Jimmy Broyden
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James Ronald Broyden (born April 16, 1965 in Toronto, Canada) is a Canadian professional stuntman who has done stunts in over 80 films and worked with some of the finest actors in the industry. He is married with seven children and his son Josiah has Down syndrome, thus he founded The Jimmy Broyden Down Syndrome Foundation.
Born to Margaret Barnes in Toronto General Hospital as James Barnes, he grew up in Little Italy, Toronto where road hockey was the sport of choice with the Italian neighbourhood kids. The Italian boys, Gil, Joe, Felicchi and Denato who lived next-door taught him the game. His love for hockey was great but at a young age he had dreams of becoming a stuntman and began performing physical tasks like bike jumps over kids and jumps off roofs. His first language spoken was Italian due to several years spent with a Sicilian babysitter from the age of 6 months to 7 years old.
He moved to Whitby, Ontario at age 9 then to Kingston, Ontario at age 11. He left home at 16 and worked full time for 8 years. At 21 he studied Kung Fu under Master Kwok Chan for four years then decided to go for his dream and become a stuntman. He took a stunt course in Toronto at 24 then promptly moved to Vancouver to live his dream. But just before he left Kingston he rode his bike off a 35-foot (11 m) cliff into the November waters of the Collins Bay Quarry for his own short film called, "A Day In The Life Of A Stuntman" which he directed, then did a 40-foot (12 m) highfall in February for a Queen's University student film called After Ever After.
Upon arriving in Vancouver the first paying stunt less than two months later was called, "Black Cat" in which he performed a "bullet hit". Highlights include working with Paul Henderson, Jackie Chan, Stunt Coordinating a Billy Graham - World Wide Pictures hockey film called, "Powerplay" and performing a 60 mph (97 km/h) Pipe roll for "Stunt Dawgs". He became a Christian in 1993.
Some shows he did stunts on: Firewall, I Robot, Rumble In The Bronx, The 4400, Supernatural, Elf, The X-Files, Highlander, Star Gate, Never Ending Story 3, Premonition, Air Bud, Unforgettable, Needful Things, Battlestar Galactica, Viper, Seven Days, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and The Sentinel in which he was a Lead Stunt Double for Garrett Maggart.
Some actors he has doubled are Ian Tracey, Chad Lowe, Aaron Eckhart, Vincent Gale, Casper Van Dien, Doug Hutchison, Paul McCrane, Brian Markinson, Will Estes, Ben Foster, Matthew Bennett and Shane Meier.
