Chambers in Zack Snyder’s 2021 Movie, 'Army of the Dead'

Samantha Win | Biography 2021

Former World Wushu Championship Winner

• By Nischal Niroula
• Original : June 29, 2021

---

Samantha Win Tjhia is a popular Canadian stuntwoman, martial artist, and actress renowned for portraying Chambers in Zack Snyder’s 2021 movie, Army of the Dead.

Who is Samantha Win?

A martial artist, stuntwoman, and actress, Tjhia practiced Jujitsu alongside her brother when she was four years old. She also had the aspiration to be an actress since her early days. She later won Talent Search Canada and stepped into acting, playing in various toy advertisements when she was just ten.

At the age of 17, Tjhia was already a Wushu player and won two Gold medals in Pan-American Wushu Championship. After that, she won the World Wushu Championship, which led her to compete in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Tjhia was heavily inspired by the famous actor Jet Lee. Her martial arts background later helped her initiate a career as a stuntwoman before landing a stint as a lead actress in Army of the Dead in 2021. 

Early life and Education

Samantha Win was born on 29 March 1991 at Barrie, Ontario, Canada, to a Caucasian/Canadian mother, Leslie, and a Chinese father, Charles. The actress has two older brothers. 

Tjhia aspired to become an actress when she was very young, and her parents were supportive of her. Her mother found classes for her as she thought skills such as singing, dancing, and acting were required for her daughter.

She commenced her acting career at the age of 10 by appearing in various toy advertisements and print commercials after winning 2001 Talent Search Canada.

Later, she became a member of the Canadian Wushu Team when she was studying at Sunny Tang Martial Arts Center in Toronto, Ontario.  

Early Career and Wushu

Tjhia engaged herself in martial arts when she was just 4 with Jujitsu. When she turned 17, she had already become a competitive Wushu player and won several medals at National, Pan-American and International levels. She won Gold Medal in both 2006 and 2008’s Pan-American Wushu Championship. In addition, she grabbed a bronze medal in the 2007 World Wushu Tournament in China. The triumph made her eligible for the Olympics. 

Shortly, she represented Canada and competed in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Wushu Tournament. This expereince provided her the opportunity to shift to Los Angeles as a stunt double and future lead actress.

Tjhia was attracted towards Wushu after she saw Jet Li performing it. She was captivated by his movements and found his work very beautiful. After that, she was determined to be just like him. She then started her Wushu journey and fell in love with the sport, people and the community that it attracted. “It was the time of my life. But the training part of it was very challenging, it made me who I am today”, she said to Hype. 

Stunt Performer

She jump-started her career in the movie industry as a stuntwoman before being a future actress. Tjhia landed her first stunt job when she was just 14. Later, as a martial artist, she would look out for the action roles, as she would have had to apply her martial arts on almost everything. Hence, martial art remained the prime factor for her to step into the entertainment industry.

Transition into Zack Snyder’s movies

 In 2011, Tjhia training landed her to play a double for Jena Malone in the movie Sucker Punch before consistently working Zack Snyder and Deborah Snyder in films such as Man of Steel, 300: Rise of an Empire, and Justice League.

She acknowledges Zack Snyder’s stunt team for teaching her about cinematic action production; however, she was already an experienced martial artist before. 

The transition phase for Tjhia from being a stuntwoman for Synder’s movies to having a role in his movies wasn’t that easy for her at first. She felt she had a bad case of imposter syndrome because she knew many crew members and stuntwomen. This feeling made her feel insecure. She got this feeling as she thought everybody would critically observe her acting, given that she was not an actress before.

Later, she was happy to realize that this unpleasant feeling was all in her head, and in reality, no one was contemplating what she pondered. Instead, they were just proud of her, and they supported her. “If we trust that we put ourselves around the right people, we shouldn’t have to worry about things like that. So the transition and experience on set, after sabotaging myself and my happiness for the first week, I adored it. I felt so loved and supported”, Win expressed to Hype.