Julia Saubier

Julia is an actor, stunt woman, and martial arts practitioner from the Philippines and France based in London. Through her work she explores themes of violence, female friendship, sexuality and intimacy. In the first year of her Master's in Chinese Cinema in Beijing, she fell in love with the wuxia genre, which inspired her decision to pursue acting. Growing up in the Philippines, most of the films that were theatrically released were American, so her immersion in Chinese cinema was the first time she consistently saw an Asian woman as the image of strength and leadership. To refine her appreciation for these films she decided to dedicate herself to learning the craft and culture that undergirds them. She lived in both a Chinese monastery in Yunnan province and military school in Henan where she trained in Shaolin kung-fu for a year upwards of 8-hours a day. She then continued her martial arts training in pekiti-tersia kali, an indigenous Filipino martial art, alongside a group that trains women and girls for self-defense purposes. Her acting and creative work are informed by these physicality practices, and her social activism work across racial justice, sexual health and education, and gender equality. She's now based in London and trains part-time at Identity School of Acting and also at a method acting studio called Method Acting London. Julia self-funded her education through scholarships and she holds a BA in Film and New Media Production and Political Science at New York University Abu Dhabi and an MA in Economics and Management with a focus on Chinese Cinema from the Yenching Academy of Peking University in Beijing. She speaks English, Tagalog, French, conversational Chinese, basic Spanish and Twi.