About

John Stead is currently a Master Instructor-Emeritus with the Academy of Dramatic Combat and Stage Combat Coordinator for The National Theatre School of Canada.
He was Head of Stage Combat for the Stratford Festival of Canada for 25 seasons, and has over 600 professional theatre credits as a fight director; including over 200 productions as the fight director for the Stratford Festival and over 100 productions as Fight Director with the Shaw Festival.
He has worked across Canada and the U.S. with numerous companies including Soulpepper Theatre, Canadian Stage Company, the National Ballet, Mirvish Productions, Theatre Passe Muraille, Tarragon Theatre, Manitoba Theatre Centre, Factory Theatre, the National Arts Centre, Studio Arena Theatre, the Geva Theatre in Rochester, the Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, the Shakespeare Theatre in Washington D.C., Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Los Angeles Ahmanson Theatre and the Lincoln Centre on Broadway.

He has stunt performed on over 270 TV episodes and films and stunt coordinated the action sequences for more than 700 films and television episodes in Canada and abroad.

As a Director, John has directed for several television series and films including Law and Order Toronto: Criminal Intent, SkyMed, Late Bloomer, Pretty Hard Cases, Don’t Hang Up, Faith Heist, Books of Blood, Jett, Designated Survivor, Dark Matter, Bitten, The Bobby Buck Show, Lost Girl, XIII, The Dresden Files, Mutant X, Aaron Stone, Tracker, Earth: Final Conflict and The Adventures of Sinbad. His short films include The Hot Flash for Wishing Field Entertainment, End Game for Wake Up Fast Productions, Charon’s Obal for Right Side Up Productions and the multiple award winning film, The Waking for Boomerang Films. He has also directed the feature films Troubled Waters for Genius Productions/Peace Arch Entertainment, Cyborg Soldier for Nu Image/Peace Arch Entertainment and Good Morning Tomorrow for Southern Ice Films.

He’s been awarded two Canadian Screen Awards for Best Stunt Coordination, an ACTRA Toronto Award for Best Stunt Ensemble, an Award of Excellence (Canadian International Film Festival), a Genre Award for Best Suspense (BNFF), the Derek F. Mitchell Artistic Director’s Award (Stratford Festival), the Judges’ Choice Award (15 Minutes of Fame International Film Festival), a Tyrone Guthrie Award (Stratford Festival), Best Short 1st Runner-Up (Ticket to Hollywood International Film and Screenplay Festival), nominated for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Comedy Series (Director’s Guild of Canada), Nomination for Stunt Assemble Award (Four) – Toronto ACTRA Awards, and a Best Short Award (Directors Guild of Canada).

John’s director website and reels can be found at johnstead.com

and his stunt website at steadstunts.com