Melissa R. Stubbs was born in United Kingdom and raised in Vancouver, Canada. She currently lives in Los Angeles. As a teenager Melissa would hang out with stunt crews on film and television sets in her hometown of Vancouver, learning everything she could about stunts. She got her first break as a stunt performer on Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989).
She not only works as a stunt performer, but also as a stunt coordinator, action designer, and 2nd unit director. Her work includes Mission to Mars (2000), X-Men:X-Men United (2003), Bionic Woman (2007), Zoo (2015), The Rookie (2018) and Altered Carbon (2019). She has worked with Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie, Hugh Jackman, Cate Blanchett, and Harrison Ford, and is well known for her ability to put actors at ease when tackling complex stunts.
Her 30-year career in the entertainment industry has allowed her to travel all over the world and allowed her to work with legends including Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Brian De Palma, and James Cameron, to design and choreograph large stunts, horse charges, motorcycle and car chases, fire fights, hand to hand combat, and battles sequences.
Melissa is known for her ability to visualize on a grand scale, while complementing and enhancing the vision of the main director. This has put her in high demand and in 2003 she joined the Directors Guild of America.
She is the first woman in her field to be invited to join The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in 2007 and this is a testament to her passion, strong work ethic, and her outstanding ability to bring order and efficiency to elaborate set-ups and stunt sequences.
Melissa R Stubbs shines whether she’s behind the camera creating dynamic images that blend seamlessly with those of the main unit, or working closely with actors, directors, and film crews to develop amazing stunt sequences. Her work will continue to captivate and thrill for many years to come.
