# Zoë Bell
**Zoë Bell** (born 1978) is a New Zealand stuntwoman and actress who doubled for [Lucy Lawless](https://www.edgepedia.org/lucy-lawless) on *Xena: Warrior Princess* and [Uma Thurman](https://www.edgepedia.org/uma-thurman) in the *Kill Bill* films before [Quentin Tarantino](https://www.edgepedia.org/quentin-tarantino) cast her to play herself in *Death Proof* (2007), launching an acting career that has run alongside ongoing stunt and stunt-coordinating work.[1](https://www.fullecirclemagazine.com/2009/08/conversation-with-zoe-bell.html) • [2](https://www.filmfest-oldenburg.de/en/program/tribute/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1978, Waiheke Island, New Zealand[1](https://www.fullecirclemagazine.com/2009/08/conversation-with-zoe-bell.html) |
| Breakthrough stunt role | Stunt double for Lucy Lawless on *Xena: Warrior Princess*, starting at age 17 in 1995[3](https://www.westword.com/arts-culture/denver-film-fest-z-e-bell-talks-about-fighting-her-way-through-hollywood-7337715/) |
| Signature double work | Uma Thurman in *Kill Bill Vol. 1* (2003) and *Vol. 2* (2004); Sharon Stone in *Catwoman* (2004)[3](https://www.westword.com/arts-culture/denver-film-fest-z-e-bell-talks-about-fighting-her-way-through-hollywood-7337715/) • [4](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-mar-02-et-zoe2-story.html) |
| First acting role | Played a version of herself in Tarantino's *Death Proof* (2007), performing the "Ship's Mast" hood-riding stunt herself[5](https://www.motionpictures.org/2015/11/how-quentin-tarantino-protege-zoe-bell-traded-stunts-acting/) • [2](https://www.filmfest-oldenburg.de/en/program/tribute/) |
| Acting work | *Whip It* (2009), *Angel of Death* (2009), *Raze* (2013, also producer), *The Hateful Eight* (2015), *Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood* (2019)[6](https://www.wired.com/2009/10/stuntwoman-zoe-bell-whip-it/) • [7](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/features/the-hateful-eight-stunt-woman-turned-actress-zoe-bell-on-quentin-tarantino-s-new-film-sexism-and-double-standards-in-hollywood-10390018.html) • [8](https://johnsonlaird.com/our-actors/Zoe-Bell) |
| Stunt coordinating | *Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood* (2019), *Thor: Love and Thunder* (2022), *Time Bandits* for Apple TV (2024)[8](https://johnsonlaird.com/our-actors/Zoe-Bell) |
| Injuries | Fractured spine early in her career; shattered her wrist on *Kill Bill*, costing her almost a year of work[7](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/features/the-hateful-eight-stunt-woman-turned-actress-zoe-bell-on-quentin-tarantino-s-new-film-sexism-and-double-standards-in-hollywood-10390018.html) |
| Recognition | Denver Film Festival Rising Star award; tribute at the 33rd International Filmfest Oldenburg[5](https://www.motionpictures.org/2015/11/how-quentin-tarantino-protege-zoe-bell-traded-stunts-acting/) • [2](https://www.filmfest-oldenburg.de/en/program/tribute/) |
## Early life and entry into stunts
Bell was born in 1978 on [Waiheke Island](https://www.edgepedia.org/waiheke-island), a few miles from Auckland, where she grew up as a top gymnast and took up taekwondo at fifteen.[1](https://www.fullecirclemagazine.com/2009/08/conversation-with-zoe-bell.html) • [7](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/features/the-hateful-eight-stunt-woman-turned-actress-zoe-bell-on-quentin-tarantino-s-new-film-sexism-and-double-standards-in-hollywood-10390018.html) She has said that she barely watched a single movie in her childhood; the island had no theater, so a sheet was occasionally dropped in the town hall for screenings.[7](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/features/the-hateful-eight-stunt-woman-turned-actress-zoe-bell-on-quentin-tarantino-s-new-film-sexism-and-double-standards-in-hollywood-10390018.html)
Her route into stunts ran through sport rather than film. A gymnast named Peter Bell trained with her gym coach for about a year and told her he was a stuntman, which she did not believe at sixteen.[9](https://theglassmagazine.com/glass-interviews-star-of-the-hateful-eight-zoe-bell/) Through martial arts she met working stunt performers and recognized the career existed; after her first stunt job, jumping out of a car on the New Zealand soap opera *Shortland Street* (1992), she took work on *Hercules: The Legendary Journeys* and *Xena: Warrior Princess*.[1](https://www.fullecirclemagazine.com/2009/08/conversation-with-zoe-bell.html) At seventeen she became Lucy Lawless's stunt double on *Xena*, doubling her for the last three seasons of the series and appearing in the credits of 66 episodes.[3](https://www.westword.com/arts-culture/denver-film-fest-z-e-bell-talks-about-fighting-her-way-through-hollywood-7337715/) • [10](https://www.actionmoviefreak.com/index-2019.php) Her father, a doctor, also brought her a stuntman's phone number after treating him for a concussion.[9](https://theglassmagazine.com/glass-interviews-star-of-the-hateful-eight-zoe-bell/)
## Injuries and the move to Los Angeles
Bell's early career included a fractured spine; she turned up for work a week after the accident, and the director sent her home until she was properly mended.[7](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/features/the-hateful-eight-stunt-woman-turned-actress-zoe-bell-on-quentin-tarantino-s-new-film-sexism-and-double-standards-in-hollywood-10390018.html) When *Xena* ended in 2001, the two production companies that employed most of New Zealand's film community left, and Bell headed for Canada, then Los Angeles.[5](https://www.motionpictures.org/2015/11/how-quentin-tarantino-protege-zoe-bell-traded-stunts-acting/)
She interviewed for a stunt role on *Kill Bill* during the two weeks she had stopped in Hollywood to appear in the documentary *Double Dare* (2004), which follows her and the veteran stuntwoman Jeannie Epper.[5](https://www.motionpictures.org/2015/11/how-quentin-tarantino-protege-zoe-bell-traded-stunts-acting/) • [4](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-mar-02-et-zoe2-story.html) Producers were struggling to cast female stunt performers because films such as *Charlie's Angels* had occupied many of them; Tarantino noticed the way she kept retrying a failed stunt and hired her as Uma Thurman's double.[5](https://www.motionpictures.org/2015/11/how-quentin-tarantino-protege-zoe-bell-traded-stunts-acting/) Tae kwon do-trained, she was initially hired as Thurman's "crash and smash" double and promoted to fight double across both *Kill Bill* films.[11](https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jcms/images/20_61.4fang.pdf)
On *Kill Bill* a stunt went wrong and she shattered her wrist; surgery, pins, and three months of immobilization left her unable to swim, run, or do gymnastics for close to a year, an injury she describes as shaking her sense of identity as much as her livelihood.[12](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/zoe-bell-talks-death-proof-with-rt/) As Sharon Stone's double on *Catwoman* (2004), she later performed a 220-foot high fall on a wire.[7](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/features/the-hateful-eight-stunt-woman-turned-actress-zoe-bell-on-quentin-tarantino-s-new-film-sexism-and-double-standards-in-hollywood-10390018.html)
## Death Proof and the turn to acting
Tarantino showed up at Bell's house with a *Death Proof* script that had her name on the cover; she had asked him to cast someone who looked like her so she could double them, and instead he wrote her a lead role playing herself.[5](https://www.motionpictures.org/2015/11/how-quentin-tarantino-protege-zoe-bell-traded-stunts-acting/) • [13](https://www.nzonscreen.com/profile/zoe-bell/) In the film, part of the 2007 *Grindhouse* double feature with [Robert Rodriguez](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-rodriguez)'s *Planet Terror*, her character joins two other women who borrow a 1970 [Dodge Challenger](https://www.edgepedia.org/dodge-challenger), and Bell lies sprawled across the hood for the climactic "Ship's Mast" chase as [Kurt Russell](https://www.edgepedia.org/kurt-russell)'s Stuntman Mike tries to force them off the road.[2](https://www.filmfest-oldenburg.de/en/program/tribute/) • [14](https://filmfreedonia.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/roderick-heath-film-writing-2022.pdf) Performing the stunt herself was a stipulation from the start, and Tarantino later noted that her instinct as a stuntwoman, hiding her face from the camera, had to be consciously undone so the shot could show her.[12](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/zoe-bell-talks-death-proof-with-rt/) • [6](https://www.wired.com/2009/10/stuntwoman-zoe-bell-whip-it/)
Acting followed quickly. She played the assassin Eve in the Crackle web series *Angel of Death* (2009), in which she performed all her own stunts, and Bloody Holly in [Drew Barrymore](https://www.edgepedia.org/drew-barrymore)'s roller-derby film *[Whip It](https://www.edgepedia.org/whip-it-film)* (2009).[4](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-mar-02-et-zoe2-story.html) • [6](https://www.wired.com/2009/10/stuntwoman-zoe-bell-whip-it/) She starred in and produced the women-in-prison action film *Raze* (2013), an experience she framed as carrying a movie in the way a lead actor does.[7](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/features/the-hateful-eight-stunt-woman-turned-actress-zoe-bell-on-quentin-tarantino-s-new-film-sexism-and-double-standards-in-hollywood-10390018.html) • [15](https://www.rogerebert.com/mzs/zoe-bell-death-proof-raze-new-zealand-stunt-stuntwoman) She has described acting as a different kind of fear, one that took her six years to become comfortable with, and she notes that she was paid less as an actress than as a stuntwoman.[5](https://www.motionpictures.org/2015/11/how-quentin-tarantino-protege-zoe-bell-traded-stunts-acting/)
## Later work and stunt coordinating
**Tarantino collaborations.** Bell has worked on every one of Tarantino's films since the *Kill Bill* movies in some capacity, and on four of them with acting credits.[9](https://theglassmagazine.com/glass-interviews-star-of-the-hateful-eight-zoe-bell/) • [16](https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/q-and-a/a32919/zoe-bell-interview/) In *The Hateful Eight* (2015) she played Six Horse Judy, a purely acting role driving a six-horse stagecoach; she spent three months learning to drive the six-horse team for the part.[7](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/features/the-hateful-eight-stunt-woman-turned-actress-zoe-bell-on-quentin-tarantino-s-new-film-sexism-and-double-standards-in-hollywood-10390018.html) • [5](https://www.motionpictures.org/2015/11/how-quentin-tarantino-protege-zoe-bell-traded-stunts-acting/) In *Once Upon a Time in Hollywood* (2019) she played Janet Miller, wife of Cliff Booth's stunt double Randy, and served as the film's stunt coordinator.[17](https://www.theringer.com/2019/08/02/movies/zoe-bell-quentin-tarantino-once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood) • [8](https://johnsonlaird.com/our-actors/Zoe-Bell)
Her own stunt and coordinating credits extend across major franchise work: stunts on *Iron Man 3* (2013), stunt double for [Cate Blanchett](https://www.edgepedia.org/cate-blanchett)'s Hela in *Thor: Ragnarok* (2017), stunt coordinator on *Thor: Love and Thunder* (2022), and stunt coordinator on [Taika Waititi](https://www.edgepedia.org/taika-waititi)'s *Time Bandits* series for Apple TV (2024).[10](https://www.actionmoviefreak.com/index-2019.php) • [8](https://johnsonlaird.com/our-actors/Zoe-Bell) Her screen acting credits include *Malignant* (2021) and guest roles on *Hawaii Five-0*, *CSI: Miami*, and *Gossip Girl*.[8](https://johnsonlaird.com/our-actors/Zoe-Bell) She signed with [Creative Artists Agency](https://www.edgepedia.org/creative-artists-agency) in 2020.[11](https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jcms/images/20_61.4fang.pdf)
## Recognition
Bell received the Denver Film Festival's Rising Star award and returned to the festival as the star of *Camino* (2015), an independent thriller in which she plays a photojournalist pursued by mercenaries in Colombia.[5](https://www.motionpictures.org/2015/11/how-quentin-tarantino-protege-zoe-bell-traded-stunts-acting/) In 2015 she sat on the jury of the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival.[7](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/features/the-hateful-eight-stunt-woman-turned-actress-zoe-bell-on-quentin-tarantino-s-new-film-sexism-and-double-standards-in-hollywood-10390018.html) Her stunt work has been recognized with Taurus World Stunt Awards, and the 33rd International Filmfest Oldenburg (2026) devoted a tribute to her, framing her career as the point where the visible and invisible sides of cinema, the actor and the double, merge.[8](https://johnsonlaird.com/our-actors/Zoe-Bell) • [2](https://www.filmfest-oldenburg.de/en/program/tribute/) In January 2020 she co-founded the Stunt Equity Coalition, a nonprofit advocating for stunt performer rights.[18](https://glassandnote.com/culture/zoe-bell-once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-bruce-lee)
## References
1. [Fülle Circle Magazine, "Death Proof: A Conversation with Zoë Bell" by Jason Anders (2009)](https://www.fullecirclemagazine.com/2009/08/conversation-with-zoe-bell.html)
2. [Tribute – Zoë Bell, 33. Internationales Filmfest Oldenburg](https://www.filmfest-oldenburg.de/en/program/tribute/)
3. [Denver Westword, "Denver Film Fest: Zöe Bell Talks About Fighting Her Way Through Hollywood"](https://www.westword.com/arts-culture/denver-film-fest-z-e-bell-talks-about-fighting-her-way-through-hollywood-7337715/)
4. [The Los Angeles Times, "Stuntwomen don't cry" (March 2, 2009)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-mar-02-et-zoe2-story.html)
5. [MotionPictures.org (The Credits), "How Quentin Tarantino Protege Zoe Bell Traded Stunts For Acting" (2015)](https://www.motionpictures.org/2015/11/how-quentin-tarantino-protege-zoe-bell-traded-stunts-acting/)
6. [WIRED, "Stuntwoman Zoe Bell Talks Whip It, Tarantino's Genius Mind" (2009)](https://www.wired.com/2009/10/stuntwoman-zoe-bell-whip-it/)
7. [The Independent, "The Hateful Eight: Stunt woman turned actress Zoe Bell on Quentin Tarantino's new film, sexism and double standards in Hollywood" (2015)](https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/features/the-hateful-eight-stunt-woman-turned-actress-zoe-bell-on-quentin-tarantino-s-new-film-sexism-and-double-standards-in-hollywood-10390018.html)
8. [Zoe Bell Actor Profile, Johnson & Laird (J&L Acting Agency NZ)](https://johnsonlaird.com/our-actors/Zoe-Bell)
9. [The Glass Magazine, "Glass interviews star of The Hateful Eight – Zoe Bell" (2016)](https://theglassmagazine.com/glass-interviews-star-of-the-hateful-eight-zoe-bell/)
10. [Action Movie Freak, Zoë Bell filmography listing](https://www.actionmoviefreak.com/index-2019.php)
11. [Karen Fang, review of Lauren Steimer, *Experts in Action*, JCMS 61.4 (2022)](https://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jcms/images/20_61.4fang.pdf)
12. [Rotten Tomatoes, "Zoe Bell talks Death Proof with RT" (2007)](https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com/article/zoe-bell-talks-death-proof-with-rt/)
13. [NZ On Screen, Zoë Bell profile](https://www.nzonscreen.com/profile/zoe-bell/)
14. [Roderick Heath, film writing on *Death Proof* (2022)](https://filmfreedonia.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/roderick-heath-film-writing-2022.pdf)
15. [RogerEbert.com, Matt Zoller Seitz, "'Am I crazy for even considering this?' Stuntwoman Zoë Bell says, 'Yes,' then does it anyway" (2014)](https://www.rogerebert.com/mzs/zoe-bell-death-proof-raze-new-zealand-stunt-stuntwoman)
16. [Elle, "It's Time for Zoë Bell, Quentin Tarantino's Right Hand (Stunt)Woman, to Be a Leading Lady" (2015)](https://www.elle.com/culture/celebrities/q-and-a/a32919/zoe-bell-interview/)
17. [The Ringer, "The Stuntwoman Who Made the Stuntman of 'Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood'" (2019)](https://www.theringer.com/2019/08/02/movies/zoe-bell-quentin-tarantino-once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood)
18. [Glass & Note, "Stunt, Truth, and Tension: Zoe Bell's Role in 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' and the Bruce Lee Controversy"](https://glassandnote.com/culture/zoe-bell-once-upon-a-time-in-hollywood-bruce-lee)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Film people and crafts › Film actors and performers › Stunt performers, action doubles, and film combat specialists*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license