What Movie Stunt Doubles Really Look Like

They're the unhailed heroes of Hollywood: stunt doubles. From free falls of 50 feet or more to crashing through windows, amazing driving chase scenes and incredible choreographed fight scenes, the stunt double makes most of the silver screen's biggest blockbusters possible. They do their job behind-the-scenes, not getting anywhere near the respect that they deserve. Well, that's about to change, because we have prepared a list of the stuntmen and women who have doubled for some of our favorite Hollywood stars. Take a look at what they really look like, and learn more about some of their amazing stunt resumes.

When it comes to The Rock's stunt double, he likes to keep it in the family. For years, Johnson's cousin Tanoai Reed has worked as his double in nearly 20 different roles. From 2002's The Scorpion King to 2017's The Fate of the Furious, Reed has been performing stunts for his cuz.

In addition to being practically as close as brothers, Reed and Johnson frequently collaborate behind-the-scenes on aspects of their performance, as you can see in this video clip shot during the filming of Faster in 2010. Reed has won two Taurus awards over the years for his stunt work, and has also worked as an actor and as a motion-capture performer for the video game Thor: God of Thunder.

Tracey Eddon was born in 1958 in England, and she's made an amazing career out of stunt work over the last 40+ years. Eddon has doubled for some of our most favorite actresses over the years, including Jennifer Connelly in Labyrinth, Helen Slater in Supergirl, and for Carrie Fisher and Anthony Daniels in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.

In 2015, Carrie Fisher recalled the circumstances behind the now-famous photo of her and Eddon sunbathing in their slave bikinis on the the set of Return of the Jedi. "It was very, very hot. It was Yuma, Arizona! There was nothing to do. We were out of the middle of the desert where it was just sand, except for the Sarlacc pit...so maybe [we did] a little [tanning]." Despite being nearly sixty years old, Eddon is still going strong in the stunt field today; her most recent credit was as a stunt performer on the set of 2016's Doctor Strange.

For the last ten years, Paul Darnell has been working as a stuntman—when he's not busy competing in parkour and freerunning competitions around the world. Darnell got inspired to start freerunning and doing stunt work after watching a 2003 episode of Ripley's Believe it or Not! which featured parkour. Not only is he a talented stuntman, but Darnell has also been a two-time finalist on the popular television series American Ninja Warrior.

A former gymnastics champion at Virginia Tech, Darnell has built up an impressive stunt reel over the years for himself, including his work as a double for Henry Cavill in Man of Steel, Adam Sandler in You Don't Mess with the Zohan, Paul Walker in Fast Five, and Robert Pattinson in Water for Elephants, Remember Me, and the Twilight Saga—a gig that Pattinson thanked Darnell for when the film won "Best Fight" at the MTV Movie Awards.

She's one of Hollywood's hottest stuntwomen and upcoming actresses, and she's an absolute chameleon when it comes to her roles as a stunt double. Since she got her start in 2003, Vela-Bailey has worked as a double for Gal Gadot, Milla Jovovich, Zoe Saldana, Charlize Theron, Kate Beckinsale, and Shailene Woodley—to name just a few.

We can't forget to mention her acting skills, as Vela-Bailey is also the actress behind fan-favorite Alisha Whitley on Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D, and the impressively terrifying performance as the villain Diana in Lights Out. She returns to the silver screen in 2017 acting as the Evil Mrs. Mullins in the horror film Annabelle: Creation, and also as the stunt double for Gal Gadot in the eagerly-anticipated movie Wonder Woman.

Since the early 1990s, Canadian stuntwoman Marny Eng has racked up more than 100 roles working as a stunt double and stunt coordinator, and has been twice nominated for a Taurus World Stunt Award. She's doubled for dozens of women (and men) over the years, including Kirsten Dunst, Alyssa Milano, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Lucy Liu, and Kristen Stewart.

The actress she's performed stunts for most frequently has been Reese Witherspoon—Eng has been her double in at least three different roles, including 2015's Hot Pursuit. Eng is also no stranger to acting, and you can spot her as Tabitha—a spoof of the character Samara from The Ring—in the 2003 horror comedy Scary Movie 3.

There's no question that the hilarious NASCAR comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby required a lot of fancy stunt driving, and Jack Gill is the man behind that action. Since the 1970s, Gill has worked as a stunt performer and stunt driver on over 170 films and television shows, including as the primary stunt driver on both The Dukes of Hazzard and Knight Rider.

Over the years, Gill has branched out into stunt coordination and second unit directing, including on several of the Fast and Furious films. With a metal plate in his neck, 23 broken bones, and eight concussions over the course of his four-decade career, there's unquestionably nobody more qualified than Gill to testify about the difficulties of the job. Gill has also been instrumental in the push among the stunt community for an Oscar (or two) recognizing the achievements of the stunt men and women that make so many of today's movies possible.

For the last decade, Luci Romberg has been at the top of her game as a stuntwoman. The Hollywood native is a former champion gymnast and also competes as one of the few females in high-level freerunning competitions around the world. Over the course of her career, Romberg has doubled for Melissa McCarthy several times, including in Identity Thief, Spy, The Boss, and Ghostbusters. You can see her above (left) alongside McCarthy on the set of Ghostbusters, as the pair show off their flexibility.

In the world of stunt performers, getting a job as the preferred stuntman or woman for one of Hollywood's top stars is the ultimate gig. For Greg Fitzpatrick, that opportunity came relatively early in his career, when he was picked as the stunt double for Ben Stiller in the 2003 film Duplex. Since then, Greg has become the preferred double for Stiller, and has since appeared in more than a dozen more films as Stiller's stuntman. In addition to his striking resemblance to Ben Stiller, Fitzpatrick is also a talented stunt performer and coordinator—he's won two Taurus World Stunt Awards and doubled for Robert Downey Jr. in both Iron Man and Iron Man 2.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Vic Armstrong reigns as the most prolific stuntman in the world. Additionally, Armstrong is one of the few stunt performers to ever break the Academy Award barrier, winning a Technical Achievement Academy Award in 2001.

With well over 100 stunt credits in a career that spans five decades, it probably would not surprise you to learn that Armstrong doubled for some of Hollywood's biggest roles, including as James Bond, Superman, and Indiana Jones. Reportedly, crew members frequently confused Armstrong with Harrison Ford on the set of the Indiana Jones films, which resulted in Ford sending Armstrong a photo of the two of them with the humorous inscription, "If you learn to talk, I'm in deep trouble!"

Sarah Franzl has come a long way from shivering in a pool of cold water alongside Kate Winslet on the set of Titanic in 1997. This English stuntwoman has created a prolific stunt performance career for herself, with over 150 roles since she got her start in 1985.

In addition to her work on Titanic, Franzl has been a stunt double for Uma Thurman, Meryl Streep, and Maggie Gyllenhaal. In the last decade, Franzl began working as an assistant stunt coordinator on high-profile movies like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Fast & Furious 6, and Avengers: Age of Ultron. Although she is nearing 55 years of age, Franzl is still going strong, with several projects due to be released in 2017; you can catch her in Wonder Woman, Justice League, and Star Wars: The Last Jedi.

Since 1990's Total Recall, stuntman Billy Lucas has had the sweet gig of working as Arnold Schwarzenegger's stunt double on the set of most of his films. From Kindergarten Cop to the Terminator series, if you saw Arnold do some crazy action scenes, it was most likely Lucas' work that you were watching.

In addition to his roles as Schwarzenegger's stunt double, Lucas has worked on over 100 different movies and TV shows as a stunt performer and coordinator. Despite his undoubtedly busy schedule, it seems that Schwarzenegger and Lucas have become close over the years—the former California Governor even shared a story of how Lucas saved his life during a risky scuba-diving shot on the set of The 6th Day.

For the fight sequences in 1984's The Karate Kid, director John G. Avildsen and stunt coordinator Alan Oliney made the smart decision to go with a martial-arts expert to serve as Ralph Macchio's double in the fighting sequences of the film.

They turned to Johnny Atkinson, a karate master who had earned his full black belt at only age 16, and now had his own California dojo. He hadn't much acting experience beyond a bit part in the 1972 Nixon spoof film Another Nice Mess, but that didn't stop Atkinson from giving his all as the karate stunt double for Macchio in The Karate Kid. He wouldn't do much acting after his role as Macchio's double, but Atkinson continued to run his karate studios around southern California until his death in 1999.

Olivia Jackson's promising stunt career was cut short in 2016 when she suffered a near-fatal accident on the set of Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, where she was working as Milla Jovovich's stunt double. Prior to her role in that film, Jackson had worked as the stunt double for Charlize Theron in Mad Max: Fury Road and for Elizabeth Olsen in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

In the horrific incident, the motorcycle that Jackson was riding in a scene crashed into a camera crane arm when it malfunctioned and didn't move out of the way fast enough. Jackson was in a medically-induced coma for 17 days because of her injuries, which included serious facial trauma, a punctured lung, a crushed arm which had to be amputated, and debilitating damage to her spine and neck. The accident wouldn't be the only incident to plague the set of Resident Evil—not long after Jackson's crash, a crew member on the set died when a Humvee slipped from a sling and crushed him beneath. For her part, Jackson is fighting bravely to move on with her life, and recently shared some photos of herself on the road to recovery.

A Haitian native who immigrated to Brooklyn as a child, Randolph LeRoi grew up playing sports and training in taekwondo. As an adult, LeRoi got involved in modeling and also became a firefighter in Miami. A spot as "Mr. May" on the fire department's promotional calendar began to land him roles in commercials and TV spots in Florida, which prompted LeRoi to move to California to try his hand at acting and stunt performing.

After being picked as the stunt double for Will Smith on 1995's Bad Boys, LeRoi and Smith have become close friends. Since then, LeRoi has doubled for Smith on nearly a dozen films, most recently in 2007's I am Legend.

Only a few short years after his stuntman debut in 1993, Eddie Yansick got picked to be Nicolas Cage's stunt double in the 1997 action film Con Air. Since then, Yansick has doubled for Cage in more than a dozen roles, including Lord of War, Matchstick Men, and Ghost Rider.

In addition to his over 70 stunt credits over the last three decades, Yansick also works as a stunt coordinator, actor, and a second unit director. In 2001, Yansick distinguished himself with his stunt work when he won a Taurus award for best driving for his performance in a Gone in Sixty Seconds chase scene between a Mustang and a police car.

Although he's only been working in the stuntman field for a little over ten years, Ryan Mooney has built up an impressive list of stunt credits so far. You can spot his work in The Hunger Games, Sleepy Hollow, and the Divergent series of films.

Additionally, Mooney serves as a primary stunt double for Jesse Eisenberg, and has doubled for him both in 2009's Zombieland and in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. According to his IMDb page, 2017 looks to be a busy year for Mooney, as he is scheduled to appear as a stunt performer in both Jacob's Ladder and Spider-Man: Homecoming.

While Bette Davis didn't typically need a stunt double for her scenes, Davis had a friendly relationship with her regular stand-in, Sally Sage. A stand-in typically must be the same height, weight, and coloring as the actor they are doubling for, and they play an important role on the set—allowing the director and cinematographer to set up the scene's lighting and blocking before the cameras start rolling.

Sage worked as Davis' stand-in at Warner Bros. in the '30s, earning a base pay of $50 per week, and even served as her double on-camera during a scene in 1936's Satan Met a Lady. You can see Sage in the photo above on the right, knitting alongside her Hollywood look-alike. When Davis left Warner Bros. during a contract dispute, she didn't forget her stand-in—Davis negotiated terms that allowed Sage to keep her contract with the studio.

Tony Angelotti is primarily known for his work as Johnny Depp's stunt double in the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise, a job he's held at significant personal cost. An accident on the set of Dead Man's Chest in 2005 nearly ended his career—and his life. While rehearsing a "human yo-yo" stunt, where he was to fall from a crane and log roll through the air on his unraveling safety line, everything went drastically wrong; the tension on the line was incorrect, and the centrifugal force whipped him around so hard that when Angelotti hit the end of the line, his pelvis was split apart like a wishbone on a turkey.

Angelotti broke his pelvis, ripped open his femoral artery, and suffered injuries to knees, legs, and bladder. He lost a massive six units of blood from internal bleeding and has since been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, but he hasn't let his injuries keep him down. He doubled again for Depp in 2007's At World's End, and continues to work in the stunt field today.