Joni Avery has been a stuntwomen, actress and stunt coordinator for over 30 years. She has worked as a stunt double and has made her way into the male dominated world of stunt coordinating. She is known for her work on Planet of the Apes (2001), Species (1995) and The Prestige (2006).
Joni Avery has been a stunt double for numerous stars including Genie Francis (wife to Jonathan Frakes), Alicia Silverstone, in “Cryin” music video by Aerosmith, Pamela Anderson in Baywatch, Drew Barrymore in Boys on the Side (1994) with Whoopi Goldberg, and in Never Been Kissed (1999), Marg Helgenberger in Species (1995), Olivia d’Abo in The Big Green (1995), Cyndi Lauper in Vibes (1988), Bette Midler in First Wives Club (1996) with Stephen Collins, Christina Applegate in The Sweetest Thing (2002), Christina Ricci in Cursed (2004) with Anita Hart, Kathy Bates in Little Black Book (2004), with Sharon Lawrence. Joni is the main stunt double for actress Patricia Arquette in most of her films as well as in the television series Medium (2005).
She is also a stunt coordinator for films and television series such as V.I.P. (1998-2000), The Handler (2003), with Mary Mara, and White Oleander (2003), with John Billingsley.
Among her stunt performing credits are films such as True Romance (1993), with Christian Slater, Addams Family Values (1993), with Christopher Lloyd, and Patricia Tallman), The Mask (1994, with Kevin Grevioux), Broken Arrow (1996, with Christian Slater and Mark Riccardi), Titanic (1997, with Michael Ensign, Jenette Goldstein, Tricia O’Neil, and Anita Hart), Deep Impact (1998, with James Cromwell and Denise Crosby), Scream 3 (2000), Planet of the Apes (2001, with Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, David Warner, and Simone Boisseree), Showtime (2002, with William Shatner), Hulk (2003), with Regi Davis and Boni Yanagisawa, Taxi (2004. with Denney Pierce and Katie Rowe, Bewitched (2005), with Patricia Tallman, and Poseidon (2006), with Caroline Lagerfelt and Darlene Williams.
Joni Avery was married to Rick Avery who is also a stuntman and stunt coordinator, and they have two sons, Brian Avery and Mike Avery, who also work in the industry as stunt performers.
