Kurt Yaeger

Kurt Yaeger
Born	Kurt Yaeger (1977-01-03) January 3, 1977 San Francisco
Occupation	Actor, professional BMX rider
Years active	2002–present

Kurt Yaeger (born January 3, 1977) is an American actor, model, director and professional athlete, who is also a below-the-knee amputee. Most recently he appeared in season five of the FX series Sons of Anarchy as Greg "the Peg". He can also be seen in the Rudimental music video for the UK hit single "Waiting All Night" featuring vocals from Ella Eyre.

Early life

Kurt Yaeger was born in San Francisco, California, United States (US), and was raised in South San Francisco. He currently resides in the Los Angeles area.

As a BMX rider, Yaeger gained the nickname "Crowbar" and acquired sponsors for his BMX riding, participating in tours and competing in events.^[1]

As an actor, Yaeger auditioned for a Nickelodeon/Clear Channel Communications live tour based on the popular cartoon show Rocket Power. What he thought to be an acting role turned out to be an athletic/stunt role. He was given the part. At the first day of rehearsals, the director found out that his BMX talent was at a professional level and incorporated it into the show. The show briefly toured the US Midwest in spring 2002 before being canceled due to low ticket sales. It had originally been scheduled to tour about 40 cities all over the US for about six months. After experiencing many BMX-related injuries, he decided to go back to college to pursue a Masters degree in hydrogeology. In 2006, while attending school in San Francisco, he was in a motorcycle crash that resulted in multiple injuries.^[2][3] A car ran him off the road and he hit a pole and went over a 40-foot embankment, crashing on the side of the freeway.^[3]

His left leg was amputated, his right anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament were torn, his pelvis was torn in half along with his bladder, seven vertebra were broken, his lungs collapsed, multiple ribs were broken, and he suffered a severe concussion.^[4] One year later, Yaeger made a full recovery, returning to his acting career.^[5]

Career

Kurt Yaeger at the UCP – Women Who Care Event 2011

Yaeger started taking acting courses and began acquiring role after role.^[6] He starred in Michael Anderson's Tenderloin, a film about one of the most infamous neighborhoods in San Francisco. The film premiered at the Mill Valley Film Festival in October 2009.^[7] Some of his recent work includes Dolphin Tale with Morgan Freeman, Ashley Judd and Harry Connick, Jr.;^[8] Knife Fight with Rob Lowe; War Flowers with Christina Ricci, Tom Berenger and Jason Gedrick; and the Syfy feature film Piranhaconda with Michael Madsen and Rachel Hunter. In 2012, he appeared in a recurring role in six episodes of the FX television series Sons of Anarchy.^[9]

Along with his business partner Josh Gillick, Yaeger created the production company ArtistFilm.^[10] It has produced 9 short films and one feature, Sedona's Rule, distributed by Green Apple Entertainment, Inc.. They are currently working on several features in the early pre-production stages and a reality TV project which has been optioned. Yaeger is also involved with the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA), and the Actors' Equity Association (AEA) Tri-Union global disability rights campaign called IAMPWD – Inclusion in the Arts & Media of People with Disabilities. He sits as the Chairperson on the AFTRA Los Angeles Local Performers with Disabilities Committee.^[11]

Yaeger has also volunteered his time with several organizations. He has attended several Big Sunday events for the Wounded Warrior Project^[12] and participated in the American300 Warrior Tour.^[13] Yaeger spoke at the 10th and 11th annual United Cerebral Palsy of NYC event called Women Who Care, sharing the stage with Ivanka Trump, Michelle Bachelet and many others.^[14]

Sports and affiliations

Kurt Yaeger at the X Games 17

His comeback in sports came not long after in the Extreme Sports genre of BMX. He is currently the number one Adaptive BMXer in the world^[15] and participated in X Games 16^[16] and X Games 17. Yaeger was showcased along with other adaptive athletes thanks to Adaptive Action Sports, a non-profit organization promoting Action Sports camps, events and programs for youth and young adults living with permanent physical disabilities.

In 2012, the US Paralympics Bobsled & Skeleton Team invited him to train with them in Park City in early January.^[17] They asked him back to train with them in Innsbruck, Austria in early March.

2013 had Yaeger participating in a promotional BMX tour of the United Kingdom.^[18] Followed immediately by a Motorcycle tour of Africa with Touratech-USA.^[19]

BMX sponsors

When Yaeger first began training again, Etnies signed up to sponsor him, supplying shoes that allowed for an expanded experimentation with a new magnetic pedal from ProTonLocks. After he figured out how to stay on the pedals, Solid Bikes and Odyssey helped him by supplying a new bike. The last obstacle was to figure out how to keep his knee from hyper-extending from the repeated impact pressures, so he turned to Ossur, who built him a CTi custom knee brace for his prosthetic leg. His other current sponsors include Freestyle Watches, Stussy, Bern Helmets, Alpine Stars, Challenged Athletes Foundation and Fox Racing. In April 2012, ZICO Coconut Water became a sponsor.^[20]

Yaeger has also become one of the owners of ProTonLocks, Inc., a company that makes magnetic bicycle pedals.^[21]

Filmography

Television

Producer/director

Model

References

External links

• Official Website
• Kurt Yaeger at the Internet Movie Database
• Athletic Reel at Youtube