Anna Daniels
In 1985, Sanders began a career as a stuntwoman after training in martial arts and kickboxing.
Sanders performed as a stunt double for a number of Hollywood’s elite — including Jessica Alba, Brooke Shields, and Sharon Stone.
She performed stunts for Rene Russo in director John McTiernan’s 1999 remake of The Thomas Crown Affair, in which Russo starred as Catherine Banning, an insurance investigator and the love interest of Pierce Brosnan’s Thomas Crown. Sanders again worked in conjunction with Russo for the Lethal Weapon film series, in which Russo portrayed Sergeant Lorna Cole.
Additionally, Sanders was the stunt double for Kathleen Turner in V.I. Warshawski, the 1991 film directed by Jeff Kanew that featured Turner as the titular character, a hardened private investigator with a tender heart. She’d also doubled for Sandra Bullock, Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Garner, Bridget Fonda, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ellen Barkin, Kelly Lynch, and Kelly Preston, according to an interview she gave in April 2015.
Sanders’ stuntwoman career came to a halt in 1989 during production of Back to the Future Part II, for which she was working as the stunt double for Spike actress Darlene Vogel. She and a few other stunt workers were involved in a chase scene in which they were riding “piano wire supported hoverboards throughout this elaborate futuristic outdoor set” before flying through a window. Things went awry when Sanders realized the group was “listing to the left” and that she was going to hit a pillar near the window through which they were meant to fly. She indeed hit the pillar — then was left dangling 20 feet above the ground, and ultimately fell to the concrete below.
After numerous surgeries to her face, arm, and jaw, Sanders re-entered the stunt industry in 1991 and had been an advocate for living a healthy lifestyle, even founding with Reed Sanders the supplement company Zen Formulas.
Sanders’ other credits include stunt work in Charlie’s Angeles, Batman & Robin, and The Mask.
Written by: Looper
