{"id":27941,"date":"2023-09-29T16:54:09","date_gmt":"2023-09-29T20:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=27941"},"modified":"2026-01-15T16:55:51","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T21:55:51","slug":"staying-in-the-fight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/staying-in-the-fight\/","title":{"rendered":"Staying in the Fight"},"content":{"rendered":"

Action movie and TV crime drama buffs may have seen him plunging from impossible heights, crashing through a plate glass window, being stalked by a red-eyed, slimy, other-worldly creature, or suffering a deadly gunshot blow.<\/p>\n

\u201cI die a lot, and I die well,\u201d Lane Erwin \u201915, says.<\/p>\n

For Erwin, a history and philosophy double major who calls Atlanta home, a vocation as a Screen Actors Guild stunt performer was shaped early.<\/p>\n

Growing up in Fayetteville, North Carolina, the son of a Delta Force commander, Erwin found himself in a unique position. When his father wasn\u2019t deployed, he made a point of including Erwin in training at the Army\u2019s Fort Bragg compound. It was there that a teenage Erwin learned Brazilian jiu-jitsu and other martial arts and practiced tactical weapons handling.<\/p>\n

\"Erwin

Erwin in costume for \u201cSwamp Thing\u201d in 2019. \/ Courtesy Photo<\/p><\/div>\n

But he was also a theater kid, exposed to acting, dancing and singing at an early age, and later influenced by action flicks and comics. Once Erwin learned he could get paid to be catapulted through the air or be pummeled and kicked like a human punching bag, it was all over.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is what I was put on this Earth to do,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Erwin counts himself lucky to have discovered his purpose early. His parents insisted on college, and, fittingly, Erwin first found Furman through the rough-and-tumble sport of rugby. Then, he discovered a love for history and philosophy \u2013 both shaping his sense of self and his place in the world.<\/p>\n

With a nod to faculty members Brent Nelsen, professor of politics and international affairs; history professors John Barrington, Carolyn Day, Jason Hansen and Marian Strobel; and Aaron Simmons in philosophy, Erwin remembers how they helped mold his worldview through reading assignments and a study-away May Experience class, War and Remembrance, where he toured battlefields, cemeteries and memorials in England, France and Belgium during the 100th anniversary of WWI.<\/p>\n

He fondly recalls looking forward to his 8:30 a.m. Colonial Latin America class with Barrington, who besides being an \u201camazing professor,\u201d says Erwin, has a gift of drawing countries or continents freehand with uncanny precision. With his philosophy professors, Erwin wrestled with questions surrounding existentialism, the power-knowledge dynamic and otherization of individuals and groups.<\/p>\n

Outside of classes, he earned a reputation for leaping from second-story balconies. A PAC rat, he was obsessed with fitness and pushed himself hard in the gym and on the ROTC obstacle course, running for hours at a time. Erwin spent time in the Furman Outdoors Club, hung out at the club\u2019s Rabbit Hole near the Swamp Rabbit Trail and continued hiking and rock climbing, a passion he\u2019s had since boyhood when he participated in USA Climbing junior competitions.<\/p>\n

Flash forward to his career in film and TV. Erwin points to his stunts with \u201cL.A.\u2019s Finest\u201d as some of his best work: Cue the plate glass window scene where he busted through as a stunt double for Kurt Yaeger. He also describes an underwater fight scene with fellow stunt performer Tamiko Brownlee, a double for Jessica Alba.<\/p>\n

\"Erwin

Erwin at work on \u201cThe Falcon and the Winter Soldier\u201d in 2022. \/ Courtesy Photo<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cSo I\u2019m in this fight scene with Tamiko, who\u2019s just awesome. She\u2019s in full kit with flak vest and boots in a 13-foot dive pool. We\u2019re fighting, we have to maintain good breath control, the hits have to read. At the end, about at the minute mark, when we\u2019ve burned through our oxygen, I have to drag her and swim with her to the top. Stuff like that was a blast,\u201d Erwin says.<\/p>\n

It brings up an important point, Erwin says, about the value of his profession as a member of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. His role is not only to protect the principal performers, but also to make them look good on screen.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve worked with talent, and I am trusted with talent,\u201d he says. \u201cMy job is to make sure they\u2019re good. I get a lot of pride from that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Erwin\u2019s biography includes stunts for DC Comics series \u201cSwamp Thing\u201d and Marvel Studios miniseries \u201cThe Falcon and the Winter Soldier\u201d and \u201cInhumans\u201d \u2013 particularly surreal experiences for Erwin who appeared with characters that literally leapt from the pages of his childhood comic books.<\/p>\n

His bio features appearances in \u201cNCIS: New Orleans,\u201d an episode on \u201c9-1-1\u201d and other many other TV dramas. His big-screen resume includes stunting for \u201cHome Team,\u201d \u201cBody Cam\u201d and Marvel\u2019s \u201cGuardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deciding on stunts as a career was easy, Erwin says. Actually making a living the first three years was not.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was hard,\u201d he told a crowd at a Furman Cultural Life Program event he headlined in February. He soldiered through pilots that didn\u2019t get off the ground and other circumstances that led to eviction notices and his power being shut off.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ate a lot of ramen,\u201d he says, laughing. Side gigs kept him afloat until stunt work came his way. \u201cI worked in coffee shops, restaurants, rock climbing gyms. I did whatever I could to make some money so I could keep going.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad has a saying: \u2018Stay in the fight.\u2019 How can you find a way to keep fighting for your dreams, keep going for your goals? There was no way I was going to let this go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Living in Atlanta for the last eight years, Erwin told his CLP audience how long he planned to be doing stunts. \u201c\u2019Til the day I die,\u201d he says. \u201cBut honestly, it\u2019s got a timeline. I can\u2019t hit the ground forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Erwin

Erwin rock-climbing in Red River Gorge in Kentucky this past April. \/ Courtesy Photo<\/p><\/div>\n

He expects he\u2019ll do hard-hitting stunts for another 15 years barring serious injury. He is also dabbling in stunt coordination, where he selects and trains talent and choreographs the stunts \u2013 a natural segue in the world of \u201chits and misses,\u201d chase scenes, high falls, fights, fiery crashes and fatal gunshot wounds.<\/p>\n

Tapping another side of his creative sensibilities, Erwin is building a small acting reel, has solid ideas for a TV series, and is working on a movie script \u2013 a \u201cPoint Break\u201d meets \u201cPineapple Express\u201d story, he says, based on an actual 1970s airplane crash in a Yosemite National Park lake.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Erwin says, it\u2019s \u201ca dream come true\u201d to work stunts in L.A., New Orleans and far-flung places like Diamond Head State Monument in Honolulu, a location that eased the burden of an 80-hour workweek for \u201cInhumans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Erwin has another saying he wears on his wrist: \u201cNever give up.\u201d The tattoo is red, his favorite color, and is a permanent reminder to press forward in any circumstance. He urged the same to his CLP audience.<\/p>\n

He says a lot of energy is placed on getting to the right college, selecting the right major, the right degree, the perfect job.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m fortunate to be in a position where I knew what I wanted to do.\u201d But, at the same time, he says, \u201cIt\u2019s never too late to go after your goals and what sets your heart on fire.\u201d And unlike the fate of many of the characters he plays, \u201cIt\u2019s never the end of the road.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lane Erwin \u201915 has made a career out of crashing, flying, diving, plunging and pummeling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":257,"featured_media":27942,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2299,2669,1963],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27941","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fall-2023","category-feature-fall-2023","category-furman-magazine"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27941","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/257"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27941"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27941\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40721,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27941\/revisions\/40721"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27941"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27941"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27941"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}