Kirk Caouette

Kirk Caouette is a 25 year veteran of the film industry, best known for his work as a Stunt Performer/Stunt Co-coordinator/Fight Choreographer/ and Main unit Director. in 2017 he became the first stunt person to be given the incredible honor of being presented with the SAM PAYNE AWARD for HUMANITY and INTEGRITY. Starting in 1995, Kirk was one of the busiest and most sought after stunt doubles in the industry for 15 years. After performing thousands of stunts, and being a stunt coordinator and fight choreographer on two DC Comic tent-poles, his thirst for adventure brought him into the world of indie filmmaking. In 2010, Kirk wrote and financed his first feature film HIT 'N STRUM. Having his lead actor and his director drop out of the project at the last minute, Kirk was forced to play the lead character and direct the film himself. The film was an urban musical, of which Kirk had written all the songs, with the intention of having the music legend John Mann play the lead roll. Having never sang in front of an audience, and having never acted on camera before, or directed a movie, the project was doomed for failure. After the film was finished, it was rejected by over 35 festivals and sat on the shelf in his office for more than a year. During this year Kirk was also diagnosed with bone marrow cancer, his wife left him, and his life hit rock bottom. Finally, the upstart Canadian Film Festival called and asked to see the movie. They selected the film and to everyone's surprise, it won nearly every award at the festival, including a Best Actor Award for Kirk's performance. A flood of film festivals began calling, asking for a screener, not realizing they had already rejected the film the previous year. But a few top tier festivals were allowed to program it and soon the film was in major festivals in several countries -- including the massively prestigious Shanghai International Film Festival and the Goa International Film Festival of India. The film was not allowed to compete at any festival it had previously been rejected by, except for the acclaimed Whistler International Film Festival. The programmer, Paul Gratton, made an exception, and screened the film out of competition. Not surprisingly, it was one of the best reviewed films at the festival and was given the Audience Choice Award (runner up). After so much positive press, the tiny film was finally given a small 4 day release at Cineplex in Vancouver. Defying all odds again, it was held over for five extra weeks by word of mouth alone. The film was then released in 6 other cities, including the Cineplex in downtown Toronto. The two most influential critics in Toronto did their best to sabotage the film. They made it clear in their 0 star reviews that they were offended by the fact that the film starred a stuntman who could also sing. Despite their best efforts, it was again held over for an extra two weeks by word of mouth popularity. Overall, 80% of all reviews were 4 stars or higher, and by the end of its run, the film had garnered eleven industry awards and nominations and was picked up by several networks. It has been playing on Bell Media for 8 full years. After HIT 'N STRUM, Kirk put 100% of his energy into recovering from the bone marrow cancer and incredibly went back to work full time as a stunt performer in 2013 -- racking up dozens of credits on shows like Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow, Lucifer, Supernatural, and many others. Between stunt gigs, he collaborated on a short film with the world renowned cellist, Tina Guo. Tina was nominated for a Grammy for composing the theme song for WONDER WOMAN. In 2014, between her gigs with Hans Zimmer, Kirk and Tina wrote and performed an original Cello/Piano composition together on camera for their short film THE DEVIL AND THE DANCER. Yes, Kirk is also an accomplished pianist. Shortly after that, Kirk was brought to Beijing by Ali-Baba and the Chinese Film Group in 2015 to take over the screenplay for the Chinese mega-project feature film ASURA -- the first $100 million foreign language film made outside of Hollywood. Shot in seven locations around China, ASURA is to date the largest production in the history of filmmaking. Kirk has strong ties to the Chinese film industry and he is looking forward to continuing to bridge the creative gap between the North American and Chinese film industries. Since 2015, Kirk has continued performing and coordinating stunts and making films. His latest auteur indie feature film is called THE BADGER. which has been picked up by Raven Banner for world wide release. THE BADGER took a stunt team of over one hundred men and women, four months of fight choreography, and three years to shoot and edit. During production, Kirk built an incredible team around him and was given the chance to work with some of the most skilled actors and technicians in the country. THE BADGER will be released at AFM this coming November (2020). After the industry wide Covid shut down, Kirk is now back working full time in the stunt department. He is also involved with several projects in development. Trivia: Kirk is the only person to ever be nominated by UBCP/ACTRA for both, Best Actor and Best Stunt Performance in a feature film -- and what is even more unique is that he was nominated for both at the same time. UBCP/ACTRA has 6000 working members.