Sophia Crawford was born and raised in London, England. A fraternal triplet with an older brother and sister as well, she lost her mother, who was a model and a teacher, when Sophia was only twelve years old. Her father was an accomplished economics journalist. After her mother died of cancer Sophia became rebellious, and this paved the way for an early independent streak and her burning desire to travel.
As a teenager she went backpacking across Asia with her sister. They traveled on an old school bus through Europe, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India, and Nepal. After six months of exploring, they ended up in Thailand, where Sophia obtained work as a print model and English teacher. It was in Thailand that she landed her first small roles in film and commercials for the Asian market.
At the time, Hong Kong was still a British colony. Sophia felt that the bustling action film industry in Hong Kong would give her more opportunities for securing work. With only a plastic bag of clothes and very little money, flew to Hong Kong.
After arriving in Hong Kong, she looked up every casting studio listed in the Hong Kong phone directory. She landed her first role and quickly quickly realized that in order to make it in Hong Kong action films she needed extensive martial arts skills. She began training every day with stuntmen from the Jackie Chan Group and other top Hong Kong stunt professionals.
Sophia Crawford spent five years honing her skills, and she became Hong Kong’s first full-time female villain. This landed her under the tutelage of Hong Kong’s well-known female action star, Yukari Oshima. Sophia soon became the first Western woman to join an all-Asian stunt group, Yukari’s Funky Action Crew. After fighting her way through over thirty action-packed movies, Sophia earned a reputation as the top female foil for Chinese actresses to battle against. However, as the turnover of Hong Kong to the Chinese government approached, she decided to move to Hollywood.
She soon found herself co-starring with acclaimed actors Patrick McNee and Robert Vaughn in an episode of the television series Kung Fu: The Legend Continues (1994), which was soon followed by another co-starring role in the American action film Sword of Honor (1996).
During this period, Sophia met martial artist and stunt coordinator Jeff Pruitt, and he invited Sophia to join the stunt team for The Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers to portray the Pink Ranger and double actress Amy Jo Johnson.
Several of the Morphin’ stunt team alumni were later cast as lead actors in another Saturday morning children’s action adventure called WMAC Masters. Sophia got the role of the Chameleon character, and soon the series found itself in a ratings battle with their old Power Rangers series.
Around 1997, a new television series based on the film Buffy: The Vampire Slayer was set to begin shooting its first episode. Sophia was brought in to do fight scenes and stunts for the Buffy character and Sophia began working with stunt coordinator and director Jeff Pruitt, who was hired to choreograph the action scenes and fights. Sophia Crawford would go on to perform every fight as the hard-hitting Slayer for four years, and the series became a worldwide hit.
After leaving Buffy, Sophia continued portraying the villainess in films like U.S. Seals II (2001), and making guest appearances on more televisions series, including Sheena: Queen of the Jungle (2001) and others. She continues stunt-doubling music icon Madonna and actress Poppy Montgomery from the series Without a Trace, as well as performing stunts for Fergie (of the Black Eyed Peas) and many other actresses.
Sophia Crawford is an active member of the United Stuntwomen’s Association.
