Kick-ass story of how this woman became Charlize Theron’s stunt double

By George Mathias via SWNS

A woman ditched a career as a chef to become Charlize Theron's stunt double and fell in love with and married Liam Hemsworth's stuntman after meeting on set.

Aurelia Agel Howell, 25, has become one of the world's most sought-after stunt doubles - performing in "Fast and Furious 10" and "Guardians of the Galaxy 3."

She started training at a culinary school at in Souillac, in the south of France, when she was 18.

However, after three years of training, she began working in a restaurant and realized it wasn't for her after the busy schedule left her with no time for her true passion - martial arts.

She stumbled across a summer school teaching the art of becoming a stunt double which piqued her interest.

Having mastered martial arts over 15 years to become a black belt in taekwondo, judo, karate, and American boxing - and even competing for France in the national Chinese boxing team - Aurelia felt she would be more than capable of handling the rigours of stunt acting.

She only trained in stunt acting for four months before landing her first job - a French film "Anna" directed by Luc Besson - doubling as the main actress Sasha Luss.

Since then, she has been a stunt double for Charlize Theron in "Fast and Furious 10", Karen Gillan in Guardians of the Galaxy and will star as Milla Jovovich's stunt double in "The Lost Lands" and Charlize Theron's double once again in "The Old Guard 2."

She also met her partner, Justin Howell, 34, on the set the first series of Halo.

Justin was the stunt double for Chris Hemsworth in Thor and also featured in Avengers.

The couple - who married three months ago - now live in Toronto, Canada, though their jet-setting lifestyle means they’re never in the same place for very long.

Aurelia, from Toulouse, France, said: “I tried out life at the stunt school for 15 days.

“After I had finished, I just thought: 'Oh my god, this is what I want to do.'

“I’m fighting, doing martial arts, doing high falls and fire scenes, it was amazing.

“It’s not easy to be with a stunt person, but as we are both in the same line of work, we both know the challenges.

“It’s easy because you understand each other and each other's mad schedules.

“We make it work.”

At the time, Aurelia was living in Toulouse, France, but she knew in order to have a chance at making it as a stuntwoman, she had to move to Paris as that is "where anyone who wants to make it in the film goes."

“Everything was happening in Paris,” she said.

Aurelia - who was still only 18 - and working full-time at an Adidas store in Toulouse, decided to up sticks.

“I thought let’s take the risk, so I moved to Paris," she said.

“I managed to get my first audition within weeks of being there, and everything went well, and they hired me for a job doubling for a main actress in a short film.

“That’s how my career started.

“After that first movie, I decided to stay in Paris.

“I trained a lot for two years and did some more movies in France - Le juge est une femme and Anna.

“My first movie outside of France was in Berlin where I doubled as Karen Gillan in Guardians of the Galaxy 3."

Aurelia has to sort steep insurance on each film - costing around €1,500 a year.

Her performance in Guardians of the Galaxy 3 cemented her as a star stuntwoman within the film industry and she has shot in locations across Europe and North America.

She was the main stuntwoman playing a widow in the film Black Widow - where much of the action sequences were shot in Surrey while she also filmed action sequences for the TV series version of popular game franchise Halo.

As well as being flown to the US to film Guardians of the Galaxy 3, she was also flown out to Berlin to shoot on John Wick 4.

She recently acted as Charlize Theron’s stunt double in Fast and Furious 10, one of the most expensive films ever made, costing around $340 million.

But it’s not all glitz and glamour, with stunt acting remaining a highly dangerous profession and bad injuries not uncommon.

“Four years ago, I was doing a scene of a car crash and I sprained shoulder, my clavicle moved a little bit," Aurelia said.

“That was bad, these injuries stay for life, even three years after I still feel pain in my shoulder.

“It’s fine now as I’m young, but in 10 years I might regret it."

Aurelia says what is already a precarious line of work has been made even more so by the ongoing writers’ strike.

“Lots of movies are shutting down, that’s the scary part of this job you never know what is going to happen," she said.

“It’s very scary - you never know if you are going to work or not."

Aurelia says her line of work has seen her lost friendships and she only gets to see her family in France a few times a year.

“I try to ring my family as much as I can, and if I'm working in Europe, they come visit me, but I still see them only two or three times per year," she said.

“I started my career very early and all my friends were in the south of France, so I don’t see them anymore.

“I’ve made new friends, but it’s not the same, it’s hard to keep stable relationships.

“It’s a big sacrifice, but it’s been good for me, I live my best life because my passion is my job."

Aurelia has featured in My Spy: The Eternal City, The Old Guard 2, In the Lost Lands, Fast and Furious 10, Guardians of the Galaxy 3, Halo, Ganglands, Gunpowder Milkshake, Black Widow, Captain Marleau with her full credits totalling almost 30 films.