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(written from a Production point of view)

Susan J. Purkhiser (born 31 August 1967; age 56) is a stuntwoman and stunt actress who served as stunt double for Jimmy Bennett (young James T. Kirk) in Star Trek. She doubled Bennett's car stunts during the Corvette chase with the Iowa cop, portrayed by Jeremy Fitzgerald.

Purkhiser is trained in precision driving and racing stunts with various vehicles and doubled actress Charlize Theron's car stunts in The Italian Job (2003). Her skills earned her several awards such as the 1999 Overall Champion, SAMP Driving Contest. Purkhiser worked for two years as an instructor at the Motion Picture Stunt Driving School and has done live performances and commercials for various companies such as Chrysler, Mercedes, Toyota, Hyundai, and Honda.

Purkhiser doubled stars such as Melissa Joan Hart (1997 in Two Came Back), Alexa Vega (2001 in Follow the Stars Home), Hillary Duff, Camryn Grimes (2003 in The Young and the Restless), Beverley Mitchell (2003 in Right on Track), and Amy Poehler.

Other television series she worked on include Baywatch, V.I.P., Malcolm in the Middle, The Pretender, Any Day Now, She Spies, CSI, The District, and Punk'd.

Purkhiser's film credits include stunt work in Dante's Peak (1997), Mimic (1997, with F. Murray Abraham and stunts by Jane Austin, Ben Bray, Doug Coleman, Keith Campbell, Doc Charbonneau, John Escobar, Kurt Lott, and Eddie Perez), Phantoms (1998, with stunts by Dan Barringer, Mickey Giacomazzi, and Ben Bray), Mr. Murder (1998, starring Julie Warner), In Dreams (1999, with stunts by Robin Bonaccorsi and Peter Epstein), The Mod Squad (1999), Python (2000), Swordfish (2001), Cradle 2 the Grave (2003), Seabiscuit (2003), Spider-Man 2 (2004, starring Kirsten Dunst and Donna Murphy) and Spider-Man 3 (2007), Apocalypse Oz (2006, stunt coordinated by Dennis Keiffer), Monster House (2006, with stunts by James M. Halty and Pat Romano), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), and Meet Dave (2008, with stunts by Charlie Brewer, Mike Massa, Kimberly Murphy, Pat Romano, and Darlene Ava Williams).

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