Job title: Stunt coordinator
Industries: Film/TV
Abbi Collins is a freelance stunt coordinator, stunt performer and horse master. Her credits include Bridget Jones's Diary and Poldark. She has also worked on the Harry Potter and Bond films.
What are your proudest moments?
I was instrumental in forming The British Stunt Register Association in 2017 and remain an active advocate of safety on all levels, to ensure the highest possible standards of best practice work ethics.
In 1994 I was honoured to be invited to join the Hollywood Stuntman's Hall Of Fame, based in Ohio. Over the years, I've worked on many award-winning TV and film productions.
How did you get into the industry?
I moved into stunt work on the recommendation of a friend.
The skills I had were hang gliding, showjumping, windsurfing, water skiing, jet skiing, and he said, 'You should be using those to earn you a living, wouldn’t you like to do that?' I said, 'I would love to do that, but doing what?' And he said, 'Well what about stunts?' And it just came out of the blue.
He had a friend that was a stunt man, and I gave it a moment and I said, 'I need to meet this friend of yours.' So he put me in touch with him and the next day I went to see him. He told me all about the business and I started my training that very evening. Every day, basically, of every week, I’d be doing some training.
So I began as an all-round stunt performer and horse master. After doing that for almost 20 years I became a stunt coordinator and fight arranger.