Wasn’t sure if this was a General Question, but: my six-year-old daughter has repeatedly mentioned that she’d like to be a stuntwoman when she grows up, and has just this weekend asked how to become one.
Now, if she’d said “actress,” I’d have some idea of what to say: you start off by just trying out for a part in the school play, and you keep on keeping on with the drama department through high school and college, all while going on casting-call auditions for commercials or television shows or movies or whatever and pointing back at the roles you’ve played in community theater and et cetera.
Come to think of it, I could be wrong about that. But stuntwoman? I don’t even have a wrong idea about the entry-level path; what’s the ground floor on flipping a car during a chase scene before wackily running around with your arms on fire and crashing head-first through a plate-glass window?
There’s a great podcast (great in general, but this specific example is great, too) that’s available free on iTunes, called Stuff You Should Know. There’s a recent-ish, sometime in 2013, episode on stuntwo/men that’s worth a listen to.
Chuck (one of the podcasters), who worked as a production assistant, says that the best way is to schmooze with stuntpeople on sets. He recommends learning a specific skill well, and then broadening your scope once you get a few jobs. Unfortunately, it’s apparently quite a difficult field to get into, as the jobs are always limited. For the most part, he says, stuntpeople, like many other workers in the film business, have side jobs to supplement the meagre income they get from working on movies.
While I see what you did there, let me emphasize that she’s, y’know, six; she’s pretty much limited to invariably grabbing hold at the bottom of the shopping cart to be dragged on her belly like a tiny Indiana Jones – well, and writing out and performing scripts where a knight (a) declares I’ll Save You, Princess and then (b) screams and flops around as the dragon breathes fire – sure as she’s convinced “actresses” means “girl who just stands there saying stuff until the stuntwoman rides around on horseback or jumps out of an airplane or whatever.”
So, yes, when her little friends announces their desire to become a veterinarian or a teacher, she has for quite some time said I Wanna Be A Stuntwoman.
(Oh, and thanks to Dallas Jones for the info; how is it that I’ve heard of clown colleges, but not weaponry-trampolining-rappelling school?)
I used to work with a guy who was very heavily into parkour and he left the job to become a stuntman. He said he would audition like any regular actor would. I have no idea how that worked out for him.
Go to google-maps and make sure your familiar with the route to the nearest ER.
(my friends and I went through a “stunt-man phase” when we were kids, with lots of trying to jump off moving bikes and the like. So my folks go to know the ER staff really well.)
For a six year old gymnastics, athletics and circus skills would seem to be useful skill sets to acquire. There is a British stuntwoman who was recruited from the Gladiators TV show.
I would imagine that some kind of beginner’s martial arts would be something you could put her in right now. She could feel like she’s making progress toward her dream and learning a useful skill and a lifelong athletic sport. (learning how to fall without hurting yourself is also useful when you get into the bike stunts and throwing yourself off high places that a previous poster mentioned.)
Judo and karate are both popular ones so there’s a good chance there’s a quality dojo near you.
This, plus martial arts. I remember watching the behind-the-scenes for a stunt on one of the Bourne movies, and the stunt director said all his stunt people had at least one black belt.
Learning all of the above, you’ll also find out how well she recovers from minor injuries, which is also a fairly important talent to have.
