Want to be a stunt coordinator for film and TV? Philli Anderson says: there’s no average week

Philli Anderson was Australia’s first female stunt coordinator and one of the few female stunt people working in Australia. Here’s what she has to say about her job.

Stunt coordinator Philli Anderson has worked with such actors as Dame Helen Mirren, Asher Keddie, Teresa Palmer and Noomi Rapace, among others, as a stunt double. While the UK-born specialist started her career as a gymnast (not to mention a period on the British Freerunning team), she turned to the performing arts before moving to Australia and establishing her career in the stunt industry.

If you specialise in horses and a horse movie comes to town, you are very likely to be employed. Similarly, if they make a fight-heavy film here and you are a fighter you have more of a chance of getting work. The best way to make yourself as employable as you can, is to work your speciality, but to also be an all-rounder. Of course this takes more training, but it gives more reward.

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Gina Fairley is ArtsHub's Senior Contributor, after 12 years in the role as National Visual Arts Editor. She has worked for extended periods in America and Southeast Asia, as gallerist, arts administrator and regional contributing editor for a number of magazines, including Hong Kong based Asian Art News and World Sculpture News. She is an Art Tour leader for the AGNSW Members, and lectures regularly on the state of the arts. She is based in Mittagong, regional NSW. Instagram: fairleygina