Mike Massa

Mike Massa is a stuntman, stunt actor, stunt coordinator, and director who served as Chris Pine's main stunt double in 's. In Massa earned a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture as part of the Star Trek stunt crew. The same year he received two Taurus World Stunt Award nominations in the categories Best High Work and Best Specialty Stunt. He shared the first nomination with Daniel Arrias, Ilram Choi, Anthony R. Molinari, and Paul Lacovara and the second one with Paul Lacovara. Massa also worked as lead stunt double for Pine in the.

Born as Michael John Massa in Frankfurt, Germany, he is probably best known as stunt coordinator and main stunt double for lead actor in the fantasy series Angel (1999-2004) on which he worked with Trek stunt performers Mike Gunther, Scott Workman, Spiro Razatos, Mike Mukatis, and Christopher Leps.

Massa has worked in the stunt business since the early '90s, with performances in the television series America's Most Wanted, Superboy, Super Force, SeaQuest DSV, Thunder in Paradise, Pointman, V.I.P., Seven Days (1998, with Norman Lloyd, Alan Scarfe, and stunts by Pat Romano, Scott Workman, and Michael Owen), and Roswell (starring William Sadler). His film credits in the '90s include the television adventure Tarzan: The Epic Adventures (1996, stunt coordinated by Glenn R. Wilder), the thriller The Substitute (1996), 's action sequel Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997, with stunts by Don Pulford, Janet Brady, Mark Chadwick, Marjean Holden, and Michelle Sebek), the science fiction adventure Starship Troopers (1997, with Dina Meyer, Clancy Brown, and Brenda Strong), and the drama Magnolia (1999).

The following years Massa doubled for in the thriller 15 Minutes (2001) and Confidence (2003),  in 's drama Pearl Harbor (2001),  in the science fiction sequel The Matrix Reloaded (2003),  in the action comedy Hollywood Homicide (2003),  in Bryan Singer's Superman Returns (2006), and  in 's action sequel Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008).

Television work includes Crossing Jordan, Firefly, Miracles, General Hospital, Bones (2005, with Alicia Coppola, Kate McNeil, and Patti Yasutake), 24 (2006, with Glenn Morshower, Peter Weller, and stunts by Jeff Cadiente and Erik Stabenau), ER (2006, with Scott Grimes, Leland Orser, and Maury Sterling), Alias (2006, with Rachel Nichols, Amanda Foreman, and stunts by Shauna Duggins), and Monk (2006, stunt coordinated by Charlie Brewer), and film credits are the comedy Miss Congeniality (2000) and its sequel Miss Congeniality 2: Armed & Fabulous (2005), both with William Shatner, the thriller The Italian Job (2003), the science fiction sequel Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation (2004, with stunts by Oliver Keller), the fantasy adventure Van Helsing (2004), the action film The Day After Tomorrow (2004), 's superhero films Spider-Man 2 (2004) and Spider-Man 3 (2007), the comedy Herbie Fully Loaded (2005), the thriller Deja Vu (2006), the action sequel Live Free or Die Hard (2007), and the action comedy Rush Hour 3 (2007).

In 2002 he was nominated for an American Choreography Award for Outstanding Achievement in Fight Choreography for the Angel episode A New World. Two years later he was part of the stunt crew which won a Taurus World Stunt Award for Best Specialty Stunt in The Italian Job. In 2009 he was among those stunt performers who were nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.

Massa also worked as stunt coordinator on several projects such as the action thriller The Punisher (2004), the television series Weeds (2005) and Pepper Dennis (2006, along with Mike Gunther and Monica Staggs), the comedy This Is Not a Test (2008), the television series K-Ville (2008), Dollhouse (2009), and Zeke and Luther (2009), and more recently on the television comedy Princess Protection Program (2009, with Molly Hagan) and on the comedy The Proposal (2009, with Michael Nouri and Mary-Linda Rapelye).

More recent stunt performing projects are the science fiction comedy Meet Dave (2008, with Gabrielle Union and stunts by Alex Madison, Kimberly Murphy, and Darlene Ava Williams), the action film Fast & Furious (2009), the comedy Miss March (2009, with Geoff Meed, Chris Durand, and Gary J. Wayton), and the science fiction thriller Surrogates (2009, with Ned Vaughn and stunts by Eddie Braun, Ken Clark, Kevin Derr, and Kurt D. Lott).