Interview with Criminal Defense Investigator turned Stunt Actress Ysabella Costa

[00:00:00] It's a Jack-top review show.

[00:00:07] It's a Jack-top review show.

[00:00:14] Jack-top review show.

[00:00:20] It's a Jack Welcome to the show. Thank you. Yeah, thanks. I've been good. I started this

[00:02:43] a giant profession like that for that long a period. Yeah, exactly.

[00:02:46] So I mean, it's a tough time, but it's, you know, I find it to be fine because I'm just

[00:02:57] meeting so many people and getting opportunities to train with all these people that if the

[00:03:03] COVID never happened or the strike didn't happen, then I wouldn't have those opportunities friends and we both lived in San Francisco for about four months and decided to move to LA. She's from LA originally and she's like let's move to LA and I really never had been to LA. I'm from Santa Cruz originally so I moved with her, packed up my things and I was around her family. This was in January of

[00:04:22] 2016 and her family, so Tia, is a stuntman, really. And I remember, um, months ago, he's like, we can meet, but you need to come up with, I think it was like 25 questions before we meet. They need to be good detailed questions. So we met at a coffee shop and we went through all these questions. So they both have been such a tremendous help in my career.

[00:05:42] Yeah.

[00:05:42] I, I, I had actually brushed up on Turner.

[00:05:45] I vaguely heard the name. So being able to hear their stories and their insight and also them believing in me that I could, that I have this potential to be a stunt woman was just so amazing and having the opportunity to learn from them is just beyond because it's such a tough industry. It's really who you know,

[00:07:03] it's connections, but also of course your skill. Yeah, a little oversaturated which you know I understand it's such a great dialogue. I had Chris Gannon here previously and he's been so fortunate to have a lot of recurring acting roles in addition to being like the fifth marine or six, you know, terrorists gets blown up. Right, right. I mean, there's, I've been on 911 that show with Tia Turner a bunch of times and

[00:10:49] didn't really chase that because I wanted to be safe. I also loved law and the legal, um, the legal field. So I saw that you worked as a defense investigator. Uh, are you still doing that on

[00:10:54] occasion or is that to the side for now? That's done with I, I went to school. So I went to San

[00:11:01] Diego state and, um, then I got hired at 23 and that's always fun. Those are more like for fun and whatnot, but not so much for my career, but it's always a fun thing to do. Great. And what, what do you recommend the most for anyone getting

[00:12:20] into this other than be as diverse as you can. You might be a driver, but really getting your fights and your falls intact and maybe doing fire stuff or scuba stuff because you want to be all around just a good stunt person. Lovely. What was it like studying Brazilian jiu-jitsu during your various trainings?

[00:14:45] Yeah, it's just it's like a whole different it puts your mind you just are really focused on what you're doing in the moment and you're not thinking about anything else.

[00:14:49] So yeah, it's really helped me progress as a stunt person because now it's like really

[00:14:55] close to someone and like you actually get hit in the face and it's just it's been great.

[00:15:02] It is kind of underrated though in terms of it It is wild how it's kind of been popularized a little more by pop culture, kind of like the Kinze Fighting Method and Israeli crowd maga. Yes. Yeah. There's so many types. And, you know, it's hard because as a stunt person, you want to be able to be, like I

[00:16:23] said earlier, universal and know and have all these skills, but there's so many forms

[00:16:27] of martial arts. It's nice that as a stunt person you get to train and work out every day. I mean, as much as you train a week and it's not only great for your career, but then amazing for your health and your body. And you have to stay fit. And so yes, it's a double whammy.

[00:17:41] So I'm super fortunate for what I get to do.

[00:17:44] I'm like, oh, I get to do a full on jujitsu fight. There you go. And, uh, all together, uh, what were some of your favorite, uh, badasses

[00:19:02] on screen to watch growing up?

[00:19:05] Oh man.

[00:20:02] Right? Doesn't happen every day.

[00:20:04] Yeah.

[00:20:06] All together.

[00:20:08] What do you think is just, do you think everyone's becoming more aware of it now that it's been popularized in movies and TV and just behind the scenes, but just seeing how stunts work on screen and how they're just as important as makeup set design and camera. Good. But, yeah. And what kind of productions would you like to be on in the future? Oh, man, I would love to be in John Wick 5. Don't pause me.

[00:21:47] I mean, really, it would be amazing to work for any. So I'm thankful for that. Because sometimes when you say I'm a stunt actor, there's this stigma that stunt people can't act.

[00:23:02] And actors can't do stunts, which it's changing so much. And

[00:23:06] that's not even accurate.

[00:24:02] And she was amazing. I wish I could say more about it,

[00:24:03] but that'll probably be a year until that movie comes out.

[00:24:07] But it was honestly an amazing experience.

[00:24:10] I got to do some driving and some water stunts

[00:24:13] and things that I had never done before.

[00:24:17] So it's really amazing kind of going back to you train,

[00:24:21] all these things, and then you get to set

[00:24:23] and maybe you do something

[00:24:26] that you didn't don't remember. Matt Mullins. He's been in... Oh yeah, that's right. Pretty Boy from Blood and Bone with Michael J. White. Okay, sweet.

[00:27:01] Awesome. Yeah, no. And it is fun to you so much for dropping by. And I wish you nothing but the best in the what's going to probably be the fifth stage of your career at this point. So

[00:27:07] well, thank you so much for having me. This was really great to got a new show every week, and almost always am I the winner. Yeah, not true, Ray. In the past, we've discussed such matches as Captain America vs. Darth Vader, Solid Snake vs. the Iron Giant, classic matchups like RoboCop vs. Terminator,

[00:28:20] and even the Muppets vs. Sesame Street.

[00:28:23] That one was crazy.

[00:28:25] So if you're a fan of geek culture and love a spirited debate,