You think you know cold? Cold hands? Cold feet? For real cold, there”™s nothing like putting on refrigerated fire-resistant underwear soaked in burn gel.
For Chris Colombo it”™s all in a day”™s work.
Colombo is an actor that you might not recognize on the street. And once you meet him, you might not recognize him on the screen, either.
He”™s been in more than a couple of dozen movies and TV shows from “The Sopranos” to “The Bourne Ultimatum.”
When he”™s on the screen, chances are he”™s either on fire or flying through the air or flying through the air on fire.
Colombo works as a stunt man, fight choreographer and a stunt rigger. He has been a stunt double for Al Pacino in “Angels in America” and for Joel Grey in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”
He recently completed work in Boston on “Pink Panther 2” starring Steve Martin. Although he can”™t divulge his exact stunt role, it does involve him and a flaming dessert. Wait for the movie”™s release to find out what happens.
Colombo cut his teeth doing stunts as a youngster. He would hop on his Stingray bike, the ones with butterfly handle bars and banana seats, and jump over whatever came his way. The young daredevil quickly graduated to minibikes and then motorcycles.
He grew up in New Rochelle in a foster home overseen by Christina Colombo, a “real special person” who cared for some 30 children in her lifetime. When he turned 16, she asked him if he wanted to take the Colombo name. He was confused; for all intents and purposes, he already was a Colombo. He legally became a Colombo after his birthday.
He describes himself as being aggressive when he was a teenager. At 17, he discovered martial arts. “It saved my life.”
He went headlong into studying martial arts, which he said helped put his life in perspective. He has spent the last 30 years studying and teaching martial arts. He is now the director and master instructor at Premier Martial Arts of Westchester in downtown New Rochelle. Along the way he made friends with people doing stunts in films and TV. A little more than 10 years ago, he let it be known he was interested in stunt work. He had already earned his Screen Actors Guild, or SAG, card doing a commercial for Nintendo. The new Game Boy was introduced and all he had to do was sit on a motorcycle and play with the game. No stunts. One night, he got a call from a TV show producer. The next morning he was in New York City performing a motorcycle stunt for an episode of “Swift Justice,” which starred James McCaffrey as Mac Swift.
Stunts are referred to as “gags” in the business, Colombo said. “They”™re an illusion. You”™re creating a fantasy; making a situation look dangerous.” As dangerous as some of the stunts he has performed are, especially the ones where parts of him are afire, they are carefully thought out. That”™s why he is sometimes hired as a martial arts or fight choreographer.
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“If you focus on the details and trust your equipment, the odds are something going bad won”™t happen. No luck is involved.”
When he isn”™t performing stunts or teaching martial arts, Colombo is teaching rescue techniques to firefighters and other emergency personnel. He”™s a New York state-certified rope-rescue technician, which means he can help others learn techniques in rope rescue, rappelling and the art of safely “packaging” an injured person for transport along a cliff face or into a hovering helicopter. Knowing how to rig a person also comes in handy for film work. He has rigged actors Martin Lawrence and Hillary Duff for scenes that required them to be near an edge of a building. “It”™s not the fall that kills you, it”™s the sudden stop.”
Colombo also teaches swift-water rescue and is a state fire instructor teaching at the training center in Valhalla as well as the state center in Montour Falls. He enjoys working with volunteer and career firefighters because he says he can teach them invaluable lessons that could eventually be used in saving another person”™s life.
As for martial arts, “it”™s more than just a flying side kick.” He has learned to be compassionate and understanding when he works with learning disabled children at Eagle Hill School in Greenwich, Conn.
Martial arts runs through his family; his wife, Yvette, is a kickboxing instructor and his young daughter, Talia, started learning at age 3.
His martial arts training has taught him to be goal oriented, focused and successful, he says. “To be successful, you have to be driven.” And “don”™t be afraid to do other things.”
As a martial arts master, stunt man, actor, fire and rescue instructor and motorcycle rider, he has followed his own advice.
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