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JAYSON DUMENIGO 

His Long Road to Success 

Written By Jay Christian

 

Academy Award winner, stuntman Jayson Dumenigo, is on top of his game after dedicating thirty years performing many spine-chilling stunts that everyone has watched in some of Hollywood’s biggest box-office hits. 

 

Jayson has worked with the most popular A-listers in Hollywood, including: Nicholas Cage, Ana de Armas, Rob Lowe, Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Keira Knightley, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Tom Cruise, George Clooney, Colin Farrell, Susan Sarandon, Melissa McCarthy and many more.

 

It was a chance meeting with Mr. T when he was just a boy, that led Jayson to find his true calling as a professional stuntman. Mr. T was filming his series the A-Team, in the neighborhood where Jayson lived, in a small town outside of Los Angeles.

 

Mr. T, known for his friendly demeanor, walked over to a small group of Jayson’s friends, as a car stunt was being filmed and saw that Jayson was extremely impressed with the action that was happening and suddenly picked him up and said “It looks like you want to be a stuntman!” This changed the course of Jayson’s life and through a series of events and experiences, he became a popular stunt performer for the next thirty years. Jayson said with appreciation, “That single moment with Mr. T changed the course of my life!”

 

Today, everyone in Hollywood knows Jayson as a “real pro” throughout his many years performing a variety of stunts in both television and movies and his work proves it all. He’s done everything from jumping off 80 ft. high falls to coordinated fight scenes, circus acrobatics, motorcycle stunts, surfing, jet skiing, high wire work, car hits and drags, sword fighting, stair falls, and so many more, as he is a very disciplined athlete.

 

Jayson works out five hours a day, every day when he’s not working and two hours before going to a movie set, when he does work.

 

Jayson’s positive attitude is part of his persona and after a wrap for a movie, he said, ”It’s like winning a football game. You’re on the team from the locker room. I feel like I’ve accomplished something.”

 

“The unique thing for stunt performers is that we are the only team that sacrifices our physical health and life for the craft on the screen. It’s very dangerous.”

 

Jayson continued, “There’s a big difference between a daredevil and a professional stuntman. A daredevil ‘wings it’ and a pro stuntman doesn’t. Every move is planned, choreographed and practiced over and over to make the scenes look real, yet safe for a stuntman. The risks are still high.”

 

“We spend a lot of time and money and effort. There is a lot of preparation behind it.” He added, “If you really want to work and stay busy, you have to expand your discipline. I was 'old school' and basically had to be good at everything, like crashing cars and some really dangerous scenes, but discipline helped me,” Jayson said.

 

Like most stuntmen, the profession comes with some mishaps and injuries. Jayson said, “I’ve broken my ribs, wrists, several fingers, leg, ankle and hands. I broke my arm and had to have surgery for a torn rotator cuff injury on the Black Widow set (starring Scarlett Johansson).”

 

Through his travels all over the world doing death-defying stunts in movies, Jayson’s main focus was on one of the most dangerous and that is the stunt performer being completely on fire. He explained, “I really honed in on one particular craft as a stuntman, which was fires. That was my focus.”

 

Years ago, stuntmen wrapped themselves with toxic asbestos under their clothes before being torched for a scene and risked third degree burns. Jayson sought to seek a better way and  after a long process of study and research on his part, he finally developed a product that would be easy to apply and safer for stunt performers. He said, “It led to formulas that I created, to be able to eliminate some of the risks that we were facing earlier on, with some of the old techniques.”

 

Jayson experimented with certain polymers and fire proof gels for an extensive amount of time to perfect the right mixture and said, “This is a hundred percent my own through trial and error. I had to work with biopolymers and getting them to blend the way we needed them to bond.”

 

Jayson accomplished what he set out to do, as he created his own Hydrogels. He then started his company fifteen years ago, called Action Factory that sells this product to the movie companies. “We were recognized for all of our fire gel products/hydrogels. The product we sell is called AF ‘Play’n With Fire’ stunt gel. It is a Hydrogel. We make multiple stunt gels for different applications. So we have multiple types of Hydrogels.”

 

A stuntman can endure extremely high temperatures without the fear of dangerous burns. He uses his own products for all the potential high-risk fire scenes and all of his colleagues trust it.

 

When asked if the product is put on the skin or on the outside of the clothing, Jayson replied, “The product that we sell to the stunt industry is worked into a fire resistant clothing to hold it in place. The other hydrogels that we have, are applied to the skin and done by our AF service teams.”

 

Many movie companies have used his Hydrogel products for their top box office movies and this June 2025, Jayson’s fire stunts will be in the new anticipated action-thriller film, entitled- From the World of John Wick- Ballerina. Jayson said, “We’ve done some truly tremendous fire work in this movie that has not been done before on the screen. Out of 200 burn scenes, 100 plus were full burns (entire body engulfed in flames) which would not have been possible using the old methods.” Jayson did all of the test burns beforehand and 25 of the burn scenes he did himself.

 

His product is so good that he even used it for the Guinness Book of World Records. “I held the record for four and a half years, for the longest body burn without oxygen. It was for 5 minutes, 26 seconds. I had to do breathing exercises before the stunt. I was completely calm when I did this full fire burn. I had to discipline myself to be able to take small breaths between the flames. When I walked forward, the flames would go behind me momentarily.”

 

Jayson explained that if normal breathing took place during the stunt, it would have been catastrophic. “If a person inhales the hot (fire) gas, it will sear their lungs and their airway and they will die.”  

 

Commenting on his Academy Award in the Scientific and Technical category, Jayson said, “My award is very unique because I’m the only stuntman with the only stunt product that has been recognized in the scientific engineering category. It’s not given out readily in my profession,” he said proudly.

 

A well-deserved honor for this brave professional, who is happily married and a true family man of three daughters.

 

Jayson, now 45, says that a stunt performer can be promoted to a stunt coordinator position and then second unit directing, where he’s doing less physical stunts and more supervision. “If you’re an athlete and take care of your body, you can work physically with minimal risks into your 60s. You can actually have this career into your 80s!” he laughed.

Jayson doing his dangerous fire stunts.

(All photos courtesy of Jayson Dumenigo)

🍀 CELEBRITY RECIPES THIS MONTH 🀀󠀼/p>

 

JOAN VAN ARK'S CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

 

Ingredients:

 

3 cups all purpose flour

1 T. baking powder

1 T. baking soda

1 T. ground cinnamon

                                 1 teaspoon salt                                      

1 ½ cups butter at room temperature (3 sticks)

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed, light brown sugar

3 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

   3 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

3 cups old fashioned rolled oats

2 cups sweetened flaked coconut

2 cups (8 oz.) chopped pecans

 

Directions:

 

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in bowl.

In 8-qt. bowl, beat butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy, 1 minute.

Gradually beat in sugars to combine, about 2 minutes.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each. Then add in vanilla.

Stir in flour mixture until just combined. Add chocolate chips, oats, coconut and pecans.

Drop spoonfuls of dough onto ungreased baking sheet, spacing 3 inches apart.

Bake in 350 degree oven for 15 – 17 minutes, until edges are lightly browned. Rotate cookie sheet halfway through. Remove cookies to rack to cool.

Makes about 4 dozen large cookies or 6 dozen smaller cookies. Recipe can be halved.

 

Editor's note: A nice hearty cookie! Perfect for chilly days in spring and autumn. Recipe can be halved. You don't  need to add cinnamon. Can omit oats if you like, but you'll have to use less butter.

Joan Van Ark's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Photo by Lori-Michele

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