(written from a Production point of view)
Gary Ray Stearns is a stuntman and stunt coordinator who worked as martial arts stunt double for J.G. Hertzler in the Star Trek: Voyager sixth season episode "Tsunkatse". Gloves worn by him in this episode were later sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay. [1]
Stearns graduated from Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Kentucky and had studied martial arts since he was ten years old. He was discovered on an ESPN martial arts competition and was cast as Skull Warrior in the Mortal Kombat: Conquest episode "Stolen Lies" in 1999. The episode was directed by Reza Badiyi, starred Kristanna Loken, and featured stunt performers Dana Hee, Boni Yanagisawa, and Christopher Leps. He performed stunts and worked as stunt double on five more episodes where he also worked with April Weeden and Marcus Young, stunt coordinated by John Medlen on all episodes.
Medlen also cast him as stunt performer on several episodes of the fantasy series Buffy the Vampire Slayer between 2000 and 2003 where he worked with director James A. Contner, actors Anthony Stewart Head and Conor O'Farrell, stunt coordinator Jeff Pruitt, and stunt performers Jacob Chambers, Peewee Piemonte, Clayton J. Barber, Alex Chansky, Mike Gunther, Brian Hite, Scott Workman, Ben Jensen, John Dixon, Edward Conna, Michael Hugghins, Theo Kypri, Cassandra McCormick, and Mark Aaron Wagner.
Stearns also performed stunts in episodes of Walker, Texas Ranger, Angel, and Martial Law (2000, with Jeffrey Combs, Neal McDonough, and Christopher Neame, coordinated by Jeff Cadiente, and with stunts by Randy Hall, Bridgett Riley, T.J. Storm, Brian Hite, and Hiro Koda), the action comedy The Tuxedo (2002), the action thriller Cradle 2 the Grave (2003), the fantasy adventure Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), and the action thriller Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003, working with Ken Lesco, Angela Meryl, Hiro Koda, Monica Staggs, and Chris O'Hara).
In the 2003 science fiction sequel The Matrix Reloaded, Stearns was one of twelve stunt doubles for actor Hugo Weaving and doubled him in the hand to hand combat scenes where hundreds of replicas of Weaving's character were used. Other stuntmen who doubled Weaving include Darrin Prescott, Tim Connolly, Mike Massa, Tim Trella, and Chris O'Hara.
The following years, Stearns performed stunts in episodes of The Mullets (2003), Alias (2003, working with Chester E. Tripp III, Shauna Duggins, and Thom Williams), Passions (2006, coordinated by Harry Wowchuk), Prison Break (2009, coordinated by Eric Norris and working with Pete Turner and Tanner Gill), and Dollhouse (2009, coordinated by Mike Massa and working with Damion Poitier, Paul Lacovara, and Lin Oeding) as well as in the sequels Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006, with assistant stunt coordinator Dan Barringer), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007), and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008).
Also in 2008, Stearns performed stunts and worked as assistant stunt coordinator on the action drama Beyond the Ring along with fight coordinator J.J. Perry and stunt performers Fernando Chien and Clayton J. Barber. In 2010, he portrayed the stunt part of Yoshimitsu in the video game adaptation Tekken. On this project he worked with Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, John Pyper-Ferguson, Tanner Gill, Lin Oeding, and Eileen Weisinger under stunt coordination by Eric Norris.
Further credits as stunt performer are the action adventure The Last Airbender (2010), the action comedy Rogues Gallery (2010, with stunts by Robin Lynn Bonaccorsi, Mark DeAlessandro, Jeremy Fry, and Boni Yanagisawa), an episode of Breaking Bad (2010, coordinated by Al Goto), the comic adaptation The Green Hornet (2011), the sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011, with fight coordinator Thomas DuPont and stunt rigging coordinator Kurt D. Lott), the action thriller Jack Reacher (2012, with assistant stunt and fight coordinator Robert Alonzo), the action thriller Olympus Has Fallen (2013, coordinated by Lin Oeding), the fantasy film The Last Witch Hunter (2015, coordinated by J.J. Perry), and an episode of Banshee (2015, coordinated by Marcus Young).
Stearns worked as stunt coordinator on the thriller Inrequited (2010, with Michael Welch and stunts by Boni Yanagisawa) and as fight coordinator on the action comedy Dylan Dog: Dead of Night (2010, coordinated by Eric Norris with stunts by Ben Jensen, Mike Massa, Hugh Aodh O'Brien, and Clark Tucker), the comic adaptations Thor (2011, starring Chris Hemsworth), The Amazine Spider-Man (2012), and The Amazing Spider-Man 2: Rise of Electro (2014), and the short project Eminem: Phenomenal (2015).
Stearns was part of the stunt department which received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination in the category Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture for their work on Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End in 2008, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull in 2009, and The Amazing Spider-Man in 2013.
More recently, he doubled actor Russell Crowe in the history drama Noah (2014) and in the action comedy The Nice Guys (2016) and worked as stunt coordinator and second unit director on the fantasy series Teen Wolf (2012-2017, working with Chris Brewster, Marie Fink, Katie Eischen, Brett Jones, Bethany Levy, Paul Lacovara, Ilram Choi, Danny Downey, Boni Yanagisawa, Richard Epper, Michael Hugghins, Cory DeMeyers, Doc Duhame, Rex Reddick, Kevin Derr, Antal Kalik, James Lew, Cheryl Lewis, Jade Quon, Simon Rhee, Derek Graf, Anthony Molinari, Panuvat Anthony Nanakornpanom, and Jeremy Fry).
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