It is her solid experience, talent, and smarts that allow her to thrive in an otherwise male-dominated field
—The Fight Master

Variety says that “Roberta Brown’s fight choreography heightens the brutal confrontations.” Backstage West calls her work “disturbing and convincing.” And the Los Angeles Times says “She’s dead serious about the importance of proper training and safety procedures.”

Sword choreography is, as the trade magazine The Fight Master points out, a male-dominated field. But there is room in it for this woman partly because, as the magazine carries on to point out, “Brown’s solid acting background sets the foundation to communicate with actors.” Or, as the German entertainment magazine Job Report puts it, “For her, a fight is not just action; it’s an opportunity to define characters.”

With screen credits ranging from fights in Charlie’s Angels to battles in the historical epic Boudica, and television experience ranging from swashbuckling adventures like Queen of Swords to surprising duels like the one she created for E.R., Brown’s work is unquestionably versatile and high profile. Her own acting background and years of teaching in acting studios like Lee Strasberg’s and Howard Fine’s have also helped to shape her choreography into much more than just clashing steel; each fight tells a story, and each meeting of weapons is a scene full of suspense, intrigue, and sometimes even humor.

Her primary specialty is European swordplay, but Brown’s repertoire also includes such disparate weapons as the western bullwhip and the Chinese fighting fan. In addition to her extensive work in film and television, she also has twenty years’ experience in theatre. And Brown has traveled the world teaching popular theatrical combat workshops, from Australia to Colombia, from Austria to England. Currently, she is resident Fight Director for the Los Angeles Shakespeare Company and for the European Shakespeare Days Shakespeare in Styria Festival, as well as Director of Theatrical Combat at Beverly Hills Fencers’ Club in California.