Natascha Hopkins is one of the hardest-working stuntwomen in the business. She’s doubled for a long list of African American actresses in film and singers for their music videos. Her impressive resume includes working with actresses like Kerry Washington, Zoe Kravitz, Halle Berry, and Queen Bey, Beyonce.
In an interview, Natascha Hopkins explained what a difficult job she has, she must maintain maximum muscle strength, which she needs in order to safely and effectively perform all the stunts she does, all while remaining as petite as possible in order to resemble the actresses she doubles for. Like most physically demanding jobs, the stunt world is male-dominated, leaving fewer opportunities for women, so Hopkins knows she must always stay on her A-game if she wants to grab a role.
Chandler Riggs's Stunt Double Is the Complete Opposite Of Him
If it freaks us out to witness look-a-likes working a scene together, imagine how the 19-year-old American actor, Chandler Riggs, must have felt when he realized his stunt double is a 33-year-old woman. It must have blown his mind.
Emily Brobst has been working on the set of the hugely popular TV series, The Walking Dead, where Chandler Riggs plays the character, Carl Grimes. She gets the job done effectively, which proves that a stunt double doesn’t have to be of the same sex as the actor. In fact, female studies are common when doubling for younger actors. Structure-wise, men stuntmen are bulkier. Younger males that haven’t reached puberty yet look more identical to and are better represented by adult female stunt doubles. Stunts men or female doubles aren’t just employed to work on movies or in TV series. In the case of actress, Jennifer Lopez, she had one work for her in a music video.
Not as Young as He Used to Be
Another action star who's known for doing many of his own stunts but at 54 years it's only normal to pump the breaks a bit and leave some of the action to the younger guys.
In this photo, you can see Reeves saddled on a horse next to his wigged stunt double, on the set of the movie John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum. Fun fact: The John Wick movie franchise was directed by one of Reeves's former stunt doubles, Chad Stahelski. Yes, stuntman turned Hollywood movie director. Who knows where this stuntman will be 10 years from now?
Masts' Transformation
You can see Mark Wahlberg on the set of "Transformers: Age Of Extinction" posing next to his "shadow", stuntman, Dan Mast. When Business Insider asked Mast about how he managed to obtain Walberg's iconic physique he said that the hardest part was actually finding a place to work out during filming. "It was hard finding a gym close enough because we were living out of hotels," said Mast. "And hotel gyms are awful."
Once Mast found a proper gym he got on his mission to bulk up, his regime included following an intense weight lifting program: an hour a day, 5-6 days a week, and a rather boring but steady diet that consisted of plenty of protein shakes. The rest was hair and makeup, and the result is pretty epic!
"I Got This"
The beloved Indian actress, singer, and former Miss World (2000) took on Hollywood by storm and remains one of the most influential figures in the industry. When she took on an action role, she got stunt double Aja Frary to give her the moves. In this photo it looks as though Chopra is giving her body double a few fighting tips, did Chopra have a fighting past that we didn't know about?
In Quantico season 3, Chopra performed some of her own stunts. Perhaps she felt inspired by Frary, or maybe she felt as though she could do it better herself? We're sure she just wanted to try something new.