Thursday, August 25, 2016

Alex Armbruster – KW People Doing Big Things


 

 
Alex can you explain to our readers about how spending a day at a local KW skate park put you on your current career path?
 
Well I should say that at this point (2010) I had been inline skating at a pretty competitive level for about 10 years. I happened to be at the Kitchener Auditorium Skatepark or “The Aud” as we call it and one of the owners of a professional BMX/Inline stunt team called the “Craz-E-Crew” happened to be there riding his bike. He was watching me skate around doing my tricks and he came up to me and asked “have you ever thought about doing live shows?” basically offering me a job since they were looking for an inline skater at the time. A couple weeks later, I was in Saudi Arabia performing live shows for 10 days. It was really one of those crazy times when preparation met opportunity and I didn’t know it then, but that was a huge turning point in my life. In many ways, these shows prepared me for what was to come.
I had been performing in these live shows for a year or so when I met some other friends through skating that worked in the film industry as stuntmen. I saw how much fun they were having and the great living they were making and thought to myself “I need to get in on this”. So I convinced them to give me my first shot on a small MTV show to be a part of a small fight scene. From the moment I stepped on set, I was hooked. I ended up doing lots of extra and background work to meet other stunt coordinators in the business; always bringing my resume and demo reel with me. I was constantly training different skillsets, getting as good at everything as I could. Eventually, they also gave me a shot and I started to make a pretty decent reputation for myself. Six years later, here I am today!
 
Where has your stunt career taken you throughout the years?
 
For the film and TV part of my career, I mostly film in either Toronto or Montreal. We usually have between 10 and 30 TV shows filming in Toronto/Montreal year round with one or two big feature films per year. I am looking into getting my U.S. green card and would love to work down south of the boarder at some point. In my spare time, I do still like to perform in the Craz-E-Crew stunt shows. Performing with this awesome group of guys has taken me all over the world from Saudi Arabia, India, and all over the U.S. and Canada. It truly was a blessing getting “noticed” at the Aud that one day back in 2010.

What current and upcoming roles will you be stunt-doubling for?
 
My most current role that I stunt doubled for was El Diablo from the feature film Suicide Squad. I’ve also doubled for James Franco on the TV mini-series called 11/22/63 based off of the Stephen King novel and produced by JJ Abrams. Also for Wilmer Valderrama on Minority Report, Sam Rockwell on Poltergeist, and I also double for Yannick Bisson on CBC’s Murdoch Mysteries as the Murdoch double just to name a few.
 
 
How have your online and offline communities supported you with your stunt career?
Alex Armbruster: Stunt Demo 2016 from Alex Armbruster on Vimeo.
 
Nowadays, being online is a pretty essential key to success. The ability to create and share my demo reels, headshots, and just to simply let people in your community know what you’re up to can mean the difference between landing or losing a job. If a stunt coordinator is looking for a guy with inline skating experience to double an actor and he just recently saw that I posted a new video of me skating online, there’s a good chance I’ll be in the running for that job. If you’re out of sight, you’re out of mind. You’ve got to stay in their faces and being online is a great way to do that.
My offline community, which I would consider my close family and friends, have always been so supportive of my career choice. I’m very grateful to have such a strong support system that encourages and motivates me to excel in anything I put my mind to. Most recently, this would be the sport of skydiving.
 
What would your dream role be?
 
 
My dream role would be to double a famous lead super hero in a big feature film. Yes, I most recently doubled El Diablo in Suicide Squad who would be considered a super hero or super villain I suppose. However, there were very few stunts for his character and although it was my career highlight thus far, my dream role would be to double someone like Superman or Green Lantern with a ton of big stunts. But hey, I’m not complaining!
 
Any advice for anyone looking to get into this line of work?
 
Be prepared to work incredibly hard. It’s a very tough business to get into but it’s not impossible. With the right work ethic, attention to detail and the ability to adapt to a million different situations while making the job look easy, this job could be for you. First off, you need to be really good at something. Stunt coordinators need a reason to hire you over hundreds of other established stuntmen/women. Get some headshots, make a resume and demo reel. If you manage to get your first shot, get good at everything else so that you can continue working. I would recommend getting your foot in the door by doing some extra work as a background performer which allows you to understand all of the lingo and how the business works. Being on set is like being in a different world and it takes some time to adjust and to figure it all out. Once you get to this stage, bring your demo, resume, and headshots with you whenever you’re on set. If there are stunts happening that day, try and introduce yourself to the stunt coordinator when they’re not busy and ask if you can give them your info. From there, it’s in their hands. Good luck!
To Learn More About Alex Armbruster be sure to visit these links
Alex Armbruster
Stunt Performer

Cell: 519-572-4549

Blog:
Armbrusterstunts.blogspot.com


IMDb:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4675100
 
If you know someone else from KW DOING BIG THINGS be sure to email us about them at fostermcdonald@rogers.com and they may be featured in our next post!
 

 

2 comments:

  1. Ok, those images? Way cool. I had to read this to see how it related to kids! LOL
    Carol
    http://carolcassara.com/old-friends/

    ReplyDelete
  2. The story of Alex is impressive & I love how his life has turned to a greater one and I am sure he must have been absolutely thrilled to be a part of that first MTV show despite being a small one. Hard work & dedication bring success anytime. Thanks for the inspiring interview!

    ReplyDelete