Jessie Graff is a stuntwoman, actress and casting director. She graduated from Urbana High School in Frederick, Maryland in 2002. She competed for the Frederick Gymnastic Club for six years. She was the track team Captain, an Honor Roll student, and member of National Honor Society. She attended Georgia Institute of Technology majoring in aerospace engineering before she transferred to University of Nebraska-Lincoln to study Theatre. Jessie holds the pole vault record at both Georgia Tech and Nebraska U and was 1.5 inches away from qualifying for the 2004 Olympic trials in the sport. Besides being a champion pole vaulter and competitive gymnast, she is also a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do, a Black Sash in Kung Fu, and has trained in five other styles of martial arts.
The journey for Jessie Graff began when she was 3 years old. While attending the Big Apple Circus, she begged the ringmaster to let her join the circus. Although her attempt to join the circus was unsuccessful that day, the experience sparked in her a passion to fly high and push herself beyond anyone’s expectations. Her mother enrolled her in circus gymnastics classes, which began her training and led her to other specialties in various acrobatic and fitness disciplines, helping her develop her range of core strength, power and agility.
One of the top competitors on American Ninja Warriors, Jessie Graff has become known as a modern day Wonder Woman, breaking stereotypes as she continues to break records. Graff made national headlines in June 2016 during the Los Angeles qualifier when she became the first woman to make it up the new, higher 14-and-a-half-foot Warped Wall, while donning a Wonder Woman costume. She returned to the Los Angeles Finals just weeks later, and in the same iconic outfit, once again conquered the Warped Wall and continued to go on to be one of only two ninjas to make it through the eighth obstacle to punch her ticket back to the Las Vegas finals for the second year in a row.
Graff made her first appearance on NBC’s American Ninja Warrior (2013) in season five. She quickly became a fan favorite as she tackled the course in a chicken dress, in honor of her “Epic Chick Fight” video. She became the first woman to qualify for the city finals. Graff then had a history-making season seven, becoming the second woman to qualify outright for the Las Vegas finals, and placing higher in city finals than a woman had ever placed. She broke that record again in season 8, when she placed second in city finals and became the only woman to qualify for Las Vegas twice.
Graff attributes much of her success on the seemingly impossible obstacles of American Ninja Warrior to her decade long career in stunts. Awarded the Action Icon Award for “Stuntwoman of the Year,” her credits include: Wonder Woman (2017), Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra (2009), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) Live Free or Die Hard (2007), The Dark Knight (2008) as well as being a recurring double on Supergirl, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, Leverage and many more. Besides using her martial arts skills, Graff does high falls, wipeouts, sky diving, motorcycles, stunt driving, fire, wirework and flying trapeze.
Jessie Graff, who currently lives in Los Angeles, hopes that she can be a positive influence on girls and women all over the world and show them that strong is beautiful.
