Kris Feldesman
Stuntwoman
Kris with her dog, Hugo
‘In a perfect world, I would need no money and could just pursue my art, and live off the land.’
We spoke with Kris Feldesman, a 28 year old Stuntwoman and Actor living in Atlanta. Like so many artists, she began her career no where near the art world. Instead, she majored in English and Pre-med, on a path towards education. With parents who built their careers step by step, following their respected paths, they found it hard to understand Kris’s sudden and complete transformation from a would-be doctor, to an Actor.
‘I was pre-med, I was gonna be a doctor. I was an EMT for my sophomore through senior year, and I followed [the head of the ER] because I thought I wanted to do emergency pediatrics… and I didn’t do it.’
We all have some event that acts as a catalyst in our lives, one that changes it forever, and for Kris, that came unexpectedly nearing the end of her undergrad at Hobart and William Smith College in Geneva, New York.
‘I had to take a creative writing class my senior year to get an arts credit and I only took this particular class because I wanted to be in it with my friend. I didn’t even sign up for it. I just showed up the first day and asked the teacher if I could join.’
I’ve always wondered if passion is universal. Is passion something that everyone has, or does it need to be created and discovered? Could some passions go undiscovered for an entire life? Could the next artist of our generation be out there, working a nine-to-five, leaving their potential forever untapped, just because they need to pay rent? As much as I hate to sound like a millennial, how much does capitalism hinder our artistic freedom? Kris stated this so simply when I asked her if money defines success. She mentioned that, like most artists, she wants nothing more than to support herself solely with her art, to not have to work the two or three extra jobs just to make ends meet. But as we all know, capitalism isn’t a free ride.
‘I have a dog and my dog needs food and I need money for my dog’s food.’
This is why I love artists so much. And when I say artists, I mean anyone that pursues their passion, finding a way around the ‘normal’ career paths. Because it’s not easy. Not to say that following a career path is easy or is undeserving of credit, but the artistic route forces you to create something out of nothing, using a skill or trade to create income rather than feeding your time to something that drains you.
Kris became entranced in the world of acting and signed up with the Actor’s Workshop of Ithaca. She told us that she never looked back after that. After two years of training with the AWI, she left for the city.
‘I needed a bigger playing field than what Ithaca could offer.’
After nearly two years in the city, studying at William Esper Studios, one that focuses on acting through the Meisner technique, Kris’s time was cut short when the pandemic struck. She had to make a decision between staying in isolation and continuing the rest of her semester, or following her gut and using the pandemic as her new catalyst. She told us she hadn’t given stunts much thought but she knew the world existed. She was a college athlete, playing basketball for Hobart and William Smith College and had an aptitude for athletics in general so she researched and discovered the International Stunt School in Washington state. After a four week intensive course, she was thrown to the ground, set on fire, trained in weapons and hand-to-hand combat, practiced martial arts, high falls, and just got beat up in general. She learned that Atlanta was the new up and coming hub for stunts and the film industry and without a thought, moved her life to Georgia and put all her effort into becoming a stuntwoman.
‘Sometimes I miss the ‘formulaic-ness’ that life could be if I did [continue pre-med], but it’s never enough to make me want to go back to it.’
I’ve always been jealous of people who can be so sure with their decisions. When we asked if she felt stressed about the unknown or the uncertainty, she just shrugged it off and said ‘not really.’ Some people see an outcome and can create the steps needed to achieve that goal. And that really got me thinking about art as a business. From a business standpoint, taking a goal and reverse engineering it into certain achievable steps suddenly makes your life as an artist much less uncertain. It’s not exactly the path of a doctor or professor but it’s still a set path. Kris seems to have found that nice middle ground between being an artist and having a path to follow.
I guess it is really simple when you think about it. Want to be a photographer? Buy a camera, build a portfolio, build a network, build a business plan, advertise, execute. Maybe an artist is more of a mindset. If I’m totally honest with myself, I like the uncertainty. It stresses the hell out of me, but the anxiety I feel from having a set path, trapped inside it forever scares me even more.
Kris is just starting out her career here in Atlanta but she’s quickly making progress. At the moment, she volunteers with Bobby Ore at his stunt driving course in Atlanta, which allows her to continue her precision and stunt driving training. On top of that, she trains in Jui-Jitsu, gymnastics, tumbling, rock climbing, scuba diving, and will soon be receiving her rescue diving certification.
‘I’ll just keep getting certifications until someone hires me.’
Kris’s attitude towards her career and her goal inspired me to focus on my own plan. I’ve now been building a business plan for photography, focusing on how I can turn my passion into profit, but still retain my love for it. It’s a fine line to balance upon but the more people I meet, the more information I have to work with. Each person is a gateway into a new world and everyone has a story to tell.
The process it takes for us to find our passions and particularly artistic passions seems to be so unique to everyone. Many were seemingly born into these passions, pursuing them from such a young age knowing nothing but this path. Where others stumble upon their passions on their fourth path down the road, everyone seems to find them in their own time. Having that fire sparked by so many different people, interactions and experiences. It is fascinating to see those who actually endure the experience and pursue their artistic passions as a career.
I relate with Kris, finding my passion took me years and years and actually pursuing these passions as a career has taken even more time. Taking that leap can be terrifying, especially from a financial stand point. But I think when an artist can endure all the hardship and not give up and make their passion self-sustaining is beautiful.
We both made the change from being athletes in college to finding this artistic path that we now feel so fulfilled by. A change that really felt so difficult at the time and for myself, made me feel so lost. It took time but I did end up finding my people. I think its vastly important finding those who inspire you and push you to succeed and jump outside your comfort zone. We all can feel so trapped in our own boxes and I think that when you get to talk to others, of all different backgrounds, is when you begin to learn and grow as a person. That is when your creativity finds you.