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Rivers has been a well known award-winning Stuntman, Stunt Coordinator and 2nd Unit Director, for 30 years. Originally from Guisborough, North Yorkshire, he dreamed of a career in stunts since childhood.
He fulfilled this life-long ambition in his twenties, joining the elite ranks of The British Equity Stunt Register, skilled in Martial Arts, Skydiving, Fencing, Horse Riding, High Diving, SCUBA Diving, Hang-Gliding, and Trampolining.
In three decades as a busy stuntman, he has ‘Stunt Doubled’ in films for the likes of John Lithgow, Christopher Lee, James Caviezal, Rupert Everett, Mark Strong, Hugo Weaving, Jim Broadbent, Matthew MacFadyen, Patrick Bergen, Martin Kemp, Jimmy Nail, Graham McTavish, and Sam Douglas.
In television, he stunt-doubled for actors like Martin Clunes, Trevor Eve, Steven Tompkinson, John Borrowman, Malcolm Sinclair, James Purefoy, Charlie Cox, Tim Dutton, Nick Brimble, Terrence Hillyer, Peter Marinker, Mark Charnock, and Toby Rothbriant.
Rivers went on to be nominated for (and win) several Screen Actors Guild Awards for his work in film and television, and also honoured into The Hollywood Stuntmans Hall of Fame.
Away from the film set, his continued stunt training led to his first Guinness World Record attempt. Rivers chose a world record that had remained intact for over 45 years - The Longest Duration Parachute Jump.
This project saw him training in industrial freezers as the air temperature at jump altitude would be 60 degrees below freezing. It also required high altitude chamber training with the SAS, and numerous test jumps on oxygen from high altitude.
On 14 February 2002, Rivers took off from Pozoblanco, Spain, and flew in a hot-air balloon to high above the earth. He jumped from the balloon and activated his parachute immediately. With well rehearsed canopy control, he over-flew the Andalucian Mountains and flew into the Guinness Book of Records with a flight time of 45 minutes. This bettered the long-standing official record by 5 whole minutes.
Enjoying the widespread publicity, his sponsors Damart Thermals agreed to fund his next world record attempt. This time he set his sights firmly on the Highest Bungee Jump. The official Guinness World Record was 8,500ft. However, an unofficial claim came to the attention of Rivers and his team, a claim of a bungee jump from a balloon flying 10,500ft high! Curtis therefore set his sights higher still, on a jump from the limits of where a human can breathe without oxygen after taking off from sea level - 15,000ft.
On 5 May 2002, Rivers bungee jumped from a hot-air balloon flying 15,200ft above Puertolano in Spain, and was awarded his second Guinness World Record. At the time of writing, 24 years later, the record still stands.
When not performing, coordinating or directing stunts for popular TV shows, Curtis delivers keynote speeches at various schools, colleges, and corporate settings, and is also a much sought after life coach.
He is the author of two multi-award winning ‘personal development’ books on overcoming the fears that hold people back from living an authentic life.
