Biography

Jan Bryant is one of the only women in the world to be considered a Sword Master - an expert choreographer, performer and instructor of the art of sword fighting for major motion pictures. She is also an actress, appearing frequently as elegant noblewomen and sword fighting sirens. With her lean, muscular physique Jan not only stunt doubles for female stars but also often plays men in intense combat scenes.

From childhood Jan was fascinated with weaponry and movement as an art form but began her career in dance because "little girls don't play with swords." After getting her Bachelor's Degree at U. C. Berkeley she rectified that by taking a workshop in sword fighting while working professionally as a dance and character movement choreographer for Bay Area and regional theaters. When she accepted an offer to choreograph movement and dance at a theater in central California she met her husband to be, Sword Master Dan Speaker. Together they moved to Hollywood where they combined their talents into the creation of a unique system of teaching and choreographing sword fights for the motion picture industry. This unique system and the quality and integrity of their work enabled them to work with top actors and directors on some of Hollywood's biggest pictures, putting together action scenes with some of the finest stunt coordinators in the business.

Nowadays, Jan coordinates entire action sequences, continues to Sword Master films and is much in demand for her work teaching and choreographing; but she is more and more in front of the camera acting and performing her own sword fights and action scenes - enjoying the best of both worlds.
- IMDb mini biography by: Academy of Theatrical Combat