Derrick Simmons | |
---|---|
Born | |
Nationality | American |
Occupation(s) | Actor, director, producer, screenwriter, stunt artist, filmmaker, record producer, songwriter, entrepreneur |
Years active | 1984–present |
Website | https://www.DerrickSimmons.com |
Derrick Simmons is an American actor, film director, producer, stunt artist, music producer and entrepreneur.
Derrick Simmons was born in Queens, New York. He attended Harbor JHS of Performing Arts in Harlem, New York and later attended Talent Unlimited High School where he majored in drama. [1]
Derrick Simmons started his acting career at age 10 by appearing in a National Burger King commercial where he appeared opposite Stacey Dash.
As a stuntman has performed in more than 175 films. [2] [3] He wrote, produced and directed three films, and as an actor he has performed in around 40 titles. [4]
Simmons has worked as actor and stuntman in various television programs such as Law & Order , New York Undercover , [5] The Wire , Third Watch , Oz , [6] Hack , The Sopranos , Law & Order SVU , The David Letterman Show , Saturday Night Live , 30 Rock , The Good Wife , Orange is the New Black , and House of Cards . [7]
Some of Simmons's feature film credits include Deja Vu , [8] American Gangster , [9] A Bronx Tale , [10] Tower Heist , [11] Ray (where he stunt doubled Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles), [12] Spike Lee's Inside Man , [13] Precious , [14] Find Me Guilty , [15] The Purge: Election Year [16] and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows . [17]
Simmons' production company, Derrick Simmons Film Works, has produced three feature film titles. Jump Offs (2007), [18] Women Do it Better (2009) [19] [20] and Nobody's Perfect (2016), [21] [22] hosted by Cannes World Cinema Initiative. [23]
Simmons is CEO of Phat Tune Recording. [24]
Simmons won the best feature film award at the Mt Vernon Film Festival and the best director award at Pocono Mountains Film Festival. [25]
In 2016 he was nominated as a member of the stunts crew of The Blacklist in the category Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series in the Screen Actors Guild Awards. [26]
A stunt performer, often called a stuntman or stuntwoman and occasionally stuntperson or stunt-person, is a trained professional who performs daring acts, often as a career. Stunt performers usually appear in films or on television, as opposed to a daredevil, who performs for a live audience. When they take the place of another actor, they are known as stunt doubles.
Dar Allen Robinson was an American stunt performer and actor. Robinson broke 19 world records and set 21 "world's firsts." He invented the decelerator which allowed a cameraman to film a top-down view of the stuntman as he fell without accidentally showing the airbag on the ground. This was displayed in his fall from the hotel in the movie Stick. The original decelerator can still be seen on display in Moab, Utah.
Russell Wendell Simmons is an American entrepreneur, writer and record executive. He co-founded the hip-hop label Def Jam Recordings, and created the clothing fashion lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and Tantris. He has promoted veganism and a yoga lifestyle, and published books on lifestyle, health, and entrepreneurship. Simmons' net worth was estimated at $340 million in 2011.
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