Former Royal Marine talks about his movie stuntman career

The former Royal Marine is excited about his musical career, where he’s known as Johnny Wore Black, and his movie stuntman career isn’t bad, either.

However, as he explains, Jay had a lot to live up to with a father who did very well indeed in the film industry.

“My dad was Norman Cohen, who made the original Dad’s Army film, so it was nice for me to work on the more- recent one myself,” admits Jay, who has also worked as a stuntman in Game Of Thrones, Harry Potter, Pirates Of The Caribbean, X-Men and other huge hits.

“He took TV shows and did movie versions, including Spike Milligan’s Adolf Hitler: My Part In His Downfall and Till Death Us Do Part.

“Dad passed away when I was 17 but he was a big influence on me.

“He was always at the studios, Pinewood or Elstree, and after school, I’d be driven there and hang around the film sets.”

His late father would be delighted to see Jay doing his stuff in such blockbuster movies, not to mention the musical side of his career.

“The first single we did, All The Rage, had a direct link to the struggles ex-servicemen have once they are back on Civvy Street,” says Jay, “so it tied us in with Help For Heroes, Combat Stress and other charities.

“It made a big impression on people and we got a lot of reviews, and I had done time myself in the Armed Forces.”

Perhaps his time with the Marines served him well, too, in his stunt work.

“We’re fortunate that a lot of American films are being made in the UK,” he says modestly.

“I have been doing the stunt work for about 20 years now, and I’ve worked on Star Wars and all sorts of movies.

“We are not daredevils! I don’t jump over 20 cars or things like that.

“It can be anything from safety for the actors — let’s say Brad Pitt has a fight, someone gets shot, someone crashes a car — well, there is all that, but a lot more to it.

“There can be smaller stuff, such as bar-room fights, and that’s your bread and butter work. I did a big fire job on Game Of Thrones, a spectacular job.

“But don’t believe that stunt performers really want to be actors. We get well-paid to do stunts, and we don’t see it as a way into ‘proper acting’.

“The majority of stunt people are very highly-skilled athletes, qualified in at least six disciplines just to get us on the Stunt Register.

“Although we have to get acting experience to become registered, it’s not a route to becoming an actor.”

Having reached the heights he has in film, you can only imagine his musical career will be rather spectacular, too!

Jay’s new single Firefly is out now.

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