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. His recent work includes roles on the CBS hit show NCIS and the much anticipated HBO/Cinemax series Quarry. Kurt is notable for appearing in season five of the FX series Sons of Anarchy as Greg "the Peg" and 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

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] The list of Television and Movie credits continue.

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] Yaeger was invited as a keynote speaker to the 2014 Adobe Summit in London with the subject of reinvention. On May 14, 2014 he spoke to an abundance of tech specialists and business entrepreneurs, and introduced Rudimental during the Summit Fest that followed.^[15]

Sports and affiliations

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^[16] and participated in X Games 16^[17] 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.^[18] 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.^[19] Followed immediately by a Motorcycle tour of Africa with Touratech-USA.^[20]

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.^[21]

Yaeger has also become one of the owners of ProTonLocks, Inc., a company that makes magnetic bicycle pedals.^[22]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2013	Rudimental – Waiting All Night feat. Ella Eyre	As Himself	YouTube Official Video
2013	The Man Of The House	Dad	Post-Production
2012	Honor Killing	Steven	Post-Production
2012	Knife Fight	Oliver Kennedy	Release Date: June 11, 2013
2012	Alien Hunger	Brian	Post-Production
2011	Piranhaconda	Gunner	2012 Premiere on SYFY TV Channel
2011	Dolphin Tale	Veteran Tim	Release date: September 23, 2011 (USA)
2011	War Flowers	Rufus	Release Date: August 31, 2012 (USA)
2011	Camel Spiders	Joe	Release Date: March 4, 2011 (USA)
2010	Sedona's Rule	Erick	Release Date: November 20, 2011 (USA)
2009	The Real Deal	Bob Derdowski	Video
2009	Every Other Week	Jude	Short
2009	The Tenderloin	Ben Keegan	Release Date: October 19, 2009 (USA)
2009	The Hell Patrol	Pvt. Steven McWatt	Release Date: September 26, 2009 (USA)
2008	Asshole of the West	Levi	Short
2007	Charlie Wilson's War	Afghani Refugee	Not Credited
2007	The Lost Coast		Video Short

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2014	NCIS	Freddie Linn	TV series – Episode title: Bulletproof
2014	Quarry	McCurly	TV Movie – Post-Production
2012	Sons of Anarchy	Greg The Peg	TV series – Recurring character
2010	The Bold and the Beautiful	Photographer	TV soap opera – Episode #1.5887
2010	General Hospital	Mike – Prison Guard	TV soap opera – Episode #1.12083
2008	Without a Trace	Kevin	TV series – Episode title: Article 32
2007	The World's Astonishing News	Steve – Father	TV series – Episode title: Poor Family's Christmas Miracle
2002	Rocket Power		Live Tour

Producer/director

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2014	Kurt Yaeger's UK Tour	Executive Producer & Co-Star	Release Date: February 27, 2014 (Worldwide)
2010	Sedona's Rule	Executive Producer	Release Date: November 22, 2011 (USA)
2008	Misunderstood[23]	Director & Actor	Short – Screening Date: June 1, 2008 (USA)

Model

Year	Title	Notes
2007	Porn for Women	A humor or "spoof book", calendar and confectionery cards.[24]

References

External links

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