This feature originally appeared in the 2017-18 Winter edition of the Cal Sports Quarterly. The Cal Athletics flagship magazine features long-form sports journalism at its finest and provides in-depth coverage of the scholar-athlete experience in Berkeley. Printed copies are mailed four times a year to Bear Backers who give annually at the Bear Club level (currently $600 or more). For more information on how you can receive a printed version of the Cal Sports Quarterly at home, send an email to CalAthleticsFund@berkeley.edu or call (510) 642-2427.



Not many people make it from the big stage to the big screen.
 
One former Golden Bear, however, has mastered performing in some of the most visible arenas.
 
Alex Chansky, a member of the Cal men's gymnastics team from 1995-99, went from competing on various apparatuses to appearing in Academy Award-winning films. 
 
Chansky is no actor, however, or at least not one fans will see on the front of movie posters. Instead, he is literally the one who makes all of the action happen. As a professional stuntman and stunt coordinator, he has performed some of the most death defying stunts in some of the most notable recent films.
 
"I already knew what I wanted to do and I just had to go do it," Chansky said. "I was going to be a professional stuntman and that was it. I put all my eggs in that basket. I used all the knowledge I had from training for a gymnastics competition and winning a championship, and put in the same method to become a stuntman."
 
After his time at Cal, Chansky followed the bright lights to Hollywood – and eventually Atlanta, where films nowadays are shot – where he began to learn the trade bartering his gymnastics skills to learn martial arts and on-screen performing techniques.
 
"You have to let everyone know that you're serious," Chansky said. "You train with other people who want to be stuntmen, as well. I used gymnastics because it was a trick that some people use, and they in turn would teach me martial arts. It was a tradeoff. I learned how to film fight, which is different than martial arts because you have to learn how to perform for a camera. "
 
Chansky had a lot to offer after his days as a Bear. An all-arounder who was a member of the Bears' 1997 and 1998 NCAA championship teams, his experience competing at the pinnacle of the collegiate gymnastics rung made his transition into roles like Spider Man, his first film in 2000, fluid.
 
By no means easy, Chansky was not afraid of the strict and risky requirements of his post-collegiate pursuits.
 
"It is a very, very dangerous job," Chansky emphasized. "You have to know what you're doing to get this job done safely. As a stunt coordinator, we're in charge of the safety of the entire set – the actors, directors and crew."
 
The six-time Screen Actors Guild Award nominee has worked on nearly 100 films, including blockbusters like the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, "Planet of the Apes," "Avatar" and "Avengers." Yet for the former Bear there was one stunt role that brought him back to a familiar place.
 
In 2006, Chansky found himself in the Blue and Gold uniform he once sported for the film version of "Peaceful Warrior," a novel written by Dan Millman, also a former Cal gymnast. The story centers on the early life of Millman, who was the co-captain of the Cal's 1968 national championship squad. In the movie adaptation, the gymnast is competing at the Olympic Trials.
 
"One of my most memorable moments was working on this movie," Chansky said. "It got to double as one of the actors that was a Cal gymnast. I actually did gymnastics in the movie with a Cal uniform on. That was like full circle; it was so strange. It was one of the neatest moment of my life."