Eric is an Emmy Award-winning television and film casting director. He is the recipient of the Casting Directors of America’s highest award, The Hoyt Bowers Career Achievement award, which he received in 2019 for his contributions to the casting profession and in recognition of his body of work over the last 30 years.

Eric and his business partner, Robert Ulrich, founded their Los Angeles-based casting company Ulrich/Dawson Casting in 1989. They added Carol Kritzer as a partner in 1992. U/D/K Casting (as it is often referred) has been the largest television casting company in the U.S. for more than 25 years. The company has cast nearly 200 different TV and film projects and more than 4,000 hours of television. They have the notable distinction of casting more episodes of primetime television than anyone in Hollywood history.

Eric and his partners have cast some of the most groundbreaking and successful projects in television, including “All Rise,” “American Horror Story,” “Glee,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “CSI,” “Nip/Tuck,” “The Exorcist,” “9-1-1,” “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmner Story,” “The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let’s Do the Time Warp Again,” “Melrose Place,” “The Mentalist” and “Felicity.”

Eric has been nominated for eight Emmy Awards. He won the Emmy in 2011 for “Glee” for Outstanding Casting for a Comedy Series. He was nominated for four years in a row for his work on “American Horror Story.” He has also been nominated for 25 Casting Society of America Awards and has won several.

Eric spent four years serving as Treasurer of the Casting Society of America. He also served as a board member on the Casting Executive Committee of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

Originally from Lincoln, Eric graduated from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 1986 from the College of Arts and Sciences and won an alumni achievement award from the Nebraska Alumni Association in 2006. Eric has been married to actress-turned-director/producer Roxann Dawson for 27 years. They have two daughters, one of whom graduated from UNL in the spring of 2022. He and Roxann have recently returned to Lincoln.