I am
Leslie Hoffman.

Wes Craven, throughout my Career, was the nicest director that I worked for, on three films that I did for him. I was hired by Tony Cecere, the Stunt Coordinator of the film, because not only did the Hall Guard have to speak, but she also had to be pushed to the ground. The day I worked, it was on location at an abandoned school. I walked in and the first thing I noticed was a slime trail going down the hallway. Okay… The Hairdresser took one look at my long brown hair and that is how I ended up in two ponytails. I did not have a script so Wes would come up to me and describe the scene to me and what he wanted me to say and do. The first scene was Nancy running into me and knocking me to the floor. That is where I say the line, “Where’s your pass?” with Nancy replying, “Screw your Pass”. Then came the Hallway Scene. Wes approached me and almost with tears in his eye, he said “I want you to know right now your voice will not be heard in this scene because we are going to have the Actor dub in the line, but I need you to say the line for the dubbing. Also, I need you to do a sinister laugh and wave the claws.” I guess he thought that I was going to be upset but I had already spoken. I think Wes was more concerned about it than I was. We filmed the scene in one take. Who knew that “Hey Nancy, no running in the Hallway” and the other two lines were going to become so iconic. I have had fans at Conventions tell me when they saw that scene it gave them… NIGHTMARES!

I am an original Trekkie. In 1973, I went to the second Star Trek Convention that was held in NYC. There had to be well over a thousand other Fans there. I entered a trivia contest and came in third. Not bad for a small-town girl to accomplish.
My dream, still, was to become an actress/stuntwoman. After I became one, years later, I got a call to work on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Work on Star Trek!?!? I had already worked at the Paramount Studios on other shows, but that day felt like I was working for the first time. It was so surreal.

I worked on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. On Voyager, I mostly stunt doubled B’Elanna Torres, the half-Klingon/half-human, which was wonderful. Back then, human women were not allowed to fight, especially against men. As Torres, I got to fight against anyone.

The Star Trek Cast and Crew are like family to me. Between the two shows, I portrayed many characters, from human to many different aliens. When I stunt-doubled Mila, a Cardassian, it took two hours or more to have the prosthetic face pieces glued onto me. That does not even include the 45 minutes to an hour to have the pieces removed. Dennis Madalone, the Stunt Coordinator, of these shows trusted me enough that I became one of his Assistant Stunt Coordinators, in fact I was the only woman that he had along with his select few stuntmen. I might be asked to break down a script for the stunt work needed for that particular episode, attend a Production Meeting or be on the set as the Stunt Coordinator. I have been a stunt safety, a stuntwoman either playing myself or stunt doubling many Actresses. Stuntpeople are like a hybrid of not only cast but crew as well. Many of my Friends were people behind the camera, in fact I discovered that many of the Crew were Trekkies as well.

It was “Living the Dream”.

This was the first television show where I was called in several times to stunt double one of the lead Cast Members, Doris Roberts aka Mildred Krebs. She played the part of the secretary to Remington Steele. Her role in the show was to be the comic relief. Her character wanted to be a detective as well. Stunts can have their risks even when they are supposed to be funny. Some of the stunts that I did for her was walking along a ledge four stories above the ground, falling off a pier into the ocean and jumping out of a window, to name a few. I also stunt doubled Rose Marie in an episode.A funny story is about Pierce Brosnan. My call times always seemed to be before his call time. We were on friendly terms, meaning that I could talk to him. One day, he was there first and I walked onto the set with my stunt bag. I greeted him and instead of saying hi back to me, he just gave me a very strange look. Maybe he was having a bad day???? Then later once I was in costume, Pierce came up to me and said “Leslie, I am so sorry… I thought that you were a blonde!”

This was the first time that I worked for Robert Zemeckis stunt doubling Wendie Jo Sperber. Later, I was hired again to work on “1941”. I had to jump out of a car that was going about 35mph, get up and run to a phone booth to call the radio station. This was done on location. They blocked off the boulevard while we were filming. I am in two other scenes. The next time that I worked was at the studio, I was one of the fans that rushed up to the limo thinking that the Beatles were in it. I had to climb onto the trunk and as the limo took off, I fell to the ground. The third sequence was on location at the Pantages Theater that was made up to resemble “the Ed Sullivan Show”. I was the Fan that faints and rolls down the staircase. People actually asked Wendie Jo if she jumped out of the car, and she said “Yes”. I really take this as a compliment because I was such a good Stunt Double for her, that she would always request me to be her Stunt Double anytime that she needed one.