Tell about yourself and your background! *
I am a proud nerd and an all-around dork who practices martial arts and works as a performer. Oh, and I’m an aspiring stuntman. I’ve been training in martial arts since I was 5 years old. I hold a black belt in Shotokan/Kyokushin Kai Karate. I have also studied Judo, BJJ, MMA, and historical African martial arts (HAMA). Shout out to my Kyoshi; Sandra Larwood, and my HAMA mentor; Da’mon Stith. I was a theatre major and received my bachelor’s in performance and production from Texas State University. It was also where I started taking stage combat. Lastly, I’ve been working as a theme park performer since 2014. I do stilt walking as well as character acting. I’ve worked at Sea World, Six Flags: Fiesta Texas, and I’m currently working at the San Antonio Zoo with their mascot; Cowboy the Rhino. Stunt wise, I officially began training for it last year at The International Stunt School. It was truly a life changing experience. I wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to train with the likes of Mark De Alessandro, John Cane and Beca Mark Anthony without it. Even though the most I’ve done professionally is being a safety for a high fall, I will continue to grow and learn as I work towards making stunts my main job. Oh, and I’m an avid Dungeons and Dragons player.
What inspired you to become a stunt performer?
The usual, watching martial arts movies and anime when I was younger. It’s what got me to practice martial arts in the first place. I’ll go off the beaten path and mention Jacky Wu as inspiration. That’s mainly due to watching his movie “Tai Chi Boxer”. I’ve never seen anyone style as hard as he does in that movie. Like, how often do you see someone use their queue hair as a whip? That combined with his smooth and smug charm along with his acrobatic Kung Fu, and you have someone who full on disrespects you through pure style. A few years into college my stage combat professor; Tobie Minor, told me about the International Stunt School.
What is your greatest skill as a stunt performer, is there a stunt behind it?
My skills as a theme park performer. From costume character to stilt walker, I’ve been working to put a smile on people’s faces or give them a good scare. The physical acting from being a character actor helps a lot in the physical story-telling that comes with doing stunts. Until I trained in high falls, 5 foot tall stilts were the highest fall I learned to do safely. Those helped a lot in my learning process to become a stuntman.
What is the best part about being a stunt performer?
The fights, I love watching and doing fight choreography. Aside from the martial arts that I get to do, it’s just a lot of fun to be a part of. Win or lose. I would gladly be the one to get my butt kicked if it meant making the scene look awesome. Stunts are a team effort after all.
Tell your all-time favorite stunt story!
So I don’t like any gelatin-like substances. At all. So when I learned that the substance used to keep you safe from a burn was a fire-resistant gel, I immediately hated it. Flash back to last year at stunt school where we learned how to do fire burns. I was dreading this day, not because I was going to be set on fire, not because the gel covered thermals were going to be cold as hell, but because my hand and the entirety of my head were going to be lathered in gel. YUCK! Shout out to Greg Poljacik for talking me through the whole layering process cause I probably would’ve thrown up if he didn’t. He said in all his years of fire training, he’d seen people catch hyperthermia but he’d never seen anyone gag from the layering process.
What advice would you give other stunt performers?
Being an overall good and helpful person will get you far. Having the talent is one thing but you also need the work ethic and attitude in order to continue getting work. Doing what you can to be as helpful and dependable as possible because the stunt coordinator is going to remember that when casting for the next gig. Making sure you have money, right? You have to eat somehow. You may not always find work so make sure you have some additional income outside of work or at least money saved up. You don’t want to be desperate enough to do something that you’ll regret.
Anything else you'd like to tell the community about?
I can’t wait to work with some of y’all in the near future. As green as I am, I can already see why this community is so close. If I’m ever on set with y’all, just know that I got your back and I will do everything in my power to make you look good and to make sure that you’re safe
Please share your social media handles and how we can follow you!
https://www.instagram.com/jamaltugman/
Please include any links to stunt reels or videos you'd like to share!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmJvl0UddmU
