Actors Who Performed Stunts that Almost Killed Them

Doing your own stunts sounds glamorous until something goes sideways. Over the years, a handful of performers have described close calls on set—incidents where prop failures, timing errors, or simple bad luck turned a routine setup into a life-threatening emergency. These aren’t urban legends; they’re documented in interviews, press coverage, and behind-the-scenes reports.

Below is a carefully sourced rundown of actors who say they nearly died while filming. Each entry explains what the stunt was supposed to do, how it went wrong, and what happened next, so you can see exactly how thin the safety margin can get even on professional sets with experienced crews.

Jackie Chan

In 1986, while shooting ‘Armour of God’ in the former Yugoslavia, Jackie Chan leapt from a wall to grab a tree branch; it snapped, and he fell head-first onto rock, fracturing his skull and causing a brain hemorrhage that required emergency surgery. Chan has revisited the details in interviews, and reliable retrospectives have logged the medical specifics and location.

Accounts note that the first take worked, but Chan repeated the move for speed; the second attempt produced the fall, after which surgeons drilled to relieve pressure, leaving a permanent plug and partial hearing loss—injuries he has openly discussed.

Tom Cruise

During ‘The Last Samurai’, a mechanical horse glitched as Hiroyuki Sanada swung a real sword for a timing gag, bringing the blade within a centimeter of Cruise’s neck before Sanada checked the strike. Contemporary coverage at the time quoted Sanada describing the miscue and near-miss.

Later roundups of Cruise’s stunts continue to cite the same core details—real sword, mechanical horse malfunction, and a near-beheading measured in centimeters—based on Sanada’s original account.

Jason Statham

While rehearsing an action beat for ‘The Expendables 3’ on a pier in Bulgaria, the brakes failed on a three-ton truck Statham was driving; the vehicle went off the pier into the Black Sea, and he survived by escaping underwater. Co-stars and press reporting at the time outlined the failed brakes, the plunge, and the production location.

Trade and enthusiast outlets have since reiterated that removed doors and Statham’s diving background aided his exit from the sinking cab, underscoring how a mechanical fault turned a controlled setup into a real rescue scenario.

Isla Fisher

Fisher has said she nearly drowned filming the opening tank escape in ‘Now You See Me’ when a release chain snagged; her real distress was initially mistaken for acting until a nearby coordinator hit the quick-release and pulled her out. She described the scare during 2013 publicity, and subsequent coverage has summarized the mechanism and rescue.

Retrospectives and explainers keep the same essentials—submerged handcuffs, stuck chain, misread signals, and a failsafe that eventually fired—matching Fisher’s original accounts from promo interviews.

Brendan Fraser

Fraser recalls he was accidentally choked out during the hanging sequence in ‘The Mummy’, briefly losing consciousness as the noose tightened during a take; he later recounted the incident on ‘The Kelly Clarkson Show’. Major entertainment outlets and trades documented his description and how the shot was stopped.

Reports based on his appearance note that a push for more realism prompted the tighter setup; as the rope rose and his footing dropped, he blacked out until the crew intervened.

Michael J. Fox

Fox has written and spoken about a near-hanging during ‘Back to the Future Part III’ when, after tests on a support box, he tried a tighter close-up and briefly passed out before the crew realized it wasn’t performance. Coverage citing his memoir details the choice to remove the box and the seconds he was unconscious.

Film press summaries add that the wide shots used doubles, but Fox handled the close-ups himself; a misplacement of his hand on the noose blocked the carotid artery, leading to a quick blackout before the director called a halt.

Sylvester Stallone

Stallone has said a body shot from Dolph Lundgren during ‘Rocky IV’ caused his heart to swell and landed him in intensive care; he’s recounted the episode in interviews and documentaries revisiting the film. Trade coverage has verified the ICU stay and the punch during production.

Follow-up reporting explains that the blow spiked his blood pressure and led to several days under observation—an unplanned full-force hit taken to make the fight look authentic.

Michelle Yeoh

Yeoh has recalled that a finale stunt in ‘Supercop’ involved riding a motorcycle onto a moving train with no wires, and she also described a separate car-to-car leap that “almost killed” her when the windshield didn’t break as expected; outtakes and interviews have documented both risks.

Profiles and explainers highlight the production realities—practical driving, minimal rehearsal, and Yeoh performing the gags herself—illustrating how early-1990s Hong Kong action often pushed performers to the edge.

Johnny Knoxville

For ‘Jackass Forever’, Knoxville suffered a serious brain injury after being hit by a bull during a gag; he later said the incident led him to stop doing bull stunts. Coverage at the time detailed the concussion and hemorrhage he described.

Subsequent reporting and interviews have reiterated the medical fallout and his decision to avoid future bull encounters, situating the incident among decades of documented injuries from his on-camera risk-taking.

Have another verified close call we should add? Share it in the comments so everyone can compare notes on the wildest on-set near-misses.