Former Gloucester resident Paul Darnell received an Emmy award for his work as a stuntman in the Disney + TV series, The Mandalorian.
Darnell was born in Charlottesville, but he was raised in Gloucester County, where he had an interesting childhood.
“I spent a lot of time outside as a kid. My mother would cut me off from playing too many video games and make me go play outside. I would play in the woods, dig tunnels to nowhere and ride my bike all over Gloucester,” said Darnell.
Darnell graduated from Gloucester High School in 2000, where he was nominated for “Best Dressed” in his class. He pursued a degree in Human Nutrition, Food and Exercise from Virginia Tech and graduated in 2005. Although he went to college for HNFE, he always knew deep in his heart that he wanted to pursue a career as a stuntman.
“Before graduating high school, I spoke with a stuntman on the phone and he advised me to go to college, learn some skills such as martial arts or gymnastics and then pursue a career as a stuntman,” said Darnell. “I followed his advice and picked up gymnastics in college where I learned how to do flips and found parkour. I chose HNFE as my degree, which leads into becoming a physical therapist, because I thought knowing how to properly train your body and recover from injuries would be useful knowledge.”
Darnell also said that his reason behind wanting to become a stuntman was from the movies he watched as a child.
“Ever since watching my first Jackie Chan movie, ‘Rumble in the Bronx,’ I thought it would be the coolest job. As a stunt performer you get asked to play different small parts in shows where you get beat up or killed,” said Darnell. “You can also get the opportunity to double actors to help elevate the action in the show and eliminate the risk of the actor getting hurt. Being a stunt performer gives you so many opportunities to travel, work with amazing people and test the capabilities of your body.”
Being a stuntman requires a great deal of athleticism and training to be able to perform the stunts needed.
“I typically work out five days a week with weight training and then on the weekends get my cardio in with some parkour,” said Darnell.
Darnell said that he has worked in multiple different movies and shows in his career as a stunt man, a double and an actor.
Darnell played the character Marrok in the Disney show Ahsoka and he played a zombie on “Army of the Dead”. He also worked as a Night Wind Assassin on the Disney show, “The Book of Boba Fett,” he doubled Henry Cavill (Superman) on “Man of Steel,” he doubled for Robert Pattinson in “Twilight” and, of course, he was a stuntman on the show, “The Mandalorian,” where he won his Emmy.
“To be recognized for the hard work you put into your job is a very appreciative feeling. It’s a huge honor,” said Darnell.
Darnell said that playing in “The Mandalorian” was one of his favorite jobs.
“The best part was the people I got to work with, said Darnell. We had been doing this for three seasons and everyone on the crew has become friends. It’s really the people that made working on the show so much fun.”
Darnell also talked about the difficult parts of being a stuntman such as playing certain scenes in the show with the costumes.
“Wearing the storm trooper costume limits your movement and vision, especially the scene where Mando is battling these super storm troopers on a bridge with red laser doors every few yards,” said Darnell. “Our stunt coordinator, J.J. Dashnaw, set up the scene and I worked with Lateef Crowder, the stunt performer for Mando, and the rest of the stunt performers to dial in our timing and work out all the moves so we could get the scene done. It’s truly a dance of trusting one another when you both can barely see and you need to be in the right spots at the right time.”