David Leong (pronouns not set)

Fight Master and Chair, Professor VCU

As a professional theatre artist David's movement coaching and fights scenes have been seen in many Broadway productions including Billy Elliot, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Carousel, The Rainmaker, Frank Wildhorn's musical The Civil War, King Hedley, Company, Picnic, Hamlet, Macbeth, Solitary Confinement, Sex and Longing, A Delicate Balance, The Homecoming, and In The Summer House. Feature films include Titus, and Alien Resurrection. London productions include the West End musical Napoleon, and the Olivier award-winning Jitney at the National Theatre of Great Britain. David has coached or choreographed numerous stars of TV, film and theatre including Val Kilmer, Christopher Plummer, Woody Harrelson, Sigourney Weaver, Winona Ryder, Marisa Tomei, Kevin Spacey, Mary McDonnell, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Joan Cusack, Frances McDormand, Raul Julia, Christopher Walken, Tom Hulce, Don Cheadle, Charles Dutton, and Harry Hamlin among others.

David currently holds the title of Certified Fight Master, a distinction held by only twelve other people in the United States. Regional theatre credits include The Shakespeare Theatre, Arena Stage, American Repertory Theatre, American Conservatory Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Denver Theatre Center, Alley Theatre, Goodman Theatre, McCarter Theatre, Yale Repertory Theatre, The Long Wharf Theatre, Hartford Stage, Huntington Theatre, The Mark Taper Forum, the Guthrie Theatre, The Williamstown Theatre Festival and many more.

Stories on David's work have been featured in The New York Times, The Village Voice, The Washingtonian, The Fight Master, Dramatics Magazine, PM Magazine, White's Guide to the Movies, and the NBC Today Show. His fights have been pictured on the cover of the magazines American Theatre, Theatre Profiles, Dramatics, and The Fight Master. He is the co-author of a three-part video series on Unarmed Stage Combat.


Skill Proficiency History

Date Weapon Location Grade