How this Utah stunt performer went from ‘Studio C’ to ‘Marshals’

For stunt performers, it is not a matter of if you get hit by a car, but when. And that is exactly what Katelynn Olson lives for.

The Utah woman has loved movies her entire life, but her fascination was likely different than it is for most kids. Olson was enamored by the behind-the-scenes mechanics, particularly the magic of the stunt team. As a child, she spent afternoons recreating action sequences from her favorite films, often jumping off the roof of her home to practice dive rolls — much to the dismay of her mother, Juli Olson, over potential roof damage and potential hospital bills.

Today, those hours of backyard practice and years of persistence are finally paying off. But as Olson told the Deseret News, the road to Hollywood has been anything but a smooth ride.

Olson grew up in the small town of Kamas, Summit County, spending summers working on her family’s ranch. Despite financial struggles, she dreamed of breaking into the movie business, though she did not receive the validation she hoped for. To those around her, Hollywood was an impractical, far-fetched fantasy.

“I always wanted to be in movies and I especially loved the art of action. I love action sequences.”

—  Katelynn Olson

So, Olson leaned into her identity as an athlete. After high school, she had her vision set on becoming a goalkeeper for Utah Valley University’s women’s soccer team before an injury derailed her tryout.

Instead of devastating her, the setback brought her an unexpected sense of relief. Olson was now free to pursue her true passion.

Realizing she was a college dropout with nothing to lose, Olson, armed with nothing but a stubborn refusal to give up, decided it was the perfect time to risk everything for Hollywood.

“The bar was low,” Olson joked.

She quickly learned the film industry is exactly the high-stakes hustle portrayed in cinema. Breaking in required an “in,” which she found through her local church congregation.

The trail to ‘Marshals’

While living at home and working two jobs at the Tanger Outlets in Park City, Olson met Chet Thomas, a writer and producer who had moved into her neighborhood. Through church service, Olson developed a relationship with Thomas’ family. After learning of her cinematic ambitions, Thomas helped her land her first set gig as an unpaid camera intern. Olson hit the ground running and hasn’t stopped since.

From camera intern on one set she moved to camera assistant on another, then pivoted to craft services, working as a self-described “glorified pack mule.”

Olson’s stubborn streak kept her moving forward as she took out trash bags dripping with lobster juice and coffee, doing whatever odd jobs it took just to be on set, learn, network and make enough to scrape by.

Driven by her passion for stunts, Olson applied to the renowned Stunt Performers Academy in Los Angeles to train under veteran coordinator Banzai Vitale. There, she learned the physical and mental foundations of the craft, earning certifications in fire burns, high falls and other stunt performance basics.

When she returned to Utah, the daily grind intensified. Olson balanced production gigs and any other work she could find with stunt training, routinely starting her day at 4:30 a.m. and going to bed at 12:30 a.m.

“I came back and as a stunt performer, you are an athlete so every day you’re training, every day you’re doing something to perfect your craft. So I took up a lot of martial art classes like jujitsu, muay thai, boxing. I’d go and practice parkour. I was basically just training my guts out as much as I could.”

—  Katelynn Olson

One of those gigs brought her to BYUtv’s “Studio C,” a hub for Utah’s film community and great for on-set experience. For local creators trying to break out, the recurring show was both a blessing and a holding pattern.

At the end of each season, she and her colleagues would share their ambitions for the offseason, hoping to land a larger role or a different set. Inevitably, they all ended back on the same set the next season. “It’s like ‘Groundhog Day,’” Olson recalled.

But “Studio C” ultimately became the bridge to Olson’s first stunt role.

One night, while telling a friend about a big new show filming in town, Olson got a call from a “Studio C” colleague. The crew of that very show needed immediate help with craft services. The production was “Marshals,” the spinoff of the hit series “Yellowstone.”

The show staff said they needed Olson on set at 7 a.m. the next morning at a ranch located just minutes from her hometown.

Olson was ready.

‘Local girl’ finds home in stunts

On the set of “Marshals,” Olson worked tirelessly, averaging nearly 40,000 steps a day. She strategically wore her hat featuring “JAM” the logo of her Los Angeles stunt gym, hoping coordinators and performers on set would notice and strike up a conversation. She wanted to shoot her shot while avoiding the faux pas of openly fishing for a job while employed in a different department.

Olson formed a quick friendship with Ash Santos, who plays Amber Cruz on the show. After learning Olson was bouncing between living in her car and couch surfing, Santos invited her to stay in an extra bedroom at her home in Park City.

When a stunt role opened up, Santos advocated for Olson. It was a small part, but it was the golden ticket Olson needed to secure her SAG-AFTRA union eligibility.

The turnaround time for the audition was immediate; Olson had to record and submit a self-tape audition on the spot.

“I thought I was going to throw up; I was so nervous,” Olson said.

Her tape ended up beating out Hollywood talent. “They had L.A. actresses submit for this role, so it was kind of mind-boggling I was chosen over a vast group of people,” she said.

Later, when she stepped onto the set to film, the nerves she felt recording her audition, vanished.

“You would think I’d be nervous,” Olson said, “but it was so weird. I was just like, ‘This is what I do. This is what I’ve been wanting to do since I was a kid.’ I just performed and luckily it was very well received.”

Her performance caught the attention of the director who remarked that “she’s got it.” Along with the stunt coordinator, she was put into the show’s regular rotation. In the credits, her character is listed simply as “Local Girl” — an inside joke among the crew since Olson was quite literally a local on the set location.

Her milestone moment was made even sweeter because her “film family” was there to witness it.

“It was super cool because a lot of people that were on the crew were people that I’ve worked with for years,” Olson said.

“Michelle has been my lead man on ‘Studio C’ for the last three years. She was doing props (on ‘Marshals). She normally doesn’t hand the actors their props, but this time because it was me, she was the one that handed me my cattle prod. It was a big moment because she has been there this entire time. So it was pretty cool because in that moment, film family was all around to see me finally get my shot.”

Olson said her first day as a stunt performer she “felt at home.”

The physical toll

Stunt performers are professional athletes, and the job requires keeping their bodies conditioned to absorb repeated physical blows.

“I am stubborn,” Olson admitted. “There have been moments on set where they’re like, ‘You good?’ and you give the thumbs-up — that’s a very real thing we do, letting them know that stunts is good,” Olson said.

She detailed there have been times where she may have been hurting but when asked if she was OK, she responded: “Yep, going again, yep. Why not?”

Olson chalked that mentality up to being a young performer trying to prove herself, but admitted her natural stubbornness plays a part.

The stunt world has one golden rule: You can work hurt, but you can’t work injured.

That means stunt methods focus on injury prevention. A standard day on the job might include flipping over furniture or taking simulated punches to the face dozens of times. Success relies on doing those things safely.

“Stunts are very intensive on your body. Sports are hard on your body anyway, but especially stunts because you’re doing stuff that normally, nobody would be doing. Like getting hit by a car.”

—  Katelynn Olson

Olson notes that she carries more muscle mass than the typical female stunt performer, an attribute she uses to her advantage.

“I like it because it protects my joints,” Olson said. That extra mass provides stronger tendons and natural skeletal padding, preventing an awkward fall from turning into a career-halting injury. “It’s like preventative maintenance.”

The road to her SAG-AFTRA card, was anything but easy. Olson compared her journey to Tobey Maguire’s arc in “Spider-Man 2.”

Olson described that for the majority of that movie, audiences are thinking, “Man, his life sucks,” and “Why do you want to be Spider-Man?” and at the same time he is questioning his decision himself.

“That’s how it felt with stunts. Nothing went your way, everything was against you, you’re fighting an uphill battle. You’re getting kicked down and punched in the face, just one after another — until you finally get progress."

Olson noted she still has a long way to go, but she is happy to have at least one major chapter in her stunt career under her belt.