Petra Sprecher

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.

Petra Sprecher
Sprecher at Action Icon Awards 2015
Born
Basel, Switzerland
NationalitySwiss
OccupationStuntwoman, actress
Years active2000–present

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
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References
  1. "Show Reel: Stuntwoman Petra Sprecher". www.theatreartlife.com. Retrieved 2020-07-11.
  2. "2009 Nominees and Winners" (PDF). www.taurusworldstuntawards.com. Retrieved 2016-10-27.
  3. "Schweizer Stuntfrau Petra Sprecher fliegt neben Brad Pitt durchs All: "Stunts werden immer mehr Hardcore"". www.aargauerzeitung.ch. Retrieved 2020-07-11.
  4. Taylor, Jonathan (1996-09-30). "Review: 'Cirque Du Soleil: Quidam'". Variety. Retrieved 2016-10-26.
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