Women In Stunts

Stuntwoman Reshma Pathan is the body double for almost all film actresses in the 1970s and 1980s in Hindi film industry. By the early seventies she had gained recognition for her work. Her work as the body double for Hema Malini in Ramesh Sippy’s blockbuster Sholay (1975) made Pathan an overnight celebrity in the stunt industry.

The Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series and Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture awards were first given at the Screen Actors Guild Awards in 2007.

When Johansson gets punched in the face, Heidi Moneymaker takes the hit. When Elizabeth Olsen crashes through a window, it’s C.C. Ice who ends up with scratches. Hollywood’s most unsung behind-the-scenes heroes star in a Hollywood Reporter photo portfolio. Meet the Stuntwomen who help stars kickass.

For Hollywood stuntwoman Janene Carleton, a typical day at the office might involve jumping off a building, or from a moving vehicle, or perhaps both of these things at the same time, while her entire body is engulfed in flames. After nearly 15 years in the business, Carleton has...

Becoming a stuntwoman is especially difficult in an industry where men often play female characters. But more performers are breaking through. A woman is doubled over on a platform, clutching her stomach. She screams, then flops 4.5 metres (15ft) on to a giant airbag. To my left, a dozen people...

Kitty O'Neil was an American stuntwoman and racer known as "the fastest woman in the world." An illness in early childhood left her deaf. Kitty O'Neil's career as a stuntwoman and race driver led to her depiction in a TV movie and as an action figure. Her women's absolute land speed record still stands.

Extreme dangers of the job: With seasoned pros stretched thin, productions are hiring haphazardly and cutting corners as stunt performers go public with complaints that union regulations have “no teeth” and new oversight may not go nearly far enough, Scott Johnson reports in the Hollywood Reporter: Changing dynamics from within: For...

Crystal Riley uses the stunts of Helen Gibson in her talk entitled The Stunts of Helen Gibson: What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Join Crystal while she discusses tales of peril and possibility, jeopardy and chance; of flirting with danger and being willing to lose it all in this Odd Salon lecture.

Having endured a difficult childhood and abusive marriage, the female body double now puts her survival skills to use in India’s film industry, crashing through glass and jumping off rooftops. ‘There’s gain in pain,’ she says Geeta Tandon sits on the floor of her modest one-room home in a working-class...

A diverse action actor, Alicia Vela-Bailey has emerged from A list stunt double to on screen sensation. With her chilling performance as Diana in Lights Out (2016) or her acrobatic, ass kicking, portrayal of Alisha Whitley on Marvel's Agents of Shield (2015-2016), she is truly the human special effect.