HOLLYWOOD stuntwoman Heidi Pascoe’s job has its ups & downs Be it diving off hundredfoot cliffs or getting smashed to the ground by a car, the 1994 Millersville graduate-turnedprofessional-stuntwoman enjoys every minute of her roller-coaster career.
“I
by Kelly Smedley ’93
was a daredevil as a child,” said Pascoe, speaking from her home in Los Angeles. As a child growing up in Wilkes-Barre, she watched “The Fall Guy” on TV. Her dream was to be the fall girl. She said, “I loved to do adrenaline stuff.” A member of the swimming and diving team at Millersville, Pascoe got her start in stunts as a high diver at Lancaster’s Dutch Wonderland Amusement Park. After college she began working for a variety of stunt show venues, including Six Flags and SeaWorld. Pascoe admitted that her mother worries about her. “So I never tell her when I’m doing a big stunt. I wait till after I finish it before I tell her. “My dad passed away before I got into stunts, but knowing him, he would’ve totally approved of it and supported me. When I was still high diving, he always came to watch the shows and was very proud of what I was doing,” said Pascoe. Encouraged by her friends, Pascoe began entering cliff diving competitions. In 1996, she was the first woman to win the competition at Acapulco’s famous 148-foot cliff.
12 Hollywood Stuntwoman Spring 2012