Mongolian Stuntman Pursues His Dream to Become An Action Film Star

Trans. by B.DULGUUN

Most people only notice the main characters in films, dramas and other productions. This is an expected outcome as the spotlight is shone on specific characters. What happens backstage or how many different types of professionals work day and night behind the scene to produce a film, television and theater production is not well known to the audience.

Besides actors, there are directors, scriptwriters, cameramen, stylists, and makeup artists working backstage. Among those who do the most dangerous jobs are stunt performers, commonly known as stuntmen or stuntwomen. They risk their necks to perform show-stopping stunts, amazing tricks, crazy maneuvers and thrilling action scenes that everyone loves but would never dare to do themselves.

South Korea has combined theatrical arts with martial arts and created a new type of medium. It enables stunt performers to stand under the spotlight as they only have to act by performing difficult choreographs and martial arts techniques without dialogue. Compared to stunt acting, it is much safer, but still gives the same excitement and thrill as watching an action film.

B.Nandin-Erdene is a young Mongolian actor and stuntman who has been doing martial arts performances for several years at a well-known theater in South Korea, Jump Theater. He gave an interview about martial arts performances and his career.

gCan you briefly tell us about Jump Theater?

Jump Theater started its operations 12 years ago. The theater has been showcasing only one production called "Jump", a non-verbal comic martial arts performance, during this period. "Jump" premiered in 2003 and soon became a hit in Korea and around the world.

Anyone from any country can understand the main idea and plot of the production as it uses action instead of dialogue. Mostly tourists come to watch our show and we have many fans. There are people who come to watch our performance every time they visit South Korea.

Our theater has 300 seats and performs two to three times a day. Even so, we usually get a full house.

How many Mongolian performers work at Jump Theater?

Currently, there are four Mongolians besides me that perform at the theater. We had two Mongolian actresses, but they recently returned to Mongolia.

At first, I used to work with a Mongolian stuntwoman called Yanjindulam. She is currently studying acting at a famous South Korean arts school. Many Mongolians do similar types of performances in South Korea. For example...