Gary Ray Stearns (born 26 March 1969; age 56) 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](X)
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 Buffy the Vampire Slayer between 2000 and 2003 where he worked with director James A. Contner, actors Anthony Stewart Head, James Marsters 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 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), Cradle 2 the Grave (2003), Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), and Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003, working with Ken Lesco, Angela Meryl, Hiro Koda, Monica Staggs and Chris O'Hara).
In 2003's 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 Tarantino's Kill Bill: Volume 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 Chien Funan and Clayton J. Barber. In 2010, he portrayed the stunt part of Yoshimitsu in Tekken. On this project he worked with Cary-Hiroyuki, John Pyper-Ferguson, Tanner Gill, Lin Oeding and Eileen Weisinger under stunt coordination by Eric Norris.
Further credits as stunt performer are The Last Airbender (2010), the action comedy Rogues Gallery (2010, with stunts by Robin Lynn Bonaccorsi, Mark DeAlessandro, Jeremy Fry and Boni Yanagisawa), Breaking Bad (2010, coordinated by Al Goto), The Green Hornet (2011), Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011, with fight coordinator Thomas DuPont and stunt rigging coordinator Kurt D. Lott), Jack Reacher (2012, with assistant stunt and fight coordinator Robert Alonzo), Olympus Has Fallen (2013, coordinated by Lin Oeding), The Last Witch Hunter (2015, coordinated by J.J. Perry), and Banshee (2015, coordinated by Marcus Young).
Stearns worked as stunt coordinator on Unrequited (2010, with Michael Welch and stunts by Boni Yanagisawa) and as fight coordinator on Dylan Dog: Dead of Night (2010, coordinated by Eric Norris with stunts by Ben Jensen, Mike Massa, Hugh Aodh O'Brien and Clark Tucker), Thor (2011, starring Chris Hemsworth and Idris Elba), The Amazing Spider-Man (2012), and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (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.
He later doubled actor Russell Crowe in Noah (2014) and in The Nice Guys (2016) and worked as stunt coordinator and second unit director on Teen Wolf (2012-17, 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 J. Reddick, Kevin Derr, Antal Kalik, James Lew, Cheryl Lewis, Jade Quon, Simon Rhee, Derek Graf, Anthony Molinari, Panuvat Anthony Nanakornpanom and Jeremy Fry).