How a Classically Trained Actor Discovered the Awesome World of Stunts
by Naomi Peters

I’ve had a path in this career that has certainly taken me by surprise. I was one of those
students in high school and college and grad school that knew exactly what she wanted
and how to make it happen. Um, yeah. As I’m sure we have all discovered, life had her
own plans for me.

Up until my sophomore year in high school, I had planned to double major in biology &
chemistry, go pre-med, and become an OB/GYN. Then I decided there was something
harder I could do. For many of us, acting is about actually being honest about thoughts
and actions and ugliness (hard) and beauty (harder) within myself in front of everyone
who cares to watch. That was scary. So that’s what I decided to do.

Majored in theatre performance at the University of Evansville, then went on to grad
school at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. The whole thing was
bloody scary, but invigorating at the same time, especially as I came to realize that I can
really do this. I knew without a doubt that I would get out of grad school, find an agent,
book the jobs, and shoot to the top. No question. Remember what I just said about life
having other plans for me? That’s coming up pretty soon.

Another piece of the puzzle (this will make sense in a moment) was my discovery of
capoeira. I started dancing at the age of 5 and loved it. When I went to grad school, I
was so busy with classes that I didn’t have time for dance classes (other than the dance
for actors classes that were part of the curriculum). The summer after my 1st year at
ACT, I found a dance studio in San Francisco and spent at least 5 hours a day, 7 days a
week there, taking a plethora of classes. One of those classes was capoeira. I had
heard of capoeira through hip hop, and I gave it a try. It was like finding home. All of a
sudden, I found that thing that allowed me to find balance, the activity that gave me
roots while the craziness of acting was knocking me all over the place. It was amazing.

But setting that aside for a moment, and focusing back on the pursuit of my acting
career… It started off pretty well. Signed with a reputable agent off of showcase,
moved to New York, and actually landed my first (er, one and only) Broadway gig one
year and one month to the day I moved to New York. My pace of booking jobs was
nowhere near extraordinary, but it was regular enough that I thought it was only a matter
of time before turning the corner onto a whole new level of scripts being thrown at me
left and right. (Really folks, haven’t we all had that thought?) I was doing ok on the
theatre scene in NY and regionally, but I very much wanted to access the jobs that
would allow me to actually pay my rent…film and TV.

That’s when my reputable agent (now former) told me, “The way you look, you’ll
continue to get theatre jobs no problem. If you want to do TV & film, you need to lose
20-30 lbs.” Wow. The thing is, I was a size 4. And then I heard another comment from
a casting director along the lines of “What looks normal on film is size 0-2. Size 4 starts
moving towards chubby.” And these weren’t hacks! So of course, I started to be incredibly self-conscious about my weight. I hate to say it, but I still am. I tried different things, lost some, looked better, but still wasn’t being sent on the film & TV auditions.

I got so stressed out that I desperately needed to just get away from the city. Close to
that time, a friend was one of the production coordinators on Pirates of the Caribbean 2
& 3. She invited me and another friend to come visit her in the Bahamas. I thought it
sounded fantastic. Not only can I get away from New York for a bit, but maybe I can
visit set and watch how things on a major budget film work and see something that will
trigger what I need to get my own career going. So I scrounged together the money
and went.

I did, in fact, get to visit set a couple of times (which was an awesome adventure in and
of itself), but here’s where the sharp turn in my career comes in. During my free time, I
wandered around the island, walked along the beach, relaxed a lot…and hung out with
all the stunt performers. They were cool people. I thoroughly enjoyed the energy and
the conversations. At some point during the trip, someone said, “You should think about
stunts.” Nah. Sure, as I mentioned above, I was an avid dancer and martial artist, and I
loved being physical, but I was in this to become a successful actor. The vacation
ended, and back to New York I went, but with a few new lovely friends.

Fast forward a few months, still stressing about jobs, or the lack thereof. I’d had a few
things here and there, but nothing that made me think I was getting back on the right
track. At some point, a little voice came into my head saying “well, what about that
stunts thought?” I started thinking a little more about it and couldn’t believe I hadn’t
seen right away how much sense it made for me. I love the physicality of a fight scene
or a dance, and physical expression is another aspect of telling the story. And isn’t that
one of the fundamental reasons to be in acting in the first place – to tell a story?

So I emailed a couple of my new friends and asked for advice. How to get started, how
I needed to train, what skills to have, all the basics. They were incredibly generous with
me, gave me great advice, and even a couple of introductions. I started training &
learning the various skills I would need. To my already current skill set of fighting
(western-based & martial arts), riding motorcycles, & basic tumbling, I added high falls,
taking hits, reactions, stunt driving, fire burns, ratchets, air rams, and lots of other cool
things. I’m still learning all of these, and I love it.

It’s hard to summarize the advice my friends gave me. Getting started in stunts is still a
somewhat enigmatic thing. There’s a lot of controversy about the “right” way to train for
stunts, or how to meet people. That said, there are certainly a lot of resources out
there. In LA especially, there are groups of stunt people that work out at almost all of
the gymnastics academies, many of the gyms, many of the martial arts studios, and the
list goes on. Find something that interests you, and take a class. As you start to meet
people who are involved in the stunts industry, you’ll learn about different workout or
training opportunities. It really is all about word-of-mouth and networking.

One of the introductions my friends gave me was to a stunt coordinator in New York.
We met for lunch and had a great talk. He gave me wonderful advice and said he’d
consider me for jobs. He held to his word, and recommended me for a few things.
Ironically, the first call I got for a stunt job was for I Am Legend, but I had to turn it down
because I was in the middle of a production of King Lear at Kansas City Rep. It was my
first good acting job in quite a while, and Cordelia was a role I always wanted to play,
but I was also concerned that I had just missed my chance at this new path that excited
me.

Luckily, that wasn’t the case. Another call came, and my first official stunt job was on
the 4th Indiana Jones. It was only two days, but boy, was I over the moon. Seriously,
the most exciting thing I did stunt-wise was running in front of a motorcycle for a few
steps and then jumping out of the way. (And Harrison Ford told me I had nice shoes!)
But the people on the stunts crew were awesome. There was so much experience
there; I was a complete sponge listening to and watching the other stunt performers
doing their jobs. I made connections, but more importantly, I made friends. It was the
start of being welcomed into a community that has opened a whole new world in this
industry for me.

I started to pick up stunt jobs on the east coast here and there. And I started to get
encouraged again. It seemed like a door was opening slightly for me. So I charged
through. Both professionally and personally, I needed a big change of scenery. I knew I
didn’t want to leave New York, but I also needed to mix it up. The stunt community in
NY is a very tight-knit, great group of people. I am proud to be a part of that, and I don’t
ever want that to change. But I also wanted to take advantage of this door opening, and
the bottom line figures are that there is more stunt work in LA. So I became officially
bicoastal. How that all worked is a whole other story. Today I’m spending a lot of my
time in LA and the rest back in NY. Who knows how that ratio will shift and change over
the coming months.

I’m loving stunts. As with acting, you have to constantly continue training and learning
and growing. The people in the stunt community, for the most part, are down-to-earth
wonderful people who are trying to find the safest way to express whatever physical
action is needed to tell the story. It’s not about being a badass or thrill seeker. It’s
about controlling as many elements as possible, and then being ready for those parts
you can’t control. Sure, you take hits and get bruised up on occasion, and there are
definitely elements of danger involved, but as I said, it’s not about chasing the danger,
it’s about telling the story.

For the past 4 years, I’ve focused mainly on stunts and been very happy with my
decision. I plan to keep going as far as I can. Before the switch to stunts, my career
path had been being an actor and not really sure what else. At this point, I know
nothing is definite, but one possible path that I’ve been considering is stunt performer to
stunt coordinator to 2nd unit director to 1st unit director. I have a hell of a lot to learn if
I’m going to make that happen. Sounds like a challenge. Sounds like fun.

In all of this, I haven’t lost sight of my acting roots. In fact, I’ve started to get some good
acting auditions again. A nod here must go out to my wonderful New York agents. They
signed me as an actor. As the stunts piece has come into my career, they have been
incredibly supportive. If I’m in NY, I go on auditions just like normal. If I’m in LA, I put
myself on tape whenever possible, and I’m currently looking for agents here. It’s not
quite the volume it used to be, and I certainly wouldn’t mind doing more – I still love
acting, and there are some great roles out there. But I also know that this industry is
made up of a lot of fascinating voices telling these stories. And whether it’s through
stunts or acting, I get to be one of them.

Bottom line… Be open to the unexpected. It’s a wonderful thing to be focused on your
goal and work like hell for it. Just make sure that, while you’re doing that, if some door
off to the side cracks open a bit, take a moment to peek through it. It may just lead you
somewhere wonderful that can add a whole new dimension to your career.

Resources
Stunt Players Forum – an online discussion board for the stunt community

Gymnastics Olympica – adult gymnastics classes, open gym time

White Lotus Kung Fu Studio – martial arts, parkour, freerunning, open gym time

Simon Rhee Tae Kwon Do

National Wushu Training Center

XMA – fusion of martial arts, acrobatics, etc.