Actors Who Got Injured While Filming a Stunt

Actors often perform amazing stunts in movies. These stunts make action scenes look real and exciting. While there are many safety rules on set, accidents can still happen. Stunt work is risky, and actors sometimes get hurt. These injuries can be minor, like cuts and bruises. But sometimes, they are very serious.

When an actor gets injured, it can affect the whole movie. Filming might stop for a while. The story might need to be changed. The actor’s recovery can be long and difficult. This shows how much actors risk to make movies entertaining for us. Their hard work and bravery are a big part of filmmaking.

Jackie Chan – Police Story (1985)

Jackie Chan is famous for doing his own stunts. In Police Story, he performed a very dangerous one. He jumped from a fifth-floor balcony onto a metal pole. Then, he slid down the pole through glass and lights. This stunt was done in one take without a safety net.

During the slide, Chan broke the seventh and eighth vertebrae in his spine. He also dislocated his pelvis. He could have been paralyzed. The electrical lights on the pole also burned his hands. This injury is one of the most serious in his long career.

Dylan O’Brien – Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018)

Dylan O’Brien was hurt while filming the third Maze Runner movie. He was doing a stunt that involved moving from one moving car to another. He was pulled from the first car by a harness. But he was hit by the other car.

O’Brien had serious facial fractures and a concussion. His injuries were so bad that filming had to stop. Production was delayed for almost a year. He needed a long time to recover before he could finish the movie.

Halle Berry – Die Another Day (2002)

Halle Berry had a close call while filming a James Bond movie. She was shooting a scene with Pierce Brosnan. In the scene, she was eating a piece of fruit. She started to choke on the fruit and could not breathe.

Brosnan saw what was happening and acted quickly. He performed the Heimlich maneuver on her. He was able to clear the fruit from her throat. Berry said that Brosnan saved her life that day on set.

Tom Cruise – Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018)

Tom Cruise is known for doing his own stunts. In Mission: Impossible – Fallout, he had to jump from one building to another. He was attached to safety wires. But he hit the side of the second building at the wrong angle.

Cruise broke his ankle when he hit the wall. The injury was caught on camera. Filming had to be stopped for several weeks. This allowed Cruise’s ankle to heal. The shot of him breaking his ankle is in the final movie.

Charlize Theron – Æon Flux (2005)

Charlize Theron was injured while filming the science fiction movie Æon Flux. She was doing a back handspring for a stunt. Ten days into filming, she landed on her neck. This caused a serious injury.

Theron herniated a disc in her neck, close to her spinal cord. Production was stopped for eight weeks while she recovered. The injury was so bad that she was worried she might have permanent nerve damage. She was in pain for a long time after the accident.

Harrison Ford – Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

Harrison Ford returned to his role as Han Solo in this film. During one scene on the Millennium Falcon set, a heavy hydraulic door fell on him. The door was part of the famous spaceship. The crew rushed to free him from underneath it.

The accident was serious. Ford broke his left leg and had to be airlifted to a hospital. The injury required surgery to fix. Filming had to be rescheduled around his recovery. The production company was later fined for safety failures.

Viggo Mortensen – The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)

Viggo Mortensen played Aragorn in the popular trilogy. In one scene, he was supposed to kick a steel helmet in frustration. He did this multiple times to get the perfect shot. On the final take, he kicked the helmet with great force.

After the kick, Mortensen let out a real scream of pain. He had broken two of his toes. The director, Peter Jackson, thought it was just great acting. He even used that take in the final movie. Mortensen continued filming despite the injury.

Leonardo DiCaprio – Django Unchained (2012)

Leonardo DiCaprio played a villain in this Quentin Tarantino film. In a dramatic dinner scene, his character gets very angry. He was supposed to slam his hand on the table. DiCaprio slammed his hand so hard that he broke a real glass.

His hand started bleeding for real, but he did not stop acting. He stayed in character and finished the intense scene. His real blood was smeared on another actor’s face. The take was so powerful that it was used in the movie. He only got stitches after the scene was done.

Kate Winslet – Titanic (1997)

Filming Titanic was a difficult experience for the cast. Kate Winslet faced many small injuries during the shoot. She chipped a bone in her elbow. She also got deep bruises from all the running and falling. She almost drowned in one of the water scenes.

The water on set was very cold. Because of this, she also got pneumonia. Winslet has said she would not want to film it all over again. She called the director, James Cameron, a “hard taskmaster” because of the tough conditions.

Daniel Craig – Spectre (2015)

Daniel Craig has had several injuries playing James Bond. While filming Spectre, he hurt his knee during a fight scene. The injury happened in London. He was fighting a large henchman played by Dave Bautista.

The knee injury required surgery. Production had to be stopped for a couple of weeks for him to recover. This was not his first Bond injury. He also sliced off a fingertip on Quantum of Solace (2008). He also knocked out two teeth on Casino Royale (2006).

Jaimie Alexander – Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Jaimie Alexander plays the warrior Sif in the Thor movies. While filming a battle scene, she slipped and fell from a great height. It was raining on set, which made the platform slippery. The fall caused multiple serious injuries.

Alexander slipped a disc in her spine and chipped 11 vertebrae. She also dislocated her left shoulder and tore a muscle in her right side. She was lucky to avoid permanent paralysis. After a month of physical therapy, she was able to return to the set.

George Clooney – Syriana (2005)

George Clooney was injured while filming a torture scene. In the scene, his character was tied to a chair. The chair was kicked over, and Clooney hit his head. The injury was much worse than anyone first thought.

Clooney tore the dura mater, a layer that holds in spinal fluid. He had severe headaches and memory loss. The pain was so intense he even had dark thoughts. Doctors had trouble finding the cause until a neurologist discovered the tear. He had successful surgery but suffered from headaches for a long time.

Jason Statham – The Expendables 3 (2014)

Jason Statham is a well-known action star. While filming The Expendables 3, he had a near-death experience. He was driving a truck for a scene. The brakes on the truck failed, and it drove off a cliff into the Black Sea.

The truck plunged 60 feet into the water. Statham is a former competitive diver, and his swimming skills saved him. He was able to get out of the truck and swim to the surface. The rest of the cast and crew were horrified, thinking he had died.

Channing Tatum – Foxcatcher (2014)

Channing Tatum played a wrestler in the movie Foxcatcher. In one scene, his character has an emotional breakdown in a hotel room. He smashes his head into a mirror. To be safe, the mirror was covered in a plastic sheath.

Tatum hit the mirror three times with his head. He hit it so hard that his head went through the mirror and the plastic. He also broke the wall behind the mirror. He has a scar from the real cut he got. He said he did not feel the pain because of the intense emotions of the scene.

Isla Fisher – Now You See Me (2013)

Isla Fisher played an escape artist in this movie about magicians. In one stunt, she was chained up inside a large tank of water. She was supposed to look like she was struggling to escape. But then, she really got into trouble.

One of her chains got stuck, and she could not reach the safety button. She was actually drowning and tried to signal the crew. They thought she was just acting really well. A stuntman eventually realized she was in real danger and helped her get out.

Linda Hamilton – Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Linda Hamilton played the tough character Sarah Connor. During a scene set in a mental hospital, she had a painful accident. The scene involved a shootout in an elevator. She forgot to put her earplugs back in between takes.

When Arnold Schwarzenegger fired his shotgun in the enclosed space, the noise was deafening. The loud blast caused permanent hearing damage in one of her ears. She still suffers from tinnitus, which is a constant ringing in the ears. It was a painful mistake during a very intense shoot.

Brad Pitt – Troy (2004)

Brad Pitt played the legendary warrior Achilles in this historical epic. He spent months training to get in shape for the role. Ironically, he injured himself in a way that mirrored his character’s famous weakness. He hurt his Achilles tendon.

The injury happened during a battle scene. He landed awkwardly after a jump and tore his left Achilles tendon. This was a painful and serious injury. Production was shut down for several weeks while he recovered. It was a strange case of life imitating art.

Michael J. Fox – Back to the Future Part III (1990)

Michael J. Fox had a very dangerous accident on the set of this film. His character, Marty McFly, was supposed to be hanged by a rope. For the first few takes, he stood on a box to make it look like he was hanging. For a closer shot, he decided to do it for real.

He did the stunt without the box and misjudged where to put his hand. The rope tightened around his neck, and he was actually being choked. He passed out for a short time before the crew realized what was happening. He wrote in his book that he was just moments away from death.

Sylvester Stallone – Rocky IV (1985)

Sylvester Stallone wanted the final fight in Rocky IV to look very real. He told his co-star Dolph Lundgren to actually hit him for the first part of the scene. Lundgren, who is a martial arts expert, hit him very hard in the chest.

Later that night, Stallone had trouble breathing and was flown to a hospital. His heart had slammed against his breastbone and started to swell. The injury was so severe that his blood pressure shot up to dangerous levels. He was in intensive care for over a week. Doctors said the injury was similar to what happens in a head-on car crash.

Uma Thurman – Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004)

Uma Thurman was injured in a car stunt that went wrong. The director, Quentin Tarantino, wanted her to drive a convertible down a sandy road. Thurman was not comfortable doing the stunt herself and asked for a stunt driver. She has said Tarantino pressured her, saying the car was safe.

She lost control of the car and crashed into a palm tree. She was left with a concussion and damaged knees. The incident caused a big rift between the actress and director for many years. Thurman later released footage of the crash to show what happened.

Aaron Paul – Breaking Bad (2008-2013)

Aaron Paul played Jesse Pinkman in the hit TV show. In the first season, his character was supposed to be thrown out of a house by another character. During the scene, he hit his head on the door. The injury was not immediately obvious.

He later got a concussion from the accident. In another episode, a rock was supposed to break a window, but it missed and hit him in the chest. He also got injuries from the many fight scenes on the show. He once said that playing Jesse Pinkman left him with real scars.

Ellen Burstyn – The Exorcist (1973)

Ellen Burstyn suffered a permanent back injury on the set of this horror classic. In one scene, her possessed daughter throws her across the room. She was attached to a wire that would pull her to the ground. She told the director that she was being pulled too hard.

The director reportedly told the stuntman to pull her even harder on the next take. She landed with great force on her lower back. The impact caused a permanent injury to her spine. She has said that she still feels the effects of that injury today.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt – Premium Rush (2012)

Joseph Gordon-Levitt played a bike messenger in this action movie. He did many of his own cycling stunts. During one scene, he was supposed to ride through New York City traffic. A taxi was not supposed to move, but it did.

He crashed into the back of the taxi and flew through the rear window. The accident was very serious. His arm was badly cut by the glass. He needed 31 stitches to close the wound. He even posted a video of the aftermath from inside the ambulance.

Kristen Stewart – Snow White and the Huntsman (2012)

Kristen Stewart was injured several times during the making of this fantasy film. She tore a ligament in her thumb during a fight scene. This injury made it hard to continue filming other action scenes. She also hurt her foot during a stunt on horseback.

Her co-star Chris Hemsworth, who played the Huntsman, also accidentally punched her in the face. It happened during a chaotic fight sequence. The punch gave her a black eye. Stewart said the injuries were just part of making an action-heavy movie.

Margaret Hamilton – The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Margaret Hamilton played the Wicked Witch of the West. She suffered a very serious burn during her famous fiery exit from Munchkinland. The plan was for her to drop down through a hidden trapdoor. A burst of fire and smoke would then appear, making it look like she vanished.

The fire effect was set off too early, before she had fully descended. Her green, copper-based makeup caught fire. She suffered second-degree burns on her face and third-degree burns on her hand. She had to take six weeks off from filming to recover.

Jim Caviezel – The Passion of the Christ (2004)

Jim Caviezel went through extreme physical challenges to play Jesus Christ. During the filming of the Sermon on the Mount scene, he was struck by lightning. He and an assistant director were both hit. Miraculously, they were not seriously injured.

On top of that, he dislocated his shoulder while carrying the heavy cross. He also suffered from pneumonia and a lung infection because of the cold weather. During the whipping scenes, he was accidentally struck for real twice, leaving a deep gash on his back. His physical suffering during the film was immense.

Jackie Chan – Armour of God (1986)

Jackie Chan has had many injuries, but this was one of his worst. He was filming a relatively simple stunt. He was supposed to jump from a castle wall onto a tree branch below. The first take went fine, but he wanted to do it again.

The second time, the branch broke. He fell about 15 feet and hit his head on a rock. A piece of his skull was pushed into his brain. He needed emergency brain surgery. He now has a permanent hole in his head that is covered by a plastic plug, and he has some hearing loss in one ear.

Gunnar Hansen – The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

Gunnar Hansen played the terrifying killer Leatherface. In the final scene, he is supposed to chase the last surviving girl. He uses his chainsaw to cut through a wooden door. The scene was very real and dangerous.

During one of the takes, Hansen slipped in the mud. The real, running chainsaw flew up into the air. It came down and almost hit him. He also got hurt during the dinner scene when the actor playing his victim actually cut his finger with a real razor because a prop failed.

Robert Downey Jr. – Iron Man 3 (2013)

Robert Downey Jr. is famous for playing Tony Stark. While filming the third Iron Man movie, he was performing a stunt. It involved jumping from one platform to another in a wire rig. He landed badly and injured his ankle.

The injury was significant enough to delay production. The filmmakers had to stop shooting for over a month while he recovered. To keep the movie on schedule, they used a body double and computer-generated imagery to create his performance for some scenes.

Michelle Yeoh – Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)

Michelle Yeoh is a martial arts movie icon. She tore a ligament in her knee while filming an early action sequence. She was supposed to do a simple forward kick, but she landed incorrectly. The injury was very serious.

She had to fly back to the United States for surgery. She thought her part would be recast. However, the director, Ang Lee, decided to wait for her. He rearranged the shooting schedule to film scenes without her. She returned to the set months later to finish her physically demanding role.

Daniel Day-Lewis – Gangs of New York (2002)

Daniel Day-Lewis is known for his intense method acting. To prepare for his role as Bill the Butcher, he lived as the character would. This included wearing only clothes that were available in the 19th century. The clothing was not warm enough for the cold winter weather in Rome, where they were filming.

Because he refused to wear a modern coat, he caught pneumonia. He became very ill, but he initially refused modern medical treatment. He said it was not in keeping with his character. Doctors eventually convinced him to take antibiotics, telling him he could die otherwise.

Shia LaBeouf – Fury (2014)

Shia LaBeouf is another actor who goes to great lengths for his roles. While filming the World War II movie Fury, he wanted his character’s injuries to look real. His character, Boyd ‘Bible’ Swan, has a cut on his face throughout the film. The makeup artists created a fake cut for him.

LaBeouf was not happy with how the fake cut looked. He decided to cut his own face with a knife for realism. He kept the wound open for the entire time they were filming. He also had a dentist pull out one of his front teeth for the role.

Bruce Willis – Die Hard (1988)

Bruce Willis became a major action star with this film. He also suffered a lasting injury. In one scene, he fires a gun from underneath a table. He was very close to the gun when it was fired with extra-loud blanks to make it look more dramatic.

The loud noise in the confined space was damaging. Willis suffered significant hearing loss in his left ear. He has said that he now has two-thirds hearing loss in that ear. It is a permanent injury that he has had to live with since making the movie.

Gerard Butler – Chasing Mavericks (2012)

Gerard Butler played a surfer in this film about a real-life surfing legend. While shooting a scene in the ocean, he was caught in a dangerous situation. He was pulled underwater by a series of large waves. The waves were much bigger than expected.

Butler was held underwater for almost a minute. He was tossed around by the powerful currents and hit some rocks. A safety patrol member on a jet ski was able to rescue him. He was taken to the hospital but was not seriously hurt. He said the experience was very frightening.

Jeremy Renner – Tag (2018)

Jeremy Renner was injured on the set of this comedy film. The movie is about a group of friends who play an extreme version of the game tag. In one stunt, his character was supposed to climb a stack of chairs and escape through a window. The chair stack was about 20 feet high.

The rig holding the chairs broke. Renner fell to the ground and fractured his right elbow and his left wrist. The injuries were very serious. But because it was early in the filming schedule, he was able to work through the pain to finish the movie. His arms were in casts when he was not on camera.

Tom Hanks – Cast Away (2000)

Tom Hanks played a man stranded on a deserted island. He got a small cut on his leg during filming. At first, it did not seem like a big deal. He continued to film in the water and on the island. The cut would not heal and started to swell up.

He went to a doctor, who told him he had a serious staph infection. The infection was life-threatening and could have caused blood poisoning. He had to be hospitalized for several days. Production on the movie was stopped for three weeks while he recovered.

Johnny Depp – The Lone Ranger (2013)

Johnny Depp had a dangerous accident while filming this western. He was riding a horse at full speed for a scene. The saddle on the horse became loose, and he was thrown off. He managed to grab onto the horse’s mane.

He was dragged for about 25 yards by the galloping horse. He was very close to being trampled by the horse’s back legs. He finally let go and fell to the ground. Luckily, he was not seriously injured, only getting some bruises. The whole incident was captured on camera.

Dominic Purcell – Prison Break (2017)

Dominic Purcell was badly injured during the filming of the Prison Break revival. He was shooting a scene in Morocco. A heavy iron bar that was part of the set fell on his head. The impact caused very serious injuries.

He suffered a broken nose and a head injury. He had to be airlifted from the remote location to a hospital for treatment. The actor posted pictures of his injuries on social media, showing deep cuts on his head. Despite the severity of the accident, he made a full recovery and returned to filming.

Orlando Bloom – The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)

Many cast members were injured making this trilogy. Orlando Bloom, who played the elf Legolas, was one of them. During a scene where he and another actor fall off a creature, he broke a rib. Stunt performers were supposed to do the fall, but the actors did it themselves.

Bloom’s co-star, Brett Beattie, who was a scale double, fell on top of him. The impact broke one of Bloom’s ribs. This was not his first major injury. Years before, he fell from a drainpipe and broke his back, almost becoming paralyzed.

Buster Keaton – Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)

Buster Keaton was a silent film star known for his incredible and dangerous stunts. One of the most famous stunts in movie history was in this film. In the scene, the two-ton facade of a building falls on him. He was standing in the exact spot where an open window would pass over him.

If he had been standing just a few inches off his mark, he would have been crushed to death. The clearance around his body was very small. It was an incredibly risky stunt that was done with no special effects. Keaton had also broken his neck in a previous film and did not realize it for years.

Tony Jaa – Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior (2003)

Tony Jaa is a martial arts star from Thailand who does all his own stunts. During the making of this action film, he suffered several injuries. The movie features many complex and dangerous fight scenes and stunts. He performed them without any safety wires or CGI.

In one scene, his pants were set on fire, and he was kicked. The fire was real, and he suffered burns to his eyebrows and eyelashes. He also injured ligaments in his knee and ankle during other stunts. His dedication to realism resulted in many painful moments.

Ben Affleck – The Accountant (2016)

Ben Affleck suffered a head injury while playing the lead role in this action thriller. His character is a highly skilled fighter. The film has many intense and well-choreographed fight sequences. It was during one of these fights that he got hurt.

He was working with stunt performers when he suffered a concussion. The specific details of how it happened were not made public. A concussion is a mild traumatic brain injury. Filming had to be adjusted to give him time to recover from the injury.

Ryan Reynolds – Deadpool 2 (2018)

Ryan Reynolds is known for his commitment to the role of Deadpool. He has spoken about the physical toll that playing the character takes. While he has a team of talented stunt doubles, he still performs many of the character’s physical actions. The constant action left him with chronic pain.

He said he has been to the doctor for neck and back issues. He has mentioned that some of the landings and falls are tough on his body. While he did not suffer one single major injury, the accumulation of smaller ones from the intense action sequences has had a lasting effect.

Michael Rooker – Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Michael Rooker played Yondu in the popular Marvel movie. He was injured during a scene where he is walking away from a crashing spaceship. The scene involved explosions and debris flying around. Rooker took the scene very seriously.

He was supposed to be hit by a soft piece of fake debris. However, he was hit by a harder piece than intended. It struck him on the arm. He said he had a big bruise and that it hurt for a while. It showed that even small stunts can sometimes go wrong.

Zazie Beetz – Deadpool 2 (2018)

Zazie Beetz played the character Domino, who is very lucky. But the actress was not so lucky during her stunt training. She wanted to do as many of her own stunts as possible. She trained for months to get in shape for the demanding role.

During her training, she accidentally punched through a plaster door. She was practicing a fight sequence and misjudged the distance. The incident left her with a bruised knuckle. It was a minor injury, but it showed her dedication to the physical side of the role.

Blake Lively – The Rhythm Section (2020)

Blake Lively plays a woman seeking revenge. During a fight scene, she injured her hand. She was supposed to punch her co-star, Jude Law. The stunt was carefully planned, but her hand hit him at the wrong angle.

The injury was severe. She shattered bones in her hand and required two surgeries to fix it. Production on the film was stopped for six months. The long break was necessary for her hand to heal properly before she could continue with the action scenes.

Sean Astin – The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

Sean Astin played the loyal hobbit Samwise Gamgee. In a scene at the end of the film, his character runs into a river to follow Frodo. The scene was filmed in a cold, rocky river. Astin was running in his hobbit prosthetic feet.

As he ran into the water, he stepped on a sharp piece of glass. The glass went all the way through his foot. The injury was very deep and bled a lot. He had to be airlifted to a hospital to get stitches. It was a painful end to a very emotional scene.

Dwayne Johnson – Hercules (2014)

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is known for his incredible physique and action roles. While playing the mythical hero Hercules, he pushed his body to its limits. In a scene where Hercules is chained up, Johnson wanted the struggle to look real.

He had the crew lock him down with real steel chains. As he strained against them, he tore two tendons off his pelvis. This type of injury is called an avulsion hernia. He described the feeling as a pop and then intense pain. He pushed through the injury to finish filming.

Milla Jovovich – Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016)

Milla Jovovich has starred in the Resident Evil series for years. While filming the final movie, her stunt double, Olivia Jackson, had a life-altering accident. Jackson was performing a motorcycle stunt when she collided with a camera crane.

Jackson’s injuries were catastrophic. She was in a coma for two weeks, and her left arm had to be amputated. She also suffered severe facial and head injuries. While Jovovich herself was not the one injured, the accident deeply affected her and the entire production, highlighting the extreme dangers stunt performers face.

Ben Stiller – Along Came Polly (2004)

Ben Stiller was injured by an animal co-star in this comedy. He was acting in a scene with a ferret. The ferret was supposed to run across a room, but instead, it latched onto his chin. The animal was trained, but its behavior was unpredictable.

The ferret bit him and would not let go. Stiller was in pain and shocked by the incident. It took some effort to get the ferret off of him. After the bite, he had to get a rabies shot as a precaution. It was a surprising and painful accident on the set of a lighthearted film.