Burn team

I have a friend, Danielle, who acted in my Medea a few years back. She works a lot in Seattle, and has since also become part of a professional burn team. If your movie or outdoor event needs someone, a professional stuntperson, to be set on fire, you can hire their team. She is the one who burns -- who is dowsed and set alight. There are four other people on the team, each with specific responsibilities to make sure the fire is safe, and that she is. The worst that has ever happened is once she singed her eyelashes.

An actor's resume has:

- all their stage roles
- all their film roles
- any backstage, design, or tech roles
- education & training
- Special Skills

The Special Skills section gives directors an idea of the actor's unique skills. If the actor can play guitar, for example, or juggle, the director might put those in the production.

The audience often does not realize how much training actors have. Here is the Special Skills section of Danielle's resume.

Special Skills
Singing, scuba diving (cold water/drysuit, wreck diving, rescue diving), swimming, footfalls, fire burns, stair falls, air ram, fighting for the camera or stage, high falls, bulldogging, ratchet work, riding jet skis, intermediate Spanish language, typing, computers, trapeze/aerial dance, horseback riding, skiing, softball, volleyball, yoga, dog training, basic wire work.

Passed basic proficiency with the Society of American Fight Directors in single sword and unarmed combat (2003), smallsword, broadsword, rapier and dagger, knife fighting (2004), and Quarterstaff (2005).

Her amount of stunt training is specialized & unique -- but almost any actor you see at the Rep or the Intiman likely holds similar Fight certification.