Today we’d like to introduce you to Marvin Ross.
Hi Marvin, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My story begins way back as a little kid in Tampa, Florida watching Saturday Morning Cartoons. I was inspired by George of the Jungle and Buzz Lightyear; climbing and jumping on furniture and “falling with style.” In middle school I also got heavily into Magic, so I became the kid who was constantly showing card tricks and jumping off trash cans and benches around the school. Unsurprisingly, my teachers weren’t too fond of this, and there were many talks with teachers as well as multiple calls down to the office for conversations with the principal. This continued into high school and really nothing changed- I actually threw myself harder into both movement and magic.
It was during high school that I was also introduced to another kind of movement. One day I saw soon-to-be-friend Chris Ell on our high school’s morning show doing parkour. I quickly found him at school and asked him to take me training. From that point on, I basically lived with him. We practiced constantly, including training at USF campus every Saturday, attending local open gyms during the week, and even burying a trampoline in his family’s backyard (which his mother wasn’t happy about.) Before long I found a gym called Xcel 360. We went to an open gym session and never missed another one after that.
Through consistent training, I became good enough that I was invited to start teaching parkour classes at Xcel. As part of my responsibilities I also ran the birthday parties at the gym and was able to do magic for the kids, combining my skillsets. When I wasn’t teaching, I continued training, and my movement training eventually outweighed my traditional studies. I even started skipping classes at school to train. Finally, at seventeen, I moved out and stopped going to school altogether so I could dedicate myself to teaching and pursuing my passions full-time.
While teaching classes and private lessons at Xcel 360 I was introduced to the World Freerunning Parkour Federation (WFPF) and became one of their sponsored athletes. This sponsorship opened the door to many opportunities including traveling to various gyms to certify other parkour athletes and participating in competitions. I competed for the first time in Tampa at Red Bull Art of Motion and won the “Sickest Trick Award” for a Front-to-Front, which soon became known as my trademark move. I continued competing (including another “Sickest Trick” win) and also spent time creating Youtube videos with Chris and my parkour mentor Daniel Arroyo. It was during this time with WFPF on one of my athlete certification trips that I was introduced to stunts.
During a work trip to Miami, one of the athletes I was certifying was stunt man Spencer Mulligan. He started telling me about stunts and planted the seed, but I wasn’t quite sold on the idea. I went back home and continued teaching and doing open gyms at Xcel 360. I also booked my first television commercial through WFPF and was flown to LA to shoot with NERF. It was after this experience that I knew I wanted to work in the film industry, so when Spencer came to Tampa to convince me to get into stunts, I packed up my life that same weekend and made the move down to his place in Miami.
I lived in Miami with Spencer for a couple of years teaching at another gym. During that time, a stunt coordinator named Juan Bofill gave me my first shot in the industry with three nonunion stunt jobs. Money was tight, and around the time my savings had run out Spencer heard about a stunt audition in Georgia for a film called “Insurgent.” Spencer, our buddy Derek Alfonso, and I hopped in the car and drove the 10 hours from Miami to Atlanta where the audition was being held at SMASH, a stunt gym. I felt good about how the audition went and we drove back to Miami but returned every other weekend (sleeping in Derek’s car at night) for months to train and network with the Atlanta stunt community.
The long drives back and forth paid off because Derek booked a job in Georgia working on “The Originals” and told the Stunt Coordinator about Spencer and me, getting us Tafted into SAG-AFTRA. I still hadn’t heard anything about the “Insurgent” audition though, so after some time, I figured I hadn’t booked the job. I was, however, being offered a parkour teaching position at Camp Woodward for the summer, which I was considering. The very day I was planning to text the camp director to accept the job, I first received a text message from the “Insurgent” stunt coordinator asking if I was both available to work on the film and an Atlanta local. I replied “yes” to both and immediately picked up and moved to Georgia.
This was my first feature film, and what started out as being three weeks of work ended with me being carried for the full run of the film as the double for one of the leads. “Insurgent” really got my foot in the door in the stunt community in Atlanta, and after that I started getting other jobs here and there, becoming known as the guy who could flip around due to my parkour background.
One of my biggest breaks came one morning when I woke up to a text message from the stunt coordinator Sam Hargrave asking if I could put together a Spider-Man-style movement reel for “Captain America: Civil War.” I spliced together some of my old parkour footage as well as some new movement concepts I shot with Spencer and my friend Cody Robinson and submitted the reel, but after three weeks had gone by assumed I hadn’t gotten the job. Until one day I was at home watching a tv show and got a phone call from Marvel Studios making sure I knew about my flight the next day. I responded, “What flight?” I was told I had a flight to LA for my Spider-Man fitting, to which I replied, “Well, I know now.”
I packed my bag, including my buddy’s stunt harness (I didn’t have my own yet at the time), got on a plane, and flew to LA where we did all the body castings and molds necessary to make sure the Spider-Man suit would fit me perfectly. It took many trips, fittings, and suit tests to make sure everything both fit properly and would allow me to perform Spidey’s signature movement style. We started shooting/prepping the film with me as the Spider-Man double, but we were still waiting for Spider-Man’s actor to be cast. It was hard not to be scared that I would be replaced if they chose an actor I couldn’t double, but we finally received news that Marvel had chosen Tom Holland for the role. We started his training and prep for “Civil War” (which really wasn’t needed since he was so talented and skilled already), I was able to perform as Spidey, and the rest is history.
Jump to today- my last film and series runs have been with an incredible stunt team led by the legend himself, Chris Brewster. We recently did “Black Adam”, a project during which I was able to step into so many different shoes, including the chance to double the young version of The Rock. We also did “Renfield” where I not only did stunts but also performed my first big acting role on a feature film. I’m beyond grateful for all the opportunities that have been presented to me from the beginning, and with more projects in the works, I can’t wait for everyone to see all the hard work come to light.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The stunt life is for sure not an easy road. I’ve had many upsets and obstacles to get where I am today, but every good journey comes with hardships. As far as injuries go, I’ve broken both wrists at the same time, had two broken ankles, multiple ankle sprains, two dislocated collar bones, many broken toes, a dislocated shoulder, multiple concussions, broken fingers, sprained knee, neck fractures, multiple lacerations, and I have a metal rod in my ankle with screws. Something not talked about enough is the more taboo side: the mental obstacles. Whether it’s having the ambition to hustle and train or just the willpower to rest and/or work through each injury and the exhaustion that can bring. It hasn’t been an easy journey, but despite all that, I would do it all again to get to where I am today. Each scar, ache, and pain is both a reminder of the work I’ve put in and a story I’ll always be able to tell to whoever’s willing to listen.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I set myself apart in the industry with my movement, my ability to teach, and, more recently, my music.
Movement: It’s one thing to be good at your craft, but in order to succeed in stunts you have to be able to adapt your movement to any situation and any set of circumstances, plus have the stamina and ability to repeat it as many times as needed for the shot.
Teaching: Starting to teaching when I was 18 was incredible preparation for doing stunts. My responsibility now on each job I do is not only performing but also teaching movement to the actors. It’s a humbling experience that I grew up watching the actors I now have the opportunity to teach. Teaching and doing parkour was one of my first passions, and it’s come full circle and still serves me well today.
Music: Music is not only a creative outlet (I have released two albums and 8 singles- my latest album being “Notes 3”), but now it’s part of my stunt career as well. I’ve recently been doing the scores for the action previz’s that our team creates for productions.
The thing I’m most proud of is being able to look back and see all the little steps that, at the time, I didn’t know were steps. Things that I just perceived as passions or outlets that all lead me to where I am today.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
The thing I like most about Atlanta is the people, and within my line of work you meet every type of personality and skill set. With that comes the opportunity to learn not only about individuals but also their cultures which is very important. This shapes not only you but the world around you.
I would have to say my least favorite thing about Atlanta would be the rate that it’s growing. Growth is a good thing but also comes with challenges. When I first moved here, it typically took 30 minutes to get to work, but now it usually takes an hour plus. Planning ahead and time management have become vital skills for anyone in the industry.
Contact Info:
- Website: marvin-ross.com
- Instagram: @_marvinross
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MarvinRoss
- Other: https://music.apple.com/us/album/notes-3/1602281749
Image Credits
Ty Butler Marc Nuzzi
