Samantha Swords
Samantha is an artist, craftsperson, fighter and performer from Wellington, New Zealand, who grew up in the Blue Mountains, NSW. She works in the film industry and has been involved with world-renowned special effects facility Weta Workshop since 2008, on productions including The Hobbit, Superman: Man of Steel, The Chronicles of Narnia, District 9 and Elysium. Productions outside of Weta include The Interview and Warcraft.
She has worked with prop-making, armour construction, model-making, miniatures, large-scale sculpture, set construction, set dressing, painting, costume construction (especially leatherwork), creature-making, prosthetics, casting and molding, and metal-smithing.
She is a passionate outdoor adventurer, and also is an experienced swordswoman. She studies the weapons, armour and martial arts systems of medieval Europe. In 2013 she won the longsword division of the Harcourt Park Jousting Tournament. She has traveled and trained internationally, and has been an instructor of medieval martial arts since 2012.
