Having worked in numerous films such as the box office hit “Iron Man,” Kevin Foster, a professional stuntman, has accomplished a lot for someone in his field. Going from working as a stuntman on a set at an amusement park to the big screen to directing and producing his own film, Kevin foster has done it all.
Yesterday, just five hours after the swearing in of the new President, Foster gave a lecture to a group of Moorpark College students in the studio theater, or “black box.”
Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, a young Foster had never really known what his true calling was, until college. While attending the University of Illinois, Foster decided to take an acting class to see what it was like. After his first class, he realized that acting was his true calling. Not just any acting, he enjoyed being a stuntman.
Foster’s first stunt job was at a Six Flags theme park in Gurnee, Illinois.
“They paid me to play,” he said.
After living in a run down basement studio apartment, which had bad plumbing and a bed in the closet, Foster decided after living there a year, he had enough. Foster’s dream was to make it in L.A., but since moving to California was costly, Foster made his way down to Florida.
While working as a stuntman on the set of “Indiana Jones” at Universal Studios, he managed to save $13,000 so he could move to L.A.
“I thought I would be set,” Foster said. “All that money lasted me five months.”
Living in L.A. out of a job and out of money, Foster found himself working in Carlsbad, California at the “Lego Land” theme park. Working three days a week as an acrobat at “Lego Land,” Foster spent the rest of the time handing out his resumes to hundreds of stunt directors. Finally, with a persistent and positive attitude, Foster caught his big break.
On Sept. 23, 1999, Foster got a job working full time as a professional stuntman.
“You have to wake up every day with a good attitude,” he said.
Recently, Foster has written and produced his own film called “Half Way.” Foster and his crew have been working on this film for two years. The movie is about life in a halfway house. Foster also acted in the movie as well. At the same time he had to work on his off days to earn money for the film.
Through it all, Foster’s attitude has always been upbeat and pure. One of Foster’s last comments before the abrupt cry of a fire alarm which went off in the Performing Arts Center was, “When everything is done you need to ask yourself, okay what’s next?”
