Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Chelsey Goldsmith. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Chelsey, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

I mean, what did they do wrong? This is a lot easier to say now of course lol. At the time I feel like I was all over the place but now I can confidently say that my parents never ( and I use that word very intentionally) kept me from trying new things. They let me do: Gymnastics, School Cheer, Competitive Cheer, Karate, Ballet, Jazz, Tap, Tball, Softball, Soccer, Basketball, Rollerskating, Track&Field, Musical Theatre, Singing, Piano, Clarinet, Puppeteering, Barrel Racing, twirling, Acting, Danceline, and Boxing.
I was constantly moving. In my early adulthood life I was almost sad that I never stuck to one thing and just gotten really good at that. But now that I am a stuntwoman full time, I utilize skills from each of these activities almost every time I step on set. Being on team sports was really important to me. Learning to adjust on the fly and having fast-twitch reflexes is probably the skill I tap into most. Softball and Soccer taught me to notice, access, and make strong decisions in a fraction of a second. On set, as the stunt AND safety team of the talent, this is crucial. When we are on wires or swinging objects at each other the risk is much higher. The art of making something safe and only LOOK dangerous at the same time is number one on our to-do lists.

Chelsey, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

Hi there! My name is Chelsey “Chelly” Goldsmith, and I am a stuntwoman in LA, CA. I quite literally fell into my line of work. ( No pun intended lol)
I grew up acting and knew I would eventually find my way to the big screen once I finished school and was able to take off on my own.
Within the first six months out here I was going on auditions while working my multitude of “muggle jobs,” we call them, and I found a place called JAM(Joining All Movement.) Founded by Travis Wong, Aaron Toney, and Jaje Huang, this was a place for all athletes to go trick, tumble, flip, and create. As a former dancer and tumbler I wanted to go dust off some old tricks. While there I met some stunt performers and saw them creating fight scenes. Long story short, I found myself getting into the mix pretty quickly and eventually was put up for a spot to double an actress in a horror show(Into the Dark). This show, I was taft Hartley’d on and was able to join the SAG-AFTRA Union. I was very blessed, because sometimes it can be very complicated to “get tafted” into the union. The rest was history.
I had a very serious talk with myself and I think I realized that, I would rather, at least at this point in my life, double a lead than BE a lead. Little did I know, my acting experience would actually help me in my performance quality on set.

Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?

Stunts is kind of a melting pot of all kinds of interesting people with all kinds of interesting backgrounds. So standing out can be difficult at times. However, I’ve learned in my short time here that along with my specific skill and look, I mostly get hired for my drive and attitude. Even in my “muggle jobs” I mentioned before, I surpassed a lot of my peers in promotions and pay scale just by being a good human and looking out for the betterment of the company. I always rose to the occasion. So in stunts this method was all too common for me.
You may be able to do the craziest tricks and wrecks, but if you don’t have a good attitude then these core teams on films and tv shows won’t want to keep you around for 6-12 months on a run. A bad apple will never be worth the paycheck that comes with it. You eat, train, work, and sometimes play and house with the team you’re on so to have a strong sense of team building skills and learning to work with all kinds is behooving.
This also goes for production in general. I’m sure most people reading this may have a boss as well as a boss’s boss. As you may know the stunt team doesn’t have final say in how our action sequences will go.(This varies production to production) Generally, we need all our decisions approved by production. This means we get to come up with action that will fit the script as well as elevate the creators vision along side complimenting every other department involved. As a performer, I believe stunts really is the only department that works directly with other departments: SFX, Wardrobe, Makeup, Medic team, Art, Props, Armory dept, VFX, Animal Wranglers/handlers, etc. And all of a sudden, doing your super hero landing to your mark(i.e. where you should land) just became a whole lot more complicated. And this is why I love my job.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

This game, as much as it is physical, is very much a mental game as well. Yes we have to stay up with our training, go to meet and greets, make sure you stay relevant, and keep up with who’s working what. We also must not take our eyes off what is important TO US.
There are so many facets in stunts. You can learn to be be a horse person, ground pounder, high faller, MoCap performer, precision car driver, Car CRASHER, fight specialist, VFX for Previs, Choreographer, Rigger, etc. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the amount of knowledge to take on when joining the stunt family. In my opinion, a lot of people starting out, want to take it all on too quickly. There are many stunt peeps with 40+ years in the business and have truly earned their name in the game. This also means they’ve probably put their bodies through a lot. It almost feels like a timer you have. We all want to get successful/coordinating before our bodies break or before an injury takes us out of the game.
As a woman, I’m also planning my career in a way that will hopefully financially and physically set me up in a way that I can eventually start a family comfortably. So for me it’s the resilience and consistency to keep taking small steps towards my bigger goal. I know it will take a while and I’ve accepted it. It’s worth it for me. Knowing that every injury, long night, tear, and $0.78 residual check will be worth it.
They always say, “never pray for patience,” and that’s exactly what I did. Made my journey less than smooth, but it’s something I am most grateful for.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/chelly.pop?fbclid=PAAaZm8jFlQVV30_Siy1HGISQRvD2ZJecOavB1bYuuK7yJ0ZSz_raIzhomyeY_aem_Ab110sLNW8HfUnhikSUMk3Eh4j3HESJ8yrezTmyGmCT8kUoQQGOAMED7m-vqaBUrfzQ
• Instagram: @chelly.pop
• Twitter: @chelly.p0p
• Youtube: Chelly.pop