Darlene Ava Williams

Born and raised in the circus, Darlene Williams has performed with wild animals and wild people under the Big Top since the age of four. Elephants have always played an integral part in her life because of her father, Rex Williams, the number one elephant trainer in the country (Most famous elephant keeper and trainer by EEKMA members). He kept her busy learning about not only elephants but also lions, tigers and horses. At seven, she began training for circus aerial acts. Her mother Ava Williams, a fourth-generation Czech aerialist, taught her Spanish web, trapeze, and wire walking. Darlene has performed with Ringling Brothers, Circus Vargas, and numerous other shows throughout the world. She continued to work in the circus until she was 20. She then came off the road to pursue a college degree and later moved on to work as a stunt-woman in television, feature films, and commercials. Besides her circus and aerial skills, she has worked with some of Hollywood's finest stunt-men and directors including Tim Burton, Michael Mann, Ang Lee, Ron Howard, to name a few. Darlene's love of live performing continues with her recent contributions to live shows such as Las Vegas' The Sirens Of TI, where she trained and choreographed the aerial and bull-whip portions of the show. Darlene helped train the young and adult actors for the wire work stunts in "The Cat in the Hat" and was one of the circus advisers to "Big Fish". Darlene completed 67 episodes as Pamela Anderson's stunt double in V.I.P. (1998) and has coordinated projects such as "The John Henson Project" (Nun Fights); LIT -music video; and episodes of The Big Moment (1999). She is a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and also served on the Academy's very first Stunt Peer Group Executive Committee. She is a board member of the Stuntwomen's Foundation (charity) and is one of the founding members of V10 Women Stunt Professionals, an elite organization of professional stunt women.