Born on June 23, 1957, in North Vancouver, Canada, Peter Kent’s early life foreshadowed a career fueled by adrenaline and daring feats. Growing up by the Seymour River, known for its challenging rapids, Kent’s childhood was marked by thrill-seeking adventures, from navigating treacherous waters to scaling towering trees and leaping from their heights, often resulting in scrapes and bruises. This innate craving for excitement, even extending to a self-attempted tooth extraction with a hammer, shaped the man Peter Kent would become. At the age of six, his parents’ divorce led him to New Jersey with his mother, a move that later granted him dual Canadian-US citizenship, an advantage in his future international career.
Returning to Canada at 11, Peter Kent and his mother operated a boarding house while he attended Nanaimo Senior Secondary School on Vancouver Island. His teenage years were filled with a diverse range of West Coast jobs, including sawmill work, salmon fishing, pulp mill duties, paving crew labor, bouncer shifts, and electronics sales in Nanaimo and Victoria. For five years, he also toured as a sound engineer for various Canadian music bands, experiencing a bohemian lifestyle.
A near-fatal car accident in the early 1980s became a turning point in Peter Kent’s life. Surviving against the odds, his recovery from multiple skull fractures, broken cheekbones, a crushed nose, and a fractured jaw led to a change in his appearance, drawing comparisons to Arnold Schwarzenegger. This resemblance proved to be serendipitous. In 1984, with a background in local theater Shakespeare productions, Peter Kent ventured to Los Angeles to pursue acting, despite lacking film experience or industry connections. After a challenging six months living at the YMCA on Hollywood’s Sunset Strip, his career took off when he was mentored by James Cameron and chosen to be Arnold Schwarzenegger’s stunt double in Terminator (1984).
Despite limited initial stunt experience, Peter Kent quickly mastered the craft, rising to prominence as a highly sought-after and well-compensated stunt performer. His professional relationship and friendship with Schwarzenegger spanned 14 films and 13 years. Beyond stunt doubling, Peter Kent became a close confidant, workout partner, ski buddy, chef, and even dialogue coach to Schwarzenegger. This extensive apprenticeship across 14 Schwarzenegger films, from Terminator to Jingle All the Way (1996), provided Peter Kent with unparalleled insight into the action genre and access to top Hollywood screenplays, knowledge that would prove valuable later in his career.
During the filming of Eraser (1996), Peter Kent faced another near-death experience when a three-ton shipping container suspended 100 feet above ground struck him. This incident prompted him to reconsider his career path, particularly after sustaining injuries on nearly every Schwarzenegger film. He decided to transition to less physically dangerous work.
To hone his acting skills, Peter Kent studied with various drama groups in Los Angeles. His most influential coach was Zina Provendie, former head of MGM’s drama department for 26 years, who had previously coached acting legends like James Dean, Richard Burton, and Elizabeth Taylor. After a 14-year period away, Peter Kent returned to Vancouver, British Columbia, where he found love with Marcia Kent, a nurse. They got engaged in Venice, Italy, in December 2005 and married in Victoria, BC, in August 2007. They welcomed twin boys in the fall of 2009.
Peter Kent’s career and life have been chronicled in numerous prominent publications and media outlets, including “Entertainment Tonight,” “Extra,” “People Magazine,” Germany’s “Der Stern,” London’s “Daily Mirror,” “The New York Times,” “Dallas Star,” “Los Angeles Times,” and countless television and radio programs globally. In June 2009, Peter Kent’s contributions to the film industry were formally recognized with his induction into the Hollywood Stuntman’s Hall of Fame, solidifying his legacy as a stunt legend.
