10 actors who love doing their own stunts

There’s something undeniably electric about watching an actor defy gravity, dodge bullets, or cling to the edge of a speeding train, and knowing they actually did it themselves. In an industry where green screens and body doubles reign supreme, a fearless few in Hollywood insist on sweating, bruising, and risking it all for the sake of authenticity. These adrenaline junkies aren't just playing heroes on screen, they are the dedicated to their craft, bringing bone-rattling realism to the action and stunts.

Whether it's Keanu Reeves, slicing through rooms full of bad guys as the deadly John Wick, or it's the legendary Jackie Chan performing high-octane death-defying stunts and winning hearts everywhere. Be it scaling skyscrapers, surviving brutal fight scenes, or racing at breakneck speed, these ten actors don’t just act tough; they live for the thrill of their craft. So buckle up, because this list is packed with blood, sweat, and pure cinematic guts.

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10 actors who do their own stunts

Jackie Chan

For decades, the legendary Hong Kong actor has been redefining action cinema, blending death-defying stunts with slapstick comedy like no one else.

“Why do I do my own stunts?” Jackie once said in a behind-the-scenes interview with Lorraine. “Because fans love to see Jackie Chan do his own stunts.”

From jumping off rooftops to sliding down 21 stories on a pole wrapped in lights in Police Story (1985), Chan has willingly put himself in harm’s way countless times, and he's got the scars to prove it.

Over 200 injuries, broken bones, a cracked skull, and even dislocated hips haven’t been able to stop the king of action movies. Perhaps the most astonishing thing about Jackie is his insistence on realness. Whether he's doing a full-blown action sequence or One-punch man-ing his way out of fights, Jackie keeps it real and refuses to use CGI to alter his authentic performance. Directors often begged him to use doubles, but that's not Jackie Chan's way.

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Keanu Reeves

In a world of green screens and CGI, Keanu Reeves is a beacon of authenticity. Whether he's dodging bullets as Neo in The Matrix or gunning down assassins as John Wick, Reeves insists on mastering the moves himself. His immense dedication and love for his job and the art of it translate to weeks of grueling training in martial arts, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, tactical gun handling, and driving.

In John Wick: Chapter 2, in an intense car chase where several cars smashing into him, that was all Keanu. No green screen. No stunt double. Just him, a Mustang, and pinpoint-controlled escape. Reeves does most of his stunts like in the movie Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, and River's Edge which helped define his career initially, but the John Wick franchise skyrocketted him to instant stardom. He still continues to perform his own stunts, with an estimated 90 to 95 per cent of the action scenes in the John Wick movies being completely unfiltered Keanu Reeves.

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Christian Bale

Christian Bale isn’t your typical action star. He’s not known for explosions; instead better known for his incredible transformations. Yet, behind the Oscar-winning performances in films like The Fighter and Vice, Bale has a deep-rooted passion for physical authenticity, which includes doing many of his own stunts, especially as Batman in The Dark Knight Trilogy.

“There’s a point where you just can’t lie to the audience,” Bale once told Empire Magazine. “You put on the suit, and you feel the power. So why not use that and actually do it yourself?”

In Batman Begins (2005), Bale underwent intense martial arts training, including Keysi Fighting Method, which is a brutal, elbow-heavy combat style. That’s Bale slugging it out in the shadows of Gotham, not a stand-in. He insisted on being the one to dangle from rooftops and pilot the Batmobile in high-speed scenes. Bale loves to completely immerse himself in every role he performs, be it the billionaire saviour of Gotham City or the terrifying God Butcher in Marvel's Thor: Love and Thunder. From changing his physique to mastering the most difficult fighting styles, Christian Bale does it all.

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Milla Jovovich

When it comes to stuntwork in heeled boots, nobody does it quite like Milla Jovovich. Best known as the zombie-slaying Alice in the Resident Evil franchise, Jovovich has turned stunt work into high-octane ballet. Sword fights, wire work, motorcycle chases, Alice does it all. The audience knows that if something looks insane, she probably did it. Having had training in Krav Maga, taekwondo, and kickboxing, Milla loves to do her own stunts whenever she can.

She performed all except one of her stunts in the very first Resident Evil film. In Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004), in the scene where she pulled off a motorcycle to jump through a stained-glass window, that scene wasn’t CGI. It was Jovovich, mid-air, in full costume, crashing through sugar glass at high speed. However, the dedication came with a significant collection of bruises. Even in The Fifth Element (1997), a role heavy in visual spectacle, Milla insisted on performing much of the wire work and combat choreography herself, always pushing to do more.

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Daniel Craig

If Pierce Brosnan brought elegance and Sean Connery brought charm, Daniel Craig brought grit and real high stakes to James Bond. From the parkour chase in Casino Royale (2006) to the adrenaline-pumping motorcycle dash across Istanbul’s rooftops in Skyfall (2012), Craig has made it clear that he’s not afraid to bleed for Bond. During Quantum of Solace (2008), he tore a shoulder muscle, lost the tip of his finger, and still came back for more.

“It’s not about showing off,” Craig once said on The Graham Norton Show. “It’s about grounding Bond in reality. If I look too perfect doing it, we’ve failed.”

And audiences noticed. With Craig, Bond’s fights became less about gadgets and more about fists.

“He gets his hands very dirty. Daniel puts the work in, even if it's something he's not keen on,” said stunt coordinator Gary Powell in a 2008 article from The Guardian. “He's not a lover of heights but in Quantum of Solace we've got him jumping out of a three-storey building on to the top of a moving bus. You've actually got to jump before the bus is under you.”

Craig's penchant for doing his own stunts translates to incredible and realistic action-packed sequences for all the movies he stars in.

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Michelle Yeoh

Before she was the multiverse-jumping Evelyn Wang in Everything Everywhere All at Once, Yeoh was already redefining what action heroines could look like. A former ballet dancer, the Malaysian-born actress brought grace, poise, and pure power to action cinema, especially when she decided early on that she didn’t need a stunt double.

Her collaborations with Jackie Chan (another no-stunt-double legend) became the stuff of martial arts mythology. On the set of Police Story 3: Supercop, Yeoh hung onto a speeding van with just her hands while weaving through traffic. In Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), directed by Ang Lee, Yeoh’s blend of acrobatics and swordplay turned her into a cinematic icon. In Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), as Wai Lin opposite Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond, she insisted on doing nearly all her own fight scenes.

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Angelina Jolie

Don’t let the red carpet glamour fool you. Behind Angelina Jolie’s poised exterior lies a bona fide action junkie. When she strapped on twin pistols as Lara Croft in Tomb Raider (2001), she didn’t just play the part; she trained in kickboxing, bungee ballet, and even did her own diving stunts. In a behind-the-scenes look into the Lara Croft set, the director said:

“Angelina was doing triple back flips on the set. She was doing the bungee jumps from 50 feet up in the air. She was laughing. The stunt doubles were clinging to their safety ropes. For one scene where Lara surfs through the air on a thin log, her stunt double refused to do it. Angie said, ‘No problem. ’ Within a week, she was going, ‘I love it! Let’s go again!’”

By the time Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) rolled around, Jolie was leaping off rooftops and shooting out the back of minivans with glee. And don’t forget Salt (2010), where Jolie not only did most of her fight scenes but also climbed on the ledge of a ten-story building barefoot. When producers offered her a harness and a stunt double, Jolie replied with, “I got this.” Jolie’s rigorous preparation for the movie Salt, included training in various martial arts like Krav Maga and Muay Thai, and also consulting with a real-life spy Mellisa Boyle Mahle. She said in an interview with Koimoi:

“I love doing action, and I love doing dramatic films, and I’ve never really been able to combine them.”

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Sylvester Stallone

Hollywood action heroes come and go, but none have bled for their art quite like Sylvester Stallone. While today's stars rely on CGI and stunt doubles, Stallone built his legend the hard way, by putting his body on the line, time after time. The most infamous example came during Rocky IV when co-star Dolph Lundgren nearly killed him. Stallone insisted Lundgren throw real punches to make their fight authentic. The result? Several broken ribs and a heart injury so severe he spent nine days in intensive care.

His commitment to realism began with First Blood in 1982. There were no safety nets when he jumped off cliffs or crashed through trees. No digital effects when he plunged into icy rivers. Just Stallone, his survival knife, and what he calls "more luck than sense." Even in his 60s, filming The Expendables, he refused to slow down. A fight scene with Steve Austin left him with fractured vertebrae requiring metal plates in his neck.

In an era of green screens and computer-generated stunts, Stallone's films stand as monuments to old-school toughness. Every scar, every broken bone, every trip to the emergency room is right there on screen for audiences to see. That's not special effects, that's one man's incredible dedication to his craft.

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Dwayne Johnson

While most A-listers rely on CGI and stunt doubles, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson remains Hollywood's last true action purist. The 6'5" megastar consistently pushes his physical limits to deliver authentic thrills.

"I came up in the stunt world," Johnson told Men's Journal. "My dad taught me that real performance requires real sacrifice."

This philosophy drives him to perform dangerous sequences himself whenever possible. For Skyscraper (2018), he trained with the Navy SEALs to do climbing stunts with a prosthetic leg. Johnson did most of the physically demanding scenes himself, although safety wires were used for extreme shots. Even in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017), he handled many fight sequences, sharing behind-the-scenes injury footage with fans.

According to Entertainment Weekly, Johnson's commitment has come at a cost - torn muscles during The Scorpion King, and multiple back injuries in the Fast & Furious franchise.

In today's digital effects landscape, Johnson stands as a rare bridge between classic physical filmmaking and modern blockbusters. When you see The Rock dangling from a burning building or trading punches, there's authentic sweat behind every moment.

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Chloë Grace Moretz

At the age of 13, Chloë Grace Moretz made her Hollywood debut as an adolescent action star when she played the part of Hit-Girl in Kick-Ass. According to the movie's IMDb trivia page, Chloë Moretz performed about 80% of her stunts, which may surprise many. Matthew Vaughn, the film's director, confirmed in a ScreenRant interview that Moretz did “four months of intensive martial arts training” prior to the filming.

In a 2013 Collider interview promoting Kick-Ass 2, Moretz explained her approach by saying:

"I didn't want to just mimic the fight choreography. I trained until the movements became muscle memory."

This dedication sometimes worried the production team, with the Hollywood Reporter noting insurers initially balked at her performing certain high-risk stunts. Moretz carried this ethic into later action roles. For The 5th Wave (2016), Variety reported she completed weeks of weapons training to handle her character's firearms convincingly. In 2020's Shadow in the Cloud, director Roseanne Liang told Entertainment Weekly that Moretz insisted on doing most of her aerial stunt work despite her fear of heights.

"What audiences respond to is authenticity," Moretz told The Wrap in 2021. "When you see me take a hit or fire a gun, I want you to believe every moment."

This commitment has made her one of the few actors to successfully transition from child action star to adult action lead.