User:Action grrl/J.A. Steel

J.A. Steel (born December 12, 1969 as Jacquelyn A. Ruffner) is an American writer, director, producer, editor, stunt person and actress best known for her role as C. Alexandra Jones in The Third Society.

Early Life
Steel was born in Greensburg, PA and raised in Harrison City, PA. Her acting began at age seven when she appeared in numerous school plays (most which she had written) and continued until she received a scholarship of a summer theatre program at the age of 14. During the program, she explored the depths of her writing talents further and decided to dedicate her time to writing. Steel's career in the entertainment industry began at the age of 18 when she began managing bands and promoting rock shows, during the time she was attending the prestigious USC Film School on a partial scholarship, and graduated from USC in 1992 with a Degree in Social Science and Communications. Shortly after graduating, she accepted a job as a production assistant for martial arts action star Sho Kosugi (Revenge of the Ninja, Black Eagle) Sho immediately recognized Steel's natural film sensibilities and promoted her to Vice-President Development within six months.

Early Career
In early 1993, Steel left Sho Productions to start her own company, Warrior Entertainment. The company's main focus was on music management and in 1995, Steel negotiated the first contract ever between an American Artist, Sasha Alexeev, and Chinese Record Company, Rock Records. Sasha's Wintertales album was released in 1996, just as the Asian economy was on the verge of collapse. Record sales were slow and Steel decided to no longer be involved with music or the entertainment industry.

The Third Society
During her two-year hiatus, Steel traveled extensively in Asia and even lived for a brief time in Singapore. Upon her return to the United States, she re-entered the entertainment industry and began planning her first feature from a screenplay that she had written in 1996. The screenplay, entitled Triad, was about an ex-motocycle racer turned cop Cody Reynolds and his Asian partner, Michael Li. Cody's love interest in the film was a vice-detective by the name of Sanchez. Steel sent out the script, but development executives claimed it was "too ethnic." Sanchez became Jones. The executives were still not satisfied and wanted even more changes. In protest, Steel got rid of Cody's character completely and changed the LAPD police captain from the 50-year-old male stereotype to an African-American woman. Jones then became the main character, the film title changed; and The Third Society was born. Steel turned down several offers to buy the script, as everyone wanted to take away the ethnic diversity present in the film and replace Jones with a male lead. Fighting for her script, Steel reached into her own pockets and financed about 85% of the film. Steel found herself both in front of and behind the camera writing, directing, producing, editing and starring in the film. Her decision to "do it all" was due to a lack of others in those positions who shared her vision. She adopted the name J.A. Steel to direct, write and edit under. The "Jones" character in the final cut of The Third Society went uncredited, as Steel never originally intended to play the "Jones" character. Steel made history by being one of the first female directors who has written a nude scene for herself, as Jones spent a lot of time in the shower to wash away the grime from the fight scenes.

Steel used leading edge filmmaking technology at time in The Third Society, including remote controlled mini-choppers to provide aerial footage where not previously not possible due to danger or budget.

Stunts and Filmmaking
In real life, Steel could indeed be Jones. She races motorcycles, skydives, handles swords, competes in Muay Thai kickboxingis a master scuba diver, and holds 22 marksmanship awards with various weapons. Two years in Army ROTC during Steel's college years provided the mental toughness for the Jones character. , Steel went on to write, produce, direct, edit, perform stunts and star in two more action feature films: the award winning Salvation in 2007 and Denizen coming in 2010. Steel also directed the short films Dive the Deep Blue and A Change of Plans.