Tina Barnes

Birthplace

Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England, UK

Biography

Tina was born in Wolverhampton, in the West Midlands. As a child, she loved dancing and said that she wanted to be an actress, a dancer and a writer when she grew up. Born into a family that had never been involved with the arts, and coming from a working class background, no-one had any idea how to guide her towards her goals. Fortunately, at secondary school, she received support from her drama teacher, Chris Clarke, who encouraged her to pursue her ambition and offered guidance. After college, she gained a place at The Birmingham School of Acting. Thanks to lottery funding and a scholarship, she could afford the fees for the 3-year acting course. Whilst there, she was selected to represent the school at the William Pole Festival and performed at the Globe Theatre in London. It was attending drama school that ignited her love of performance combat. Tina secured an agent at her showcase and was cast in several Doctors (2000) episodes shortly after. A few months later, she was cast in the UK/Australia tour of Bob the Builder: Live! (2002). Upon return, she moved to London to focus on more opportunities in TV. Tina auditioned for numerous projects to gain experience and develop her screen acting skills. She began to self-represent and was successful, attending many castings with independent companies; this led to her first role in a feature film, playing alongside Dominique Pinon (Aliens, Amelie) in a surreal horror film. Tina found life in London more challenging than expected. To keep afloat financially, she worked multiple jobs. Tina worked hard and trained extensively in stage combat and took screenwriting classes to broaden her skillset. She worked for renowned company RC Annie and as a freelance fight coordinator, and slowly drifted towards stunt register training. Finally, she went to Seattle to train with the International Stuntmen's Association. After several years in London, personal circumstances took her back to the Midlands. In 2015, when Tina was temping as a desk assistant on a trading floor, she realized her life was not going according to plan, so she quit her job and travelled around Southeast Asia. This trip fuelled her with the energy needed to follow her passions once more. Tina has appeared on Doctors, Emmerdale (1972) and Sky One drama, Intergalactic (2021). Independent films, including 400 Bullets (2021) with Andrew Lee Potts and Jean-Paul Ly, and a TV comedy pilot with Cheers star, George Wendt. She is also putting her physical skills to work in motion-capture on high profile AAA computer games.