Profile: Brett Chan

Posted in Profiles by - December 31, 2020
Profile: Brett Chan

Other names: A. Brett Chan; Arthur Brett Chan; Brent A. Chan.

Occupation: Second unit director, stunt coordinator, stunt performer, fight coordinator, second unit director, actor.

Style: Shotokan Karate, Muay Thai, Krav Maga, Kali, taekwondo, kickboxing.

Biography: Canadian martial artist Brett Chan was born in Ontario, Canada. He started martial arts at the age of five after his father encouraged him to take up kung fu and Shotokan Karate. He has a 7th degree black belt in Shotokan Karate and has also trained in Muay Thai, Krav Maga, Kali, taekwondo and kickboxing, and he is also experienced with various weapons styles.

He first entered the stunt industry via a girlfriend who owned her own casting agency. He landed a job on a commercial called ‘Karate fighters’, and later worked on the 1997 TV show, Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation. He worked for several years as a stunt performer in both film and television; his film credits include X2 (2003), The Last Samurai (2003), I, Robot (2004), Catwoman (2004), Blade: Trinity (2004), and Elektra (2005).

In the mid-2000s, Brett started to make in-roads as a stunt coordinator, working on TV movies, TV series, and film made in Canada. He was fight choreographer for the eight-episode TV series, Traveler, in 2007, and in the same year, he worked as the second unit stunt coordinator on War (2007), starring Jet Li and Jason Statham. His work as a stunt coordinator for film and television include Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009), the TV show True Justice (2011-12) starring Steven Seagal, and Resident Evil: Retribution (2012).

Brett was hired as the stunt coordinator, fight choreographer and second unit director on Marco Polo (2014-16), a Netflix and The Weinstein Company original series created by writer John Fusco. The show was based on the famous explorer’s adventures in Kublai Khan’s court in 13th century China, and his expanding Mongol empire. It ran for two seasons and starred Lorenzo Richelmy, Benedict Wong and Joan Chen, and featured Michelle Yeoh.

Brett was the second unit director, stunt coordinator and the fight choreographer on the Netflix and Marvel TV series, Iron Fist, which ran for two seasons from 2017 to 2018. The fight-centric show starred Finn Jones and Jessica Henwick and formed part of the ‘Defenders’ Marvel TV series, which also included Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Luke Cage.

In 2019, Brett worked as the stunt coordinator and second unit director on the Cinemax original series, Warrior, from Banshee creator, Jonathan Tropper, and Justin Lin and Shannon Lee – the daughter of Bruce Lee. The story for the show was based on a concept by Bruce Lee. Brett is also the stunt coordinator on a TV version of Bong Joon-ho’s Snowpiercer, also for Netflix. He is also the fight choreographer and stunt coordinator for a female-led reboot of the classic Kung Fu TV series for The CW network.

Brett Chan is the founder of Hitz International, a collective of professional stunt performers, stunt coordinators and second unit directors. Collectively, they have worked on titles including Ghost in the Shell, Thor, Aquaman, Hacksaw Ridge and Power Rangers. He also has a background in kinesiology and has worked as a personal trainer and sports rehab massage therapist. He lives in Vancouver, Canada.

Speech! “I believe that if you are really, truly, a good person, then good things will happen to you. As long as you project that. If you keep your head down, and you do what you do best, it gets noticed.” In conversation with Kung Fu Movie Guide Podcast, 2020.

Click here to listen to KFMG Podcast S05 Episode 58 with Brett Chan.

Filmography (as second unit director/stunt coordinator/fight choreographer): 2006 22 Hands; The Stranger Game; 2007 Passion’s Web; Nightmare; Traveler (TV); Kyle XY (TV); Hot Rod; War; Masters of Science Fiction (TV); 2008 Little Girl Lost: The Delimar Vera Story; The Most Wonderful Time of the Year; 2009 A Gun to the Head; Underworld: Rise of the Lycans; Push; Reaper (TV); Taras Bulba; Fireball; Merlin and the Book of Beasts; Killer Hair; Hostile Makeover; Aliens in the Attic; Cole; Mrs Miracle; 2010 Transparency; Elopement; Seduced by Lies; True Justice (TV); Wrecked; 2011 Ghost Storm; Collision Earth; Mega Cyclone; Health Nutz (TV); Tactical Force; Doomsday Prophecy; Crash Site; A Mile in His Shoes; Seeds of Destruction; Christmas Lodge; Earth’s Final Hours; Snowmageddon; 2012 Virtual Lies; Resident Evil: Retribution; Christmas Miracle; The 12 Disasters of Christmas; 2013 Fatal Performance; Concrete Blondes; Independence Daysaster; Stonados; Embrace of the Vampire; 2014 Hercules; Outcast; Garm Wars: The Last Druid; 2015 Sorority Murder; Are You My Daughter?; 2016 Undercover Wife; Marco Polo (TV); 2017 Powerless (TV); Iron Fist (TV); Van Helsing (TV); 2018 Darc; Skyscraper; 2019 Warrior (TV); Shazam!; 2020 Snowpiercer (TV); Sniper: Assassin’s End; 2021 Kung Fu (TV).

Visit IMDb.com for a full list of Brett Chan’s credits.

This post was written by
Editor and creator of Kung Fu Movie Guide and the host of the Kung Fu Movie Guide Podcast. I live behind a laptop in London, UK.

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