In 1985, I made a transition from martial arts and kickboxing to a full time career as a stuntwoman. In 1982, I had moved from Pensacola, Florida to Los Angeles, California for several reasons. One, my sanctioning body, the WKA (World Karate Association) based out of Westminster, CA was working hard to promote me as a fighter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhxn74Si54g
Meet the Extraordinary Lauren Mary Kim, dancer, acrobat, Laker Girl, martial artist, stuntwoman and one of today’s most sought after female stunt performers.
Lauren Mary Kim is a talented beauty who has solidified her place in the professional stunt world by means of hard work and undistracted focus.
The proof of her...
If you'd worked as body doubles for the likes of Charlize Theron, Cara Delevingne and X-Men's Rebecca Romijn like world-famous Canadian trainer Monique Ganderton has, it's safe to say you'd know a thing or two about what it takes to make an actress look like a highly trained killer, fighter...
When you’re drooling over Megan Fox in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) reserve some drool for Stacey Carino, who, as Fox’s stunt double, did a lot of the legwork. In her six-year career Stacey has worked on movies as varied as Bruce Almighty, The Jane Austen Book Club, and Tim Burton’s upcoming Alice in Wonderland.
In her audition for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2104) stunt actress Janene Carleton had to prove that she could ride a horse — something she'd been doing competitively since childhood — but in an "ape-like" position. "You just have to hunch your shoulders and squat down a little...
Stuntwoman Ming Qiu has an impressive lineup of films including Charlie’s Angels, Kill Bill, and Ultraviolet. Inside Kung Fu magazine saluted her as their 2006 Woman of the Year. In a recent interview, the veteran wushu champion quickly brushed aside any suggestions of celebrity. “I’m a very low key person,” she insisted.
Lead stunt double for Gal Gadot in the film Wonder Woman, Caitlin Dechelle was responsible for the kickass stunts and fighting scenes that brought the film to life. A martial artist from the age of six, she has 95 world titles. To find out more, I put 20 questions to Caitlin about martial arts, stunts and working on Wonder Woman.
Aditya Sarpotdar’s film about Reshma Pathan, the woman who performed Hema Malini’s stunts in Ramesh Sippy’s classic will be out on Zee5 on March 8, 2019. Pathan has also worked as a body double in the 1970s and ’80s, but like most stuntwoman in her profession, her contribution to the industry has remained behind the scenes.
It's hard to gauge the full effect that Wonder Woman's success will have on the film industry. Studios and producers will no doubt have noticed that investing in a female-driven summer tentpole payed off big and that the conventional Hollywood wisdom that says women can't carry a blockbuster just doesn't...