Hollywood’s Top Stuntwoman & “Queen of the Lightsabers“
Watch a clip of 360 MAG’s podcast with Michelle C. Smith HERE
Michelle C. Smith is an actress, stuntwoman, speaker, educator, and professional badass. She was born and raised in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada. Since she was 5 years old, she has been training to create and develop a level of Mastery around unique and valuable Prop Spinning / Manipulation skills. When she turned 11, she began competing at the World Championship level and trained 8 hours a day, 7 days a week during competition. Michelle competed in this sport’s world championships for eight years, winning several medals. ”I won a bronze medal and 3 silver medals,” she mentions.
Physical activity is essential to achieve emotional and physical well-being, but it can become something negative if it is done under a lot of pressure. In these circumstances, it can cause trauma and other problems. ”My biggest trauma is overtraining and the pressure that myself and the adults in my back environments put on me as if I’m not good enough,” she stresses.
As an International Baton Twirler Champion turned martial artist and professional specialist, she has seen the immense benefits that 30 years of training with different tools and movements have brought her. With these intricate and coordinated paths, Michelle has created choreographies and learned three specific skills that have come to her achievement: Confidence, speed, and ease. “Because of these intricate and highly specific abilities, I CAN DO ANYTHING!” says Michelle. “And so can you!”
Michelle’s passion to share her skills led to the creation of Freestyle Staff Spinning, a tool and weapon-based practice that combines the best technical material from Baton Twirling with Acrobatics and Martial Arts. This combination of sports “is so special that I really love that it’s athletic and artistic,” she adds.
The purpose of Freestyle Staff is to create and win an open and accessible space for all kinds of people to learn and fall in love with everything that Staff Spinning, Weapons Spinning and Baton Twirling have to offer. Michelle and her community of Freestyle Staff Spinners can be found on the official Freestyle Staff Academy website.
Michelle moved to Vancouver to pursue a career in dance. Through dance, she met people who worked with the Underground Circus (a professional circus group). This was her first taste of life as a working artist, as her company booked large corporate events for her to perform at.
From there, Michelle began taking martial arts classes, specifically Filipino Martial Arts and Muay Thai. She became popular in the industry for her ability to teach, train and explain the movement to the actors she doubled for or worked with on set, allowing them to feel confident and at ease with all of her physical movements. In 2014, she started doing tricks and baton and bo staff videos on her social media.
As one of the world’s foremost experts in the arts of movement and staff turning, Michelle has used her skills and strength to act as an actress, stuntwoman, or educator in many internationally known films, stage productions, and television shows such as Deadpool, SuperGirl, Van Helsing, The 100, Supernatural and Smallville, Red Riding Hood, Percy Jackson, and many more!
Michelle is an active person who is always eager to learn new things. She is a huge advocate for awareness of mental health, fitness, and training in general. Michelle’s dream is to create a world where creativity, authenticity, and bravery reign by empowering people to embrace their Own Inner Ass.
Follow Michelle C. Smith: Website | Instagram | TikTok | YouTube | Other
Listen to Michelle and Vaughn chat about her career on 360 MAG podcast HERE.
Article: Andrea Esteban
