Join today to claim your daily loot

15 Actresses Who Didn’t Really Do Their Own Stunts

1-15

Nazarii Verbitskiy

Entertainment - September 2nd 2026, 20:30 GMT+2

15. Karen Gillan

Ruby Roundhouse’s dance-fighting routine required more than Gillan kicking henchmen while pretending not to understand her new legs. Stunt performer Jahnel Curfman helped build the character’s physical language and doubled Gillan during the wire work, choreographed fights and more hazardous action. Gillan trained hard and handled plenty of her own coverage, but Curfman supplied the specialist skills that made Ruby’s absurdly graceful attacks look convincing rather than carefully rehearsed. | © Sony Pictures

14. Jessica Alba

Alba was comfortable underwater and performed a substantial amount of diving herself, but the ocean does not care whose name appears above the title. Professional freediver Mehgan Heaney-Grier doubled for both Alba and Ashley Scott when the production needed greater depth, longer breath holds or more technically demanding underwater work. The seamless editing sells Sam as a fearless diver; the real expertise came from someone capable of staying composed where most actors would be searching frantically for the nearest oxygen tank. | © Columbia Pictures

13. Charlize Theron

Calling Theron dependent on a stunt double would be wildly unfair: director David Leitch estimated that she performed roughly 99 percent of the film’s action. That remaining sliver still included one especially unforgiving moment, with Monique Ganderton taking the opening portion of Lorraine’s brutal fall down the stairs. Theron handled the fighting, running and bone-rattling choreography around it, while Ganderton absorbed the kind of uncontrolled-looking tumble that even extraordinarily committed movie stars sensibly leave to a specialist. | © Focus Features

12. Milla Jovovich

The labor hidden behind Alice’s superhuman survival became painfully real during this production. Olivia Jackson was doubling Jovovich for a high-speed motorcycle sequence when she collided with a camera crane, suffering catastrophic injuries that ultimately resulted in the amputation of her left arm. Jovovich had performed considerable action throughout the franchise, but this particular stunt was entrusted to Jackson because of its speed and technical danger. It remains a sobering example of how much risk can exist inside a few seconds of blockbuster spectacle. | © Sony Pictures

11. Jennifer Lawrence

Katniss may have survived the arena, but Renae Moneymaker took her share of the punishment getting her there. Lawrence’s longtime stunt double handled wire work, tree climbing, hillside falls and other physically demanding material across the franchise, often repeating movements until the footage blended naturally with Lawrence’s performance. The actress once jokingly corrected the suggestion that she was famous for injuring herself during stunts: no, she explained, Moneymaker was the one earning that reputation. Credit where bruised credit is due. | © Lionsgate

10. Dakota Johnson

Johnson’s double on this Shakespeare adaptation created an unusually complicated game of spot-the-substitute. Her character, Imogen, disguises herself as a young man, so production photographs revealed a male stunt performer wearing her costume and wig for the required action. The resemblance was not exactly the sort that would survive a close-up, but that hardly matters when the camera is moving quickly. It was practical casting for a role already built around disguise—and considerably stranger than anything Johnson later encountered in the Red Room. | © Lionsgate

Drew barrymore charlies angels 1 — 9. Drew Barrymore

The title proved unexpectedly accurate for Barrymore, who fractured her tailbone after Justin Theroux accidentally kicked her into a chair during filming. Heidi Moneymaker, then landing her first major doubling job, helped keep Dylan Sanders in fighting shape while the actress recovered and continued working with the assistance of a doughnut cushion. Barrymore still performed portions of the choreography, but the flips, fights and repeated impacts demanded a professional capable of making cartoon physics look like another ordinary afternoon for Charlie’s Angels. | © Columbia Pictures

8. Blake Lively

Spending most of a thriller alone with a digital shark still left Lively battling very real waves, rocks and physical exhaustion. Kelly Richardson served as the lead stunt double for the action material, while professional surfer Isabella Nichols took over when Nancy needed to display convincing expertise on the board. Lively completed several demanding moments herself and was accidentally injured while filming one, but the finished performance is really a three-woman relay disguised as a solitary fight for survival. The shark, mercifully, required no such courage. | © Sony Pictures

7. Jennifer Lopez

Lopez threw herself enthusiastically into the film’s fights, chases and handcuffed chaos, even recalling one take in which she nearly went over a cliff when her wedding dress became trapped in a golf-cart wheel. The production nevertheless employed Vanessa Vander Pluym as her stunt double for additional action coverage. That division of labor makes sense in a comedy asking its heroine to dodge pirates, handle weapons and survive destination-wedding disasters while dressed for a ceremony. Apparently, “something borrowed” can also mean another person’s knees. | © Lionsgate

6. Cameron Diaz

Tom Cruise was always going to attract attention for risking his neck, but Diaz also spent the movie ricocheting between gunfights, rooftops and runaway vehicles. Kimberly Shannon Murphy doubled her during the action, including work connected to the elaborate motorcycle chase through Seville. Murphy had already worked with Diaz on previous projects, allowing her to imitate the actress’s movement instead of merely matching her costume. That familiarity helped June Havens remain recognizably June even when the person clinging to the speeding motorcycle was a professional stuntwoman. | © 20th Century Fox

5. Scarlett Johansson

Many of Natasha Romanoff’s signature flips, takedowns and spectacularly unpleasant landings belong partly to Heidi Moneymaker, Johansson’s double throughout all seven of her MCU appearances. Their partnership began with *Iron Man 2* and became so polished that fight scenes could move between actress and performer without advertising the switch. Johansson handled dialogue-driven combat and substantial physical choreography, while Moneymaker took the harder falls and acrobatics. Black Widow never received superpowers, but she quietly benefited from having an elite gymnast waiting just outside the frame. | © Marvel Studios

4. Margot Robbie

Robbie’s dance training made Harley Quinn’s movement unusually easy to preserve when the action shifted to Ingrid Kleinig. The two prepared together, developed the fight choreography around Robbie’s strengths and even became competitive while practicing underwater breath holds. Kleinig stepped in for specialized material, including action involving Harley sinking headfirst through the windshield of a submerged Lamborghini. Robbie’s physical performance deserves its praise; Kleinig supplied the precision required whenever Harley’s complete disregard for personal safety moved beyond something an insurance company could politely tolerate. | © Warner Bros. Pictures

3. Natalie Portman

Portman trained intensively to make Nina’s dancing credible, yet the most technically advanced ballet belonged to American Ballet Theatre soloist Sarah Lane, with Kimberly Prosa completing additional dance-double work. Lane performed difficult fouettés, extended pointe sequences and other full-body material that could not realistically be mastered during a movie’s preparation period; digital face replacement occasionally completed the illusion. The exact proportion became a public argument after Portman’s Oscar win, but nobody disputes that professional dancers supplied movements requiring years—not months—of training. | © Fox Searchlight Pictures

2. Gal Gadot

Military experience and months of physical preparation helped Gadot sell Diana’s strength, but Themysciran combat required abilities well beyond standard gym work. Martial artist Caitlin Dechelle served as a lead stunt double, handling portions of the swordplay, airborne movement and intricate fighting, while other performers contributed to the film’s larger action team. Gadot remained visible through plenty of the choreography, yet the most explosive moments depended on specialists who could execute them repeatedly and safely. Even Wonder Woman benefits from backup when gravity enters the battle. | © Warner Bros. Pictures

Ms Marvel Brie Larson — 1. Brie Larson

Larson gave her doubles something stunt performers rarely receive: the microphone. After winning an MTV award for Best Fight, she brought Renae Moneymaker and Joanna Bennett onstage, crediting them with training her and establishing Captain Marvel’s physical identity. Both women doubled Larson during the fights, wire-assisted movement and superhero action that transformed Carol Danvers from a pilot into a human missile. Larson performed considerable choreography herself, but she never pretended the finished result was a solo achievement—and publicly sharing the spotlight made the invisible work briefly visible. | © Marvel Studios

1-15

Hollywood loves pretending its biggest stars are the ones jumping from buildings, crashing motorcycles and trading punches with trained killers. In reality, stunt doubles handled many of the dangerous—and occasionally iconic—moments credited to these actresses. Sometimes it was a studio mandate; other times, the performer simply knew when to let a professional risk the broken bones. Once you spot the switch, however, certain action scenes become impossible to watch the same way again.

Facebook X Reddit WhatsApp Copy URL

Hollywood loves pretending its biggest stars are the ones jumping from buildings, crashing motorcycles and trading punches with trained killers. In reality, stunt doubles handled many of the dangerous—and occasionally iconic—moments credited to these actresses. Sometimes it was a studio mandate; other times, the performer simply knew when to let a professional risk the broken bones. Once you spot the switch, however, certain action scenes become impossible to watch the same way again.