Zandara Kennedy, the celebs’ stunt double and shortly to be the primary Canadian to compete within the Method Drift Professional Spec in 2023, grew up considering she would be part of Cirque du Soleil – however took a unique path.

After a severe damage prevented her from coaching as an adolescent, Kennedy finally transferred to College in Vancouver, the place she earned her motorbike license and have become a motorbike courier, then was launched to a stuntman and found thrilling alternatives within the movie business.

“I used to be like, oh my god, is that this a job I may do? And I began chasing him aggressively,” says Kennedy.

However moving into stunts “was fairly a journey,” Kennedy recollects, because the movie business’s “insularity” and reliance on household connections to get forward made it troublesome at first. Kennedy needed to be “very acutely aware” to hone her craft and discover alternatives. She reviewed the resumes of high stunt ladies to find out the coursework and expertise she wanted, and educated extensively.

A part of that coaching took Kennedy to stunt driving faculty in Los Angeles; There she sat behind the wheel and realized: Oh, I like that. She went dwelling and purchased a 1987 Ford Crown Victoria to journey her bike, observe driving, and shoot movies on weekend evenings.

“Individuals began to note that,” says Kennedy. “Though I’ve accomplished some stunt work, what set me aside was my dedication to driving. And I simply had a coverage that any cash I made doing stunts I might put proper again into driving.”

Through the years Kennedy has taken on stunt doubles for actors corresponding to Anne Heche, Katee Sakhoff and Uma Thurman. She’s additionally labored diligently to hone her expertise as a stunt coordinator, mechanic (she works on her personal automotive), and precision driver who “spends 99% of her time sliding sideways at excessive speeds.”

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The entrepreneur spoke to Kennedy about her ardour for drifting and the way she manages worry whereas talking up for underrepresented teams within the stunt and motorsport industries.

“I would be the solely Canadian to ever compete in Method Drift this yr. [and] I am the one brazenly queer individual [to compete].”

When she began drifting, Kennedy was decided to be one of the best. “I wished to be one of many high riders – not the highest riders – simply the highest riders,” she says.

Kennedy did loads of cross coaching. To this point, she has attended Drift College USA, Skip Barrier Racing College, Workforce O’Neill Rally College, Dirtfish Rally College, Movement Image Driving Clinic, and Reel Stunt Driving College, amongst others. She has labored with coach Taka Aono, one of many unique drivers in Method Drift who competed for 12 seasons.

In 2021, Kennedy earned her license to compete in Method Drift, the world’s premier drifting competitors. Drifting is a mode of driving wherein the motive force deliberately oversteers and loses traction, however maintains management of the automotive whereas navigating a nook.

“My entire trajectory modified immediately,” says Kennedy, “as a result of [I realized] I would be the solely Canadian ever to compete in Method Drift this yr, [and] I am the one brazenly queer individual [to compete]. As quickly as that was on the desk, I knew I needed to do it.”

Kennedy spent all of final yr finishing a 20,000 mile tour of the USA, driving to numerous racetracks and competing in open drift occasions – doing all the things she may to arrange for what is likely to be her most important accomplishment thus far.

“I did not wish to present up and have individuals say, ‘Oh nice, one other range take,'” says Kennedy, “despite the fact that I needed to earn my license.”

Picture credit score: Tommy Flanagan

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“The requirements I maintain my efficiency to…make the stakes a lot higher.”

As somebody who repeatedly performs daring stunts and high-speed rides at knowledgeable level, Kennedy naturally struggles with a specific amount of hysteria. (Simply final month, for instance, the observe automotive she bought her driver’s license in caught hearth in Sonoma; she’s within the technique of rebuilding it).

However Kennedy does not let the considered what would possibly occur cease him from giving 100%.

“What’s type of bizarre about stunts is you recognize possibly a month prematurely that you will crash that automotive, get set on hearth or thrown by that factor, and dwelling with that type of worry for a month is horrible. Kennedy says. “So I’ve at all times been good at splitting up.”

One other stuntwoman as soon as informed Kennedy that she did not take into consideration the stunt till she did it, however Kennedy acknowledges that technically talking, technical stunts require loads of thought and planning — a course of that “consists of anticipating all the things that is going to go fallacious may go and attempt to keep away from it.”

After all, even with essentially the most thorough preparation, errors can and do occur. “I’ve discovered to stay with a sure level of worry,” says Kennedy.

I do not need the explanation I failed being blamed on my lack of anatomy.

Kennedy additionally says that there will be nervousness when drifting. At one in every of her first drifting competitions, her coach did not perceive why she was nervous, stating that Kennedy “crashes vehicles and units himself on hearth to make a dwelling.”

However with stunt work, loads of the stress is behind the scenes, Kennedy explains, noting that “if you see us, we’re not doing an excellent job.”

The anxiousness Kennedy typically feels throughout competitors is completely different.

“The requirements I maintain my efficiency to, particularly with the added component of often being the one lady, makes the stakes a lot higher… I do not need the explanation I did not be attributed to my missing anatomy will,” says Kennedy.

Credit score: Blair Howard

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“Typically you need to create the group you need or be the one who reveals it as attainable.”

Kennedy is efficiently forging her personal path in a male-dominated business, and she or he is dedicated to bringing individuals from underrepresented teams along with her.

She is an envoy for Racing Satisfaction, a corporation based in Europe in 2019 to advertise LGBTQ+ inclusivity within the motorsport business and amongst its expertise and industrial companions. “Racing Satisfaction is such an incredible group,” says Kennedy.

However she was “terrified” of working with Racing Satisfaction as a result of it may imply for her future within the sport.

“In North America, racing is stereotypically extra of a conservative Pink State sport,” explains Kennedy. “So after I first began drifting, competing and in search of sponsors, I wasn’t certain how a lot of myself I may share to work with sponsors. And I did not wish to disguise something basic about myself that I did not really feel was problematic.”

When she was invited to be an envoy for Racing Satisfaction’s launch in North America, Kennedy realized she needed to make a number of calls to her sponsors to see if they’d nonetheless assist her. “The reply wasn’t a common sure,” says Kennedy.

However Kennedy recalled when she first began competing and all her Google searches for LGBTQ+ illustration in motorsport got here up clean — and she or he wished to alter that.

“I simply wished to search out somebody like me to do what I do, and I could not,” Kennedy recollects. “And that cemented for me that I needed to do it, as a result of if I could not discover her, how is slightly child doing [or] a child in high faculty simply beginning to actually know who it’s to see a spot for themselves on this business? Typically you need to create the group you need or be the person who reveals it as a lot as attainable.”

Kennedy is keen to indicate it may be accomplished — and has a number of phrases of knowledge for anybody who would possibly encounter resistance alongside the best way.

“Each individual, no matter being a minority, is feminine [or] queer, each one that is completely different ultimately faces further challenges, however even people who find themselves identical to everybody else may have obstacles to entry,” says Kennedy.[But you can’t let other people] disturb or crush your spirit. Perseverance and diligence will finally get you the place you wish to go – when you simply do not cease, they cannot cease you.”