Dan Speaker
Dan Speaker (Master and Commander, Hidalgo, Hot Shots Part Deux, and more) has been fascinated with swords and weaponry all his life. Since early childhood, he studied martial arts, fencing, and horseback riding, and he even learned to play the Highland Bagpipe. In his teens he became involved with theatre, and began to study how to use combat in performance. This culminated in studying at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama where he obtained a Diploma in Dramatic Art and a Fencing Coach's credential.
Working in theatre as an actor and fight choreographer, he met his wife-to-be, dance choreographer turned swordswoman Jan Bryant. Together they moved to Hollywood and created a new method of teaching and choreographing the art of combat for film. Their career has spanned from putting together Bruce Campbell's iconic action on Army of Darkness to training Russell Crowe and choreographing all the fights on Master and Commander.
Dan is now considered to be one of the top sword fight choreographers in film today, and the sword fighting/action team of Dan and Jan is unparalleled the world over.
Go to Dan's complete professional resume, or contact him at (818) 364-8420 or by e-mail at .
Jan Bryant
Jan Bryant (Master and Commander, Hook, Army of Darkness, and more) was a dancer/choreographer of dance and movement and a horseback-riding enthusiast who had always been interested in the art of combat. Her interest in sword fighting was kindled by romantic historical pieces glorified by early movie swashbucklers. Unable to find sword fighting as an art form she could train in as a child she took dance classes instead. Eventually attending and graduating from UC Berkeley with a degree in theatre, Jan focused on telling stories through movement. The real shift in her career came when she was working in regional theater and met her husband-to-be, Dan Speaker. They moved to Hollywood and melded their respective talents and training into a new method of teaching and choreographing fight scenes for the motion picture industry.
Today Jan is one of the only female swordmasters in the entire film industry, and continues to teach, choreograph and perform the arts of combat and sword fighting. She uses her talents in all aspects of cinematic fight design and action, from training Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman when she and Dan were the swordmasters on Hook to wielding a blade herself as Catherine Zeta-Jones's sword fighting double in The Mask of Zorro. Occasionally she even gets to race through the woods on horseback in romantic action films!
Jan and Dan are experts in sword fight design, action coordination, and fight choreography for film, stage, and television, and are known for the masterful quality they bring to any fight scene.
Go to Jan's complete professional resume, or contact her at (818) 364-8420 or by e-mail at .
Kim Turney
Kim Turney began working with the Academy in 1996, and in 2002, she was offered the position of assistant swordmaster on the Hallmark miniseries La Femme Musketeer. She resigned from a corporate job at the Walt Disney Company and was in Croatia four days later choreographing sword fights for Michael York and John Rhys Davies and doubling the series lead for sword fighting and horseback riding.
Today she continues to work as a swordmaster with the Academy of Theatrical Combat, but has branched into writing, directing, and producing short films as a partner in Privatsky Film Works. She also dedicates herself to bringing the wonder of film production to children through educational programs, working in school systems throughout the country to engage young people in the art of movie making.
You can contact Kim at (818) 364-8420 or by e-mail at .