Petra Sprecher
Petra Sprecher | |
|---|---|
 Sprecher at Action Icon Awards 2015 | |
| Born | Basel, Switzerland |
| Occupation(s) | Stuntwoman, actress |
| Years active | 2000–present |
Petra Sprecher is a Swiss circus artist, stuntwoman and actress residing in Los Angeles. She is best known for being the original cast and the creator of the Cloudswing act in Cirque du Soleil's Quidam.
In the stunt realm she is an established double for African American actresses. [1] Some of her most notable stunt work includes doubling for Mariah Carey in The House, Vivica A. Fox in Independence Day: Resurgence and Rosario Dawson in Eagle Eye, for which she was double-nominated by the Taurus World Stunt Awards for Best High Work and Best Overall Stunt By A Woman.[2] As an Actor, she has appeared both on television and in feature films embodying roles, which require special skills.
Early life
Sprecher was born in Basel, Switzerland, to Priska, a Swiss-German schoolteacher, and Peter Osimadu, a Nigerian journalist. She has a step father named Franz Sprecher, a Swiss banker and she has two younger half brothers named Felix, an igloo builder and Benno, an engineer, who are still living in Basel. She grew up in Aesch, Baselland, Switzerland.
At the age of 6, she started performing in the circus for a period of ten years and at the age of seventeen, she began studying physical theater in Zürich. In the German language, said profession is called Bewegungs-Schauspielerin. [3]
Circus
At nineteen years old, Sprecher was one of seven people selected worldwide to be accepted into the prestigious École nationale de cirque of Montréal. She represented the school and its motherland Canada at the Wuqiao International Circus Festival (中国吴桥国际杂技艺术节) in Shijiazhuang, China with her Cloud swing act and won the Bronze Lion, which led to a guest-artist contract for the creation phase and the 3-year North-American tour of Cirque du Soleil’s Quidam.[4]
Television and film career
Due to Sprecher's background in the Circus arts - and especially due to her experience as a trapeze artist with Cirque du Soleil - she moved into the Hollywood stunt business and began her television and film career in the year 2001, when stunt coordinator and Second Unit Director Brian Smrz brought her in to perform comparable stunts— namely high Wire-flying, on Minority Report, starring Tom Cruise. This debut led to many more stunt assignments with some of the top stunt coordinators in the industry, allowing her to incorporate and accumulate a wide array of skill-sets. One of her most dangerous stunt performed to-date, is when she had to let herself get hit by a car on AMC's Feed the Beast, which aired August 2016.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Actress | Stunts | Role | Notes |
| 2002 | Minority Report | Yes | Yes | Pre-cog, Stunt-double | Main actor: Tom Cruise |
| 2002 | The Time Machine | Yes | No | Eloi | Main actor: Guy Pearce |
| 2002 | Men In Black II | Yes | No | Subway Character | Main actor: Will Smith |
| 2002 | The Shield | Yes | No | Twanya | Main actor: Michael Chiklis |
| 2002 | Scrubs | Yes | No | Nurse | Main actor: Zach Braff |
| 2003 | Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl | Yes | Yes | Fighting Villager Woman, Stunt-double | Main actor: Johnny Depp |
| 20003 | She Spies | Yes | No | Secretary | Main actress: Natasha Henstridge |
| 2003 | Alias | No | Yes | Stunt-double | Main actress: Jennifer Garner |
| 2003 | Birds Of Prey | Yes | No | Runway Model With Machine Gun | Main actress: Ashley Scott |
| 2004 | Charmed | Yes | No | Harpy | Main actress: Alyssa Milano |
| 2004 | Taxi | No | Yes | Stunts | Main actress: Queen Latifah |
| 2005 | Aeon Flux | No | Yes | Stunt-double | Main actress: Charlize Theron |
| 2006 | The Shield | No | Yes | Stunt-double | Main actor: Michael Chiklis |
| 2006 | Drake & Josh | No | Yes | Stunt-double | Main actor: Drake Bell |
| 2007 | Jekyll | Yes | No | Christy-Monster | Main actor: Matt Keeslar |
| 2008 | Hancock | No | Yes | Stunt-double | Main actor: Will Smith |
| 2008 | Eagle Eye | No | Yes | Stunt-double | Main actor: Shia LaBeouf |
| 2009 | Cold Case | No | Yes | Stunt-double | Main actress: Kathryn Morris |
| 2010 | The Forgotten | No | Yes | Stunts | Main actor: Christian Slater |
| 2011 | Colombiana | No | Yes | Stunt-double | Main actress: Zoe Saldana |
| 2012 | Flight | No | Yes | Stunt-double | Main actor: Denzel Washington |
| 2013 | The Haves And The Have Nots | No | Yes | Stunt-double | Main actress: Tika Sumpter |
| 2014 | Mercenaries | No | Yes | Stunt-double | Main actress: Zoë Bell |
| 2015 | Criminal Minds | No | Yes | Stunt-double | Main actor: Joe Mantegna |
| 2016 | Independence Day: Resurgence | No | Yes | Stunt-double | Main actor: Liam Hemsworth |
| 2016 | The Muppets | Yes | No | Aerial Instructor | Main actor: Eric Jacobson |
| 2016 | Feed the Beast | No | Yes | Stunt-double | Main actor: David Schwimmer |
| 2016 | Fifty Shades of Black | No | Yes | Stunt-double | Main actor: Marlon Wayans |
| 2017 | Scandal | No | Yes | Stunt-double | Main actress: Kerry Washington |
| 2017 | The House | No | Yes | Stunt-double | Main actor: Will Ferrell |
Award nominations
- 2009 Taurus World Stunt Awards, Eagle Eye, Best Overall Stunt by a Stunt Woman and Best High Work, doubling for Rosario Dawson
- 2009 Action Icon Awards, Eagle Eye, Stuntwoman Of The Year, doubling for Rosario Dawson
References
- ^ "Show Reel: Stuntwoman Petra Sprecher". www.theatreartlife.com. Retrieved 2020-07-11.
- ^ "2009 Nominees and Winners" (PDF). www.taurusworldstuntawards.com. Retrieved 2016-10-27.
- ^ "Schweizer Stuntfrau Petra Sprecher fliegt neben Brad Pitt durchs All: 'Stunts werden immer mehr Hardcore'". www.aargauerzeitung.ch. Retrieved 2020-07-11.
- ^ Taylor, Jonathan (1996-09-30). "Review: 'Cirque Du Soleil: Quidam'". Variety. Retrieved 2016-10-26.