Meet John Cann of Action P.A.C. Stunts in The Colony

Today we’d like to introduce you to John Cann.

John, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I started in the stunt business shortly after graduating High School in Carmel IN in 1981. I left IN for Los Angeles when I was 19 years old to attend Kahana’s Stunt School in Chatsworth CA in the San Fernando Valley. After several years of training and teaching at Kahana’s I realized that the stunt business is a “family” business and that going to a school was not the best way to break into it. I discovered that there were basically three ways to get into the business. 1. You had to be born into it. 2. You could marry into it. 3. You could find someone to adopt you. After the stunt school, I began to hone my skills as an actor and helped to establish several theater companies in Hollywood and North Hollywood including Theatre Three with Kent, Justine and Jason Bateman and Two Roads Theatre with Mark York. I was then cast in a 1920’s review called ” Hello Sucker” as a gangster hitman and it was around that time that I received a call from my good friend Paul Dallas. Paul had been offered a job that he could not accept because of a prior commitment and referred me to the stunt coordinator, Rick Barker. Rick called me on a Friday afternoon and asked if I was a member of SAG (Screen Actors Guild). At that time, I was eligible because of my work on “Hello Sucker” but I had not joined. I asked him when the shoot was going to be and he said Monday. I asked, “What time?” And Rick said, “It’s a night shoot” so I said, “Yes, I’m a member” and on Monday morning I went to the SAG office, paid my initiation and dues, joined the Guild and went to work that night on “Lost Angels” with Donald Sutherland and directed by Hugh Hudson. Shortly after this I met Greg Elam, a longtime member of The Stuntmen Association and stunt double for Richard Pryor. Greg had a group of stunt people he was training with in Carson CA and I was invited to come and train with them. Greg took me under his wing and began to put my name in for jobs like ” Tango and Cash”, “Predator 2″ and ” Marked for Death”. My career soon began to take off and I spent 14 years in LA perfecting my craft and learning from the best in the
business including, Conrad Palmisano, Rick Seaman, Rick Barker, Mark DeAllesandro, Gene LaBell, Gary Davis and Tony Epper. I was a founding member of The National League of SAG Stunt Performers and helped to get Stunt Coordinators covered by SAG contracts. Over that 14 years, I survived Stunt School, the Rodney King Riots, The OJ Simpson Saga (I played “freeway Chris”, who turned in OJ on the 405, in the OJ Simpson Story!) and the North Ridge Earthquake, I got married to my wife Kelley, and my two sons Dakota and Justus were born.

After film work began to “run away” from LA to Canada and parts East, we decided it was time to make a change. Greg Elam had been in Dallas for several years working on Walker Texas Ranger with Chuck Norris. He was doubling for Clarence Gilliard and told me that if I came to Texas they would put me to work. So we moved to Dallas and I spent 5 years working on over 45 episodes of Walker Texas Ranger and working on whatever films came to the area as well as projects all over the world. It was here that my daughter, Emma was born. Since moving to Texas, I have been able to grow my company Action PAC Stunts. Action PAC was formed while I was in LA to help me publish 3 books called The Stunt Guide, which I wrote and published in the early 90’s. I then began to provide personal stunt pads to the stunt community as a side hustle to help get me onto film sets. I was also helping my friend, Paul Dallas, design and test air bag systems and soon began to build equipment designs of my own including air rams, mini air bags and ratchet systems. The move to Texas put me in a bit if a monopoly position with regard to stunt equipment and helped me to develop my large air bag designs and other more advanced gear. My most recent stunt work has been on Queen of The South as a stunt double for Hemky Madera and also on the Marvel TV pilot “The Gifted”. I am currently working with The Movie Institute helping to teach young film makers and at-risk kids life skills through the art of the moving image. I am also developing my career as a stunt coordinator/director/producer and am a principal partner with Keith Randall Duncan in a production company called Film Forge Pictures. I give all the Glory to God.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has been anything but smooth. The film industry is a tough nut to crack. The biggest hurdle is dealing with the sporadic nature of the business. You never know when the feast is going to turn to famine. The other issue is the stress it puts on my family. They don’t know, on any given day, if I am going to be coming home from work. My job is inherently dangerous. I have lost several good friends to accidents on the set.

Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Action P.A.C. Stunts – what should we know?
Action PAC Stunts, LLC has been serving the stunt community for over 25 years. It started as a corporate vehicle for publishing my book “The Stunt Guide” of which I published three editions in the 90’s. It was a reference guide for action film makers and stunt performers. I then began to sell stunt equipment and eventually became a one stop shop for anything stunt related. My personal stunt specialty is high end exotic stunts ranging from crashing through a 10-story window on fire to coordinating a Skydiver in a polar bear suit landing on a patch of snow in Death Valley in August to crashing SUVs! We offer stunt equipment rental, design and fabrication services as well. Action PAC stunts has the capacity to create anything action related for live shows or feature films. We also offer training, corporate team building and special events for people to experience what it’s like to be a motion picture stunt performer. The thing that I am most proud of is the equipment designs that have made our industry safer and more exciting. I am also very proud of our flawless safety record. No one has ever been seriously injured or killed on a set that I have worked on.

Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
Faith in God, integrity and persistence. The ability to know my limitations and to maintain perspective as to what is really important. There is not a movie in the world worth breaking a fingernail over much less dying for.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.actionpac.com
• Phone: 972 754 7265
• Email: jcann@actionpac.com
• Other: www.imdb.me/johncann

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