Husband-and-wife world champion martial artists Justin Ortiz, 32, and Jewelianna Ramos-Ortiz, 26, laugh when they recount the story of their first audition in 2018 as stunt performers for Netflix’s Atlanta-shot series “Cobra Kai.”
The Mableton-based couple tells the tale with an air of absurdity as they describe just how foreign they felt in the land of film auditions.
While they both had accolades as martial artists — Ortiz as a multi-world champion in karate and kickboxing, Ramos-Ortiz as a multi-world champion in sport karate — neither had any experience with film. They had no professional headshots or resumes. They didn’t know what the terms “slate,” “wreck,” “gag” or “tafted” meant. (Introduce yourself, high-impact fall, stunt sequence and unionized performer, respectively.)
They anxiously scanned the room, watching others for clues on how to act and what to do. In the first round, the instruction was vague: “Show me what you got,” the casting director said.
“I’m saying in my head, ‘Wait a minute, what do I got? What can I do?’” Ortiz recalls, feeling panicked. “I was like, ‘OK, they want traditional karate, so I’m going to give ‘em some traditional forms, and I’m going to start breaking into my creative stuff, do some flips, and then I’ll end it.’ So I did that.”
Credit: CURTIS BONDS BAKER/NETFLIX
Credit: CURTIS BONDS BAKER/NETFLIX
Ramos-Ortiz gave it her best, too. Assigned numbers upon entry, they listened as the casting team called out the numbers of those who would be axed. Half the room left. They remained standing.
“Jewels and I looked at each other, surprised. ‘OK. We’re still here,’” he said.
In the second round, the casting team asked them to perform their “best wrecks.” After deciphering what that meant, they both crashed to the ground well enough to make an impression.
In the final round, the fight coordinator taught them a choreographed sequence to perform on camera. Relying on their martial arts competition background and instincts, they hit their marks and added some of their own flair. For the first time all day, the casting team broke their stone faces and stood to clap.
Ortiz and Ramos-Ortiz went home ecstatic. But weeks passed with no word. They suspected they were down for the count.
Then Ortiz got a text. While the stunt coordinator didn’t want them for “Cobra Kai” yet, he did want Ortiz for “Ozark,” the Netflix crime drama starring Jason Bateman and Laura Linney.
Soon after, Ortiz was kicking down doors, firing off a prop machine gun and triggering explosions on set.
“I’m shooting up this church, and everything’s blowing up,” he said. “And I remember saying to myself … ‘This is soooo cool.’ That feeling of creating with other people and using my martial arts to help tell a story in front of the camera, I was like, ‘Wow, wait, hold on.’ This is something really cool that I can use my love and passion and transition it into this new world.”
He went home to share the joy.
At the time, the couple was managing a chain of six martial arts schools in and around Cumming called The Dojo. They also traveled often to teach, host seminars, give private lessons and consult in martial arts spaces under their brand name, Martial Smart. The Dojo was the reason they had relocated from Florida to Georgia.
“He came home raving about it,” Ramos-Ortiz recalled. “He was like, ‘That’s it. I love this. I’m hooked.’ And I was like, ‘Really? OK, well, you go play film, and I’m going to keep the stable side of the money coming in. But you have fun.’”
Since she was a little girl, Ramos-Ortiz had dreamed of running a martial arts school, just as her parents had after they migrated from Puerto Rico to Miami.
“I started martial arts when I was in my mama’s belly,” she said. “I was basically born on the mats.”
Credit: Justin Ortiz
Credit: Justin Ortiz
Not long after her husband was cast in “Ozark,” however, she got recruited to work in the water safety department for an NBC telenovela filming aboard a yacht in her hometown, Miami. She had grown up snorkeling and scuba diving, so an ocean adventure was in her wheelhouse. But once aboard the yacht, she was asked to be a stunt coordinator instead. She embraced the challenge.
“I was game,” she said.
Within minutes, she was signing a new contract and cast as a hostage.
“We’re going to throw you off the boat,” the stunt coordinator told her. There would be no rehearsal; otherwise, the crew would have to waste time getting her dried off.
Next thing she knew, she was in the middle of the Atlantic pretending to fight for her life.
“After my first day on set, that was it,” she said. “I was bit by the stunt bug, and I didn’t want to do anything else.”
Credit: Courtesy of Mann Robinson Studios
Credit: Courtesy of Mann Robinson Studios
Full-steam stunt
Since those first stunt jobs, both Ortiz and Ramos-Ortiz have catapulted into the industry.
Ramos-Ortiz’s second gig was playing a fleeing refugee in the “Ms. Marvel” series. She wore a wire gag to scale the side of a speeding train and run along the top of the cars. Director Ryan Coogler picked her to play a Namor scientist in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” for which she was suspended by a lollipop rig (a round circular belt attached to a vertical support arm) to film a “dry-for-wet sequence,” mimicking the fluid motion of swimming underwater while hanging dry. She doubled for Jenna Ortega in “Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice,” working alongside Tim Burton.
Credit: Courtesy of Jewelianna Ramos-Ortiz
Credit: Courtesy of Jewelianna Ramos-Ortiz
When costar Eric Dane complimented the emotion she brought to a scene in “Bad Boys: Ride or Die,” she was encouraged to pursue acting.
She plays the lead role in “The Humming Grows,” a short action film written and directed by Aughbar, an Atlanta-based filmmaker who goes by one name. The film won a Sylvia Award for best Latin short at the 2024 Rome (Georgia) International Film Festival. The film continues to make the festival rounds this summer and will be featured at the Cobb International Film Festival in Marietta, July 31-Aug. 3.
“That film played such a key part in changing my life,” she said. It taught her she was capable of not just doubling a lead actress but being one.
Ortiz likewise gained quick momentum in the stunt industry. He worked his way up from stunt performer in “Black Adam” to stunt actor in Amazon Prime’s “Jackpot” and choreographer of fight scenes for “Power Rangers: Dark Unity.”
Credit: Courtesy of Mann Robinson Studios
Credit: Courtesy of Mann Robinson Studios
And when they finally made it onto “Cobra Kai,” it was in acting roles. In season six, they played co-captains Diego Aguilar and Maria Alvarez of the Spanish dojo Furia de Pantera. For one episode, the production team transformed The Eastern concert venue in Reynoldstown into a global martial arts arena to portray the international Sekai Taikai tournament. Having both come from the global competitive martial arts scene, that episode was particularly special, reminding them where they came from.
“That was full circle for me,” Ramos-Ortiz said. “It’s been an absolute honor to bring this feisty, high caliber, yet emotional female martial artist to life on such an iconic show as a martial artist … It really is my driving purpose to inspire young women to pursue their dreams.”
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Forging a path for others
Reinventing their careers in the stunt industry was transformative for Ortiz and Ramos-Ortiz, and it fueled their desire to help others do the same.
“It was an epiphany for me,” Ortiz said.
Many martial artists don’t know what to do with their lives after their competitive days are over, explained Ortiz.
“After you’ve won championships, there’s nothing after that. You get a trophy, and then what?” he said. “It is sad because you see these people who have worked sometimes even harder than other professional athletes, and afterward they are working at IHOP. It saddens me. I’m just blessed that I found this world.”
Ortiz said he’s been surprised at how few martial artists who have transitioned to the stunt industry have come back to share their experience.
“A lot of martial artists that do the stunts, or are stunt coordinators, or second unit directors … they never went back to show the karate world, ‘Hey, this is what you can do with your love of martial arts.’ It’s almost like they’re gatekeeping,” Ortiz said.
The Ortizes want to pass it on. They launched Action! Stunt workshops to teach creatives, artists and athletes from a wide range of backgrounds how to translate their skills for the stunt industry. The success of the workshops compelled them to start a film-production company, Wreck Hard Productions, which they hope will allow them to hire up-and-coming stunt performers.
A broader trend
The Ortizes are representative of a broader ethos in Atlanta’s stunt community. They aren’t alone in their desire to mentor, teach and provide a path for others. And they aren’t alone in having reinvented their athletic careers in the stunt industry. Rory Bratter, who turned a former auto-body shop in Fairburn into Diamond Action Design Studio in January, is another.
The stunt rehearsal space is blacked out for filming. Professional lighting and wire gags are secured to the rafters. Thick pads line the walls and floors. An entire arsenal of stunt weapons hangs on a pegboard by the entrance. Out back, motorcycles are parked waiting to be used in an action sequence.
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Like the Ortizes, Bratter is a world champion martial artist. He won multiple sport karate world titles and was a member of the USA Olympic Wushu Team in 2002. He won more than 100 national championships and eight world titles across various martial arts disciplines before he transitioned into performance martial arts and acrobatics.
He spent 18 years with Cirque du Soleil in Montreal and Las Vegas as part of the original cast of “KÀ,” but when the pandemic shut down most of Cirque’s live performances, he moved back to his home state, New York, to focus on stunt work.
There, he clashed with a culture he didn’t anticipate. In the Big Apple, he found a stunt industry blocked by gatekeepers and lacking camaraderie. He was disappointed by how disconnected the stunt community was. He had grown accustomed to Cirque’s collaborative, supportive culture and gyms where people practiced together.
A few years ago, he visited Atlanta to work on the Marvel series “Echo” and immediately sensed a contrast.
“I fell in love with the community,” he said. “Everybody here was enthusiastic about training together … It had always been my dream to have a facility to bring all these people together to train and share their knowledge of their movement and their disciplines.”
That’s when Bratter moved to Atlanta and opened Diamond. He teaches private and group classes, brings in other professionals to teach workshops and rents out the space to people in the stunt industry.
“We just try to be as much of a resource to the film community as possible,” Bratter said.
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Building a mentorship culture
The day AJC interviewed Bratter at Diamond in April, he was there to open the studio for a stunt crew to rehearse a fight sequence.
It was two against one that day. One villain (stunt performer Bobby Martinez), against one klutzy guy (Ortiz) and one fierce woman (stunt coordinator Jess Durham).
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
The klutz threw the first punch. He aimed for the left jawline of the villain but missed. The klutz’s female comrade stepped up to the rescue. She thrust her closed fist into the villain’s cheek. The villain swung back, but she ducked, leaving the klutz’s nose square in the line of impact for a comical second blow.
She hit the villain a final time, sending him stumbling backward, where the klutz finally got his redemption. He delivered a swinging kick upward into the villain’s nose, sending him flying into the air and crashing to the floor.
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
The stunt actors huddled around a playback monitor with director James Hutchinson III, director of photography Corey Lincoln and producer Bobby Souris to review the footage. Durham pointed at the monitor.
“For my ending punch here, maybe I should let it breathe for a second, let him take it and come around again for the crack, crack. Are you OK with that?” she asked Martinez.
“Copy that,” he said.
“All right, guys, let’s do it again,” Hutchinson said. “And action.”
After the rehearsal, the crew gathered in the lobby. As they bantered and recounted their tales from the industry, a palpable spirit of camaraderie and collaboration became obvious. Each of them had played a role in helping one another.
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Souris mentored Ortiz in his early days when he knew nothing about film or acting.
“(He) has been so important in my life and my career. ... He helped me understand that we do have advantages being a martial artist or a dancer or an athlete … we just need to understand how to apply it differently,” Ortiz said.
Formerly a gymnast in Florida, Martinez credits Souris with helping him forge a path in the stunt industry. Martinez was just 14 when Souris hired him as staff for a Miami costume company to perform flips and tricks at events. After seeing his talent, Souris encouraged Martinez to pursue stunts.
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
Credit: Jason Getz / Jason.Getz@ajc.com
“I moved to Georgia about two years ago because of (Souris),” Martinez said. “Then I got to meet all these wonderful people. Over the last two years, they have all been invaluable assets and invaluable friends. They’re all so willing to help teach and help support the pursuit of a career in this industry. You hear all the cutthroat stories about it, but here you meet all these great hearts and souls … It just makes you want to stay and be a part of it.”
Durham, who was a trained ballet dancer before becoming a stunt performer, recently took Martinez under her wing as a shadowing apprentice on the set of NBC’s “Found,” for which she was a stunt coordinator. He has been starting to learn the art of fight choreography.
“Had people (gatekept) me, I would not be where I am now,” Durham said. “I would not have learned the skills and been like, ‘Hey, this is a safe space. I don’t know what I’m doing. Can you teach me?’ And so I try to do that.”
Meanwhile, Ortiz has helped Martinez master his kicks.
I get something from everybody here,” said Martinez
When Souris opened Diamond, he also launched a film production company next door called Good Slate Productions. The goal is to fashion a creative village that fosters rising talent in both stunts and film development, including writing, producing, directing, photography and editing. Lincoln has been progressing up the ranks as a director of photography at Good Slate and elsewhere. Hutchinson, who recently achieved Directors Guild of America status, will soon direct a new horror comedy film written by Souris and developed by Good Slate Productions. It will likely cast stunt actors who rehearse at Diamond.
The web of support facilitates what Souris calls a “creative economy for filmmakers.”
“We’re all climbing the ladder here,” Hutchinson said. “It’s whether you’re going to reach down and help someone up with you or put your foot on their head and hold them down.”
The Ortizes and the professionals they surround themselves with are most definitely the reaching-down kind.
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