Jean-Michel Casanova

A world-class rock climber ranked 7th worldwide in 1989, Jean-Michel Casanova started as a rock climber (and martial art artist) at the age of five to later pioneer some of the most difficult climbing routes in the world. In his early 20s, he made countless ascents in the Alps, participated to the very first rock climbing competitions, repeated the most difficult sport-climbing routes in Europe, and helped improve numerous safety products for the climbing and mountaineering industry. Among his many sporting accomplishments, he climbed with no rope a 5-12d then later ended his professional sponsored career as a climber by successfully "rep-pointing" a 5-14b (the highest level of difficulty at that time) by climbing "The Specialists" in the Gorges du Verdon, France, and setting a Guinness world record on the Eiffel Tower with his free solo climb. Managing himself during his explosive 5-year sports career, Jean-Michel was sponsored by Oakley, Nike, Suzuki, Asolo, Beal, Petzl and Nikon, while his artistic background from "Les Beaux Arts" helped him create a revolutionary technique in photographing rock climbing that became immensely popular and eventually earned him to get published in major publications such as Le Figaro, VSD, Globe, Atlas and Paris Match. However, it was the Eiffel Tower climb that launched his career in the entertainment industry and made debut on television. With several black belts in Martial Arts and a long history in the field of rock climbing, Jean-Michel is still regarded by the French and Hollywood stunt community as one of the premier rock climbing, rigging and stage fighting specialists. Jean-Michel's interest in the Industry led him to seek work as a writer, stunt coordinator, and 2nd unit director for top rated French TV series and reality shows. With his original ideas and uniquely combined athletic skills, he produced multiple segments for France 3 and helped the comedy talk shows "Super Nana" and "Super Mec" become the highest rated in television history in France. His passion for film led him to pursue acting in France to later relocate to Los Angeles. He has showcased his stunt work on "Caroline in the City", "The X-Files" and Dharma & Greg (1997) while acting in several independent projects and commercials and producing segments for the Discovery Channel and NBC network "YourLA." Currently living in China to resume his acting career (and eventually produce films), Jean-Michel has already worked with fame actors and directors and is surprisingly picking up Mandarin, quickly.