Karen Sheperd

Karen Sheperd is an accomplished American actress with numerous credits in film, television and theatre. Also a highly accomplished athlete, Karen found an early fascination with theatre as a very young girl. Working backstage on a regional production of "The King and I' in Oregon, Karen found herself holding the exact ball-gown that Deborah Kerr wore in the 1956 film of the same title. Karen memorized the whole play that summer and imagined herself going from "backstage" to "center-stage". Karen began appearing in high-school and regional plays. Her first theatre lead was the role of Bilbo Baggins in "Lord of the Rings". The company took the production "on the road" and played for numerous grade-school and junior-high school students throughout Oregon. Sheperd later went on to appear in regional summer productions such as "Brigadoon" and "Fiddler on the Roof", directed by Oregon's legendary theatre Director and teacher, Ed Ragozzino. Enthralled with Bruce Lee, Karen Sheperd found another passion in studying martial arts. Sheperd ultimately became legendary in the martial arts world. Karen became the first woman to be rated #1 in the only ratings system at the time, "Karate Illustrated" magazine (1979), ratings she worked hard to establish for all women who followed. Karen was also one of the first woman to ever grace the cover of "Karate Illustrated" magazine (February, 1982) and went on to grace many more magazine covers. Sheperd was also the first woman to be rated in the next existing ratings system, "Kick" magazine ("Inside Kung Fu"), thus retaining her undefeated #1 title 2 years in a row, 1979 and 1980. Karen Sheperd retired from competition early in the 1981 season to answer the call from Hollywood. At the top of her game in 1981, Karen accepted an offer to co-star in the film, "Shinobi Ninja", becoming the first American female martial artist to be cast in an action film. Lying in 6 feet of snow, in front of the cameras high in the mountains of Japan, Karen was "bit by the film bug" and moved to Los Angeles to study acting. Karen received rave reviews for her lead theatre roles in Hollywood theatre productions such as "Summer and Smoke" by Tennessee Williams and "In The Boom Boom Room" by David Rabe. Karen is well known for her recurring guest-star role as "The Enforcer" on television's "Hercules, The Legendary Journeys", opposite Kevin Sorbo. Her first episode, titled "The Enforcer", received the highest ratings ever for the entire series. This ratings success was partly credited to her manager, Cathryn James (who also repped Quentin Tarantino), who cleverly sent a press release to Karen's fan base: every martial arts school across America. Karen starred in the role of "Chen" in Angelina Jolie's first film, "Cyborg 2", also working alongside Jack Palance, Elias Koreas and Billy Drago. Sheperd also helped train and prepare Angelina Jolie for film-fighting during preproduction of "Cyborg 2". Karen's experience working with Angelina is documented in Andrew Morton's 2010 unauthorized biography titled, "Angelina". Able to do her own fights, Karen was a natural, blending her acting and fight skills traveling the globe starring and co-starring in action films such as "Boogie Boy" with life-long friend (and her instructor's son), Mark Dacascos and including Emily Lloyd, John Hawkes and Joan Jett. Other films included "Firestorm" with John Savage, Paul Ben-Victor, Paul Williams and Robert Carradine, "Operation Golden Phoenix" with James Hong, "Blood Chase" with Andrew Stevens and many others. In a bold move in 1985, after seeing a full-page pre-production announcement in the daily "Variety" for the upcoming film "America 3000", Karen wrote a letter to the film's Director, David Engelbach. Her letter led to an interview and audition which landed her a double contract with the film and a 3-month stay in Israel. Karen co-starred in the role of "Keva" and is also credited as "Assistant Fight Choreographer". Besides acting, Karen has lent her expertise as a fight-choreographer to various film, television and stage productions, including live-action projects at Disneyland, CA. Karen Sheperd pioneered recognition for women in martial arts. Competing with men, Karen was the only woman rated in the top 10. She believed more women would compete if they had a title to work for. In 1978, Sheperd took on the endeavor to have ratings established for women. She met with Renardo Barden of the "Karate Illustrated" ratings system (the only ratings system at the time) and was given the challenge to start a petition with competitors and to encourage tournament promoters to have divisions for women. Sheperd was victorious in her historic endeavor when "Karate Illustrated" finally established official, separate ratings for women in 1979. Now considered a living legend and true pioneer for women in martial arts, Sheperd has received countless "Halls of Fame" honors and awards and is often a keynote speaker at martial arts events, seminars and for women's groups around the world. Karen has been happily married to the same man since 1993, loves animals, has always had numerous rescue cats and dogs, actively serves her church community, still loves acting and she just knows ... THAT one special project with just the right crew to help make her shine is just right around the corner!