirty Dozen (1967)
• The Great Escape (1963)
• It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
• Kelly's Heroes (1970)
• The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
• Earthquake (1974)
• The Towering Inferno (1974)
• A Bridge Too Far (1977)
• the Star Wars franchise (1977), (1980), (1983), (1999), (2002), (2005)
• Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
• Clue (1985)
• Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
• The Untouchables (1987)
• JFK (1991)
• Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)
• Sneakers (1992)
• Dazed and Confused (1993)
• Even Cowgirls Get the Blues (1993)
• Matinee (1993)
• Heat (1995)
• Higher Learning (1995)
• The Usual Suspects (1995)
• Mars Attacks (1996)
• Mad Dog Time (1996)
• Sleepers (1996)
• L.A. Confidential (1997)
• Happiness (1998)
• Playing by Heart (1998)
• The Thin Red Line (1998)
• Cradle Will Rock (1999)
• Duets (2000)
• Requiem for a Dream (2000)
• Snatch (2000)
• Rat Race (2001)
• The Anniversary Party (2001)
• Waking Life (2001)
• Black Hawk Down (2002)
• The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001), (2002), (2003)
• Love Actually (2003)
• Masked and Anonymous (2003)
• 11:14 (2003)
• Crash (2004)
• Syriana (2005)
• Nine Lives (2005)
• Serenity (2005)
• The Chumscrubber (2005)
• Sin City (2005)
• Rent (2005)
• The Family Stone (2005)
• Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
• Babel (2006)
• Bobby (2006)
• The Departed (2006)
• Smokin' Aces (2007)
• Spiderman 3 (2007)

• Boogie Nights (1997)
• Magnolia (1999)

• MASH (1970)
• Nashville (1975)
• The Player (1992)
• Short Cuts (1993)
• Prêt-à-Porter (film) (1994)
• Cookie's Fotune (1999)
• Dr. T & the Women (2000)
• Gosford Park (2001)
• A Prairie Home Companion (2006)

• The Godfather (1972)
• The Godfather, Part II (1974)
• Apocalypse Now (1979)
• The Outsiders (1983)
• The Godfather, Part III (1990)
• Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)

• Traffic (2000)
• Ocean's Eleven (2001)
• Full Frontal (2002)
• Ocean's Twelve (2004)
• Ocean's Thirteen (2007)

• Reservoir Dogs (1992)
• True Romance (1993)
• Pulp Fiction (1994)
• Jackie Brown (1997)

• Le Nozze di Figaro
• Cosi Fan Tutte
• The Barber of Seville
• Amahl and the Night Visitors