Stuart
Williamson

Working in film since 2012. Stuart came up as a stunt performer and stunt double, then moved into fight choreography, action design and previs. He builds action that carries character, rhythm and purpose, and that belongs inside the story it sits in.

Discipline: Stunt Performer · Fight Choreographer · Previs Artist

Based: Cape Town, South Africa

In the industry: Since 2012

The record

Stuart entered the film industry in 2012 on Mad Max: Fury Road. It opened his eyes to action filmmaking and set the direction for everything that followed.

He started as a stunt performer and stunt double, spending years in front of the camera learning what it takes to make action both exciting and believable. As his career progressed he moved into fight choreography, action design and previs, applying a performer’s experience from behind the camera as well.

What he enjoys most is building action that tells a story. A great fight sequence is not a run of impressive moves or hard hits. It should carry character, emotion, rhythm and purpose, and it should belong inside the world it is set in.

On that first feature he stunt doubled Tom Hardy. He went on to double Toby Stephens for three consecutive seasons of Black Sails, his longest double position to date. He was one of the fight choreographers on One Piece season one, then supervising fight choreographer for the two seasons that followed. For the Bollywood feature War he doubled Hrithik Roshan on a 62 metre bridge jump to king swing off the Dom Luís I bridge in Portugal.

He continues to work as a stunt performer and fight choreographer while developing and designing action through previs. He has worked alongside some exceptional people, and still approaches every project with the enthusiasm he had on his first set.