Robert Chapin

Robert Chapin (born April 3, 1964, in Miami, Florida) is a stunt, fight and swordplay choreographer, visual effects artist and supervisor, actor, writer, director, and producer. He is popularly known for acting in and creating the longest running action horror web series called The Hunted. He is also known for creating visual effects for American Beauty, Crouching Tiger, The Big Lebowski and X-Men. Chapin first starred in a film called Ring of Steel, of which he also wrote. As a fight choreographer and instructor, he is certified with the Societies of American, British, and Canadian Fight Directors. He has trained with stars such as Plácido Domingo, Robin Williams, David Hasselhoff, John Saxon, Marc Singer, Richard Grieco, Richard Lynch, Mike Norris, James Lew, Olivier Gruner, Jeff Conaway, Raye Hollitt, Tessie Santiago, and Angelica Bridges.

In 1985, he moved to Orlando, Florida. There, Chapin worked his way through college at the University of Central Florida by performing sword fights at a local dinner theater known as Shakespeare's Taevern. In 1986, Chapin's father died, but he continued his college until he graduated in 1987. Also at this time, he continued to take drama classes and choreographed sword fights for Romeo and Juliet. In 1991, Chapin's mother died, two years before Bob wrote and starred in his first film, Ring of Steel, which was distributed by MCA Universal. Over the years, Chapin went on to star in several action films while building his credentials as an actor, stuntman, and fight coordinator. Also in this time, he began a career as a visual effects artist, using his skills and knowledge in computer science. He started with Pacific Data Images in Los Angeles, and then moved from one company to another. Chapin also worked with critically and widely acclaimed award-winning films such as X-Men, Fantastic Four, Armageddon, and American Beauty. He also headed several indie films before he became an in-house visual effects supervisor at New Deal Studios.

Recognition Action Martial Arts Star of the Year (2003) by the Hawaii Martial Arts International Society