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Leslie Hoffman (born 21 January) is a stuntwoman, actress, and stunt coordinator who worked between 1995 and 2001 as a regular stunt performer on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager. She was one of the regular stunt doubles for Roxann Dawson and doubled several guest actresses. In addition, Hoffman was an assistant stunt coordinator for Dennis Madalone and also responsible for the stunt safety on set.

Early life and career[]

1970s[]

Hoffman was born in Saranac Lake, New York and attended the Saranac Lake Central High School, where she played at the William Morris Playground and took ballet and gymnastic classes at the Sokol Gymnastic Training Camp and at the Fokine Ballet. She studied acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and the Herbert Berghof Studios in New York City, where F. Murray Abraham and Whoopi Goldberg also learned their profession. During her time at the studios she decided that acting was too slow for her and she needed more action, a decision which brought her into the world of stunts.

Hoffman, a great niece of composer Bernard Green, moved to Los Angeles in 1974, where she trained her skills, including high falls and fight techniques, at Paul Stader's gym in Santa Monica. The gym was a famous location in the stunt business and many stunt performers trained there, including Star Trek's Dick Durock, Bob Minor, George Wilbur, Dennis Madalone, Tom Morga, and Brian J. Williams. Resettled in Los Angeles, her first Screen Actors Guild union job was the thriller Two-Minute Warning in 1976.

The following years, Hoffman performed stunts in the television series Charlie's Angels and The Hardy Boys/ Nancy Drew Mysteries, doubled Cindy Williams in the comedy series Laverne & Shirley, Pamela Franklin in Fantasy Island, starring Ricardo Montalban, and portrayed a stunt nurse in the M*A*S*H episode "The M*A*S*H Olympics" (1977), which features David Ogden Stiers. On The Love Boat, Hoffman and John Ritter's stunt double Dick Ziker jumped 78 feet together and landed a few feet apart from each other in the water. This is one of the stunts Hoffman found particularly dangerous. She appeared as a high school student in the 1977 horror film The Car in a stunt scene involving several horses, doubled actress Wendie Jo Sperber in Robert Zemeckis' comedy I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978), performed in Corey Allen's action film Avalanche (1978) on which she first worked together with Dennis Madalone, and The Fifth Floor (1978). Hoffman was as a stunt Indian on the mini series Centennial (1978), did a fire stunt on the television horror film Devil Dog: The Hound of Hel (1978), doubled Conchata Ferrell in the series B.J. and the Bear, and appeared in the science fiction thriller Meteor (1979).

While performing stunts on Steven Spielberg's war comedy 1941 (1979), Hoffman and another stuntman David Cassidy had "nearly been killed" during a stunt involving a motorcycle sidecar that involved a jump into the back of a truck. A mechanical flaw cause the sidecar to run out of gas thus carrying herself on top and David in the sidecar flying into the truck's bumper. She later recounted how, despite the incident, they had to return and do the stunt again, the following day. [2]

1980s[]

Leslie Hoffman and Tom Morga

Hoffman and Tom Morga in "Day of Honor"

During this time, Hoffman was the first "voted-in" member of the "Society of Professional Stuntwomen", a newly-formed group of the top stuntwomen in the movie business, including Julie Ann Johnson, Jeannie Epper, May Boss, Regina Parton, Jean Coulter, Debbie Evans, Stevie Meyers, and Stephanie Epper. [3] In 1981 she was the first stuntwoman who was elected to the SAG Board of Directors as Chair of the National Stunt and Safety Committee and Co-Chair to the Young Performers Committee, where she served for two years. She also served on the AFTRA Local and National Board and was the first stuntwoman who joined Women in Film. It was also the time Hoffman started to do seminars and giving lectures in stunt safety and labor laws. She testified on SAG's behalf in Sacramento in child labor laws because of The Twilight Zone incident [4] and wrote the safety section in the AFTRA/SAG Young Performers Handbook.

In the '80s, Hoffman was busy doing stunt work for film and television. She doubled actresses Jo McDonnell in The Munsters' Revenge (1981), Wendie Jo Sperber in the comedy series Private Benjamin (1981-1983, co-starring Robert Mandan and Joel Brooks) and Stewardess School (1986), Doris Roberts in Remington Steele (1983-1987) and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989), Kellye Nakahara in Clue (1985), and Anne Ramsey in Deadly Friend (1986).

Also in the '80s Hoffman worked on two movies she is probably best remembered for. In A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), she portrayed the School Hall Guard which was one of the incarnations of the main character, Freddy Krueger. Her line, "Hey Nancy, No running in the hallway!" were later replaced by Robert Englund's voice. In the 1988 comedy The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, she doubled actress Jeannette Charles who portrayed Queen Elizabeth II. in this movie. Hoffman's stunt was, beside several punches, the legendary slide over the banquet table.

Other films she worked on, in these years, include The Nude Bomb (1980), Airplane! (1980), the television drama Brave New World (1980), Die Laughing (1980), Blow Out (1981), Protocol (1984), Johnny Dangerously (1985), Death Wish 3 (1985), Out of Bounds (1986), Saturday the 14th Strikes Back (1988), and Alien Nation (1988), which features fellow Trek stunt partner Tom Morga. Television work included the series Walking Tall (1981, with Jeff Lester), The Fall Guy, Strike Force (1982), Cassie & Co. (1982), The A-Team (starring Dwight Schultz and Melinda Culea), CHiPs (1983, with Robert Pine and Madlyn Rhue), as stunt double for Lesley Woods in Falcon Crest (1987, stunt coordination by Buck McDancer and with Brett Cullen, Dana Sparks, Brian Thompson, Brian George, and Christopher Held), and Rags to Riches (1987).

Star Trek[]

Human DS9 ops ensign 4, 2372

Hoffman's first appearance on Star Trek

Hoffman calls herself a Trekkie. She has seen every episode of Star Trek: The Original Series and is able to name every episode. In 1973 she went to the second ever held Star Trek convention in New York City, took part in the trivia contest and was the third winner. The letter she received with her third place prize was signed by Richard Arnold.

Hoffman's first work on Star Trek was the Deep Space Nine fourth season episode "The Way of the Warrior", in which she portrayed a Starfleet ensign and performed a stair fall in Ops. Also in this episode, her character answered "Thanks" when she was handed a phaser. This was a voice which was added in postproduction and was not Hoffman's.

Beside other parts as Starfleet officer and bar patron, she also worked as stunt double on several episodes. These included performing Mila's stair fall in the series' final episode, "What You Leave Behind".

Coonskin cap

Hoffman's coonskin cap

On Voyager, Hoffman was the main stunt double for Roxann Dawson throughout the third through seventh seasons, performing her falls and fight scenes and was also in the orbital skydiving suit for the episode "Extreme Risk". For the episode "Remember", she was originally not planned to appear but Madalone said that a double for Dawson, who wanted to do her own stunt, was required. In the stunt, a full hit by stunt actor Scott Leva, Hoffman fell really hard on the ground and was protected by Ken Lesco, who avoided worse. She filmed this stunt on Friday 26 July 1996 on Paramount Stage 16 as seen in scenes 44-45. From the final stunt only a very brief sequence was part of the episode. She has also memories about her cliff stunt in the episode "Blood Fever".

In the episode "Day of Honor", Hoffman stunt doubled Roxann Biggs-Dawson for the whole fight, this was due to the fact that Biggs-Dawson was pregnant at that time and the studio wanted to protect her. Once Hoffman was doubling her, in the fight, there are no cuts. The way it was filmed was that the camera stayed on the Klingon played by stuntman Tom Morga, Hoffman stepped out and Biggs-Dawson stepped in. Then the camera swings back onto Biggs-Dawson. In the entertainment industry this is called a "Texas Switch". (Source: Leslie Hoffman)

For the fifth season episode "Extreme Risk", Hoffman filmed her stunt scenes on Friday 26 June 1998 and on second unit on Tuesday 18 August 1998 on Paramount Stage 16.

Hoffman was also on set as stunt double for Roxann Dawson during the production of the fifth season episode "Infinite Regress". According to the call sheet, she was up to double Dawson in scenes 21-25 set in engineering and filmed on Monday 31 August 1998 on Paramount Stage 9. In the final episode however, no stunt double was used during the clash with Jeri Ryan.

DS9 cmd crewman 7, explosion

Hoffman's stunt in DS9: "Call to Arms"

Beside her regular work on screen, Hoffman was one of the assistant stunt coordinators for Dennis Madalone along with Tom Morga and George Colucci, she attended Production Meetings to discuss the Stunt Department Budget and the needs for the stunt sequences. There were also times that Dennis would have her as a Stunt Coordinator on the set.

Hoffman provided her own coonskin cap to the production of the episode "Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang", in which she also had a small appearance and served as stunt coordinator for. Her cap was held by James Darren during the opening dialogue of the episode.

Two of Hoffman's costumes were sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay; her costume as double for Roxann Dawson in the episode "Blood Fever" for US$470.00 [5] and her costume as double for Julianna McCarthy (Mila) in "What You Leave Behind" for US$130.50. [6]

Later career[]

1990s[]

During her time on Star Trek, Hoffman also worked on several other projects. She performed stunts in the comedy The Misery Brothers (1995, under coordinators B.J. Davis and Ed Anders), the horror film The Prophecy (1995), Deadly Games (1995, starring Christopher Lloyd), the action film For Life or Death (1995, along with Rick Avery), and the video game Maximum Surge (1996).

In 1996, she worked as stunt coordinator for the ABC Afterschool Specials episode "Me and My Hormones", the directorial debut of Melissa Gilbert. She also portrayed a wrestler in this episode and acted alongside fellow DS9 co-star Courtney Peldon. The following year, she worked on several episodes of the drama series Melrose Place (1997) and doubled actress Edie McClurg's stair fall in front of the court house. She appeared in the family series Step by Step (1997, with Michael Kagan) and the short drama Safe Journey (1999, with Scott Allen Rinker), for which she also served as stunt coordinator. Hoffman was the stunt coordinator for the short film Mulligans! (1997) and performed stunts in the science fiction thriller Convict 762 (1997), the science fiction film Mars (1997), and the television drama Bella Mafia (1997).

In Scream 2, she doubled actress Laurie Metcalf's fights and falls and in the superhero comedy Mystery Men (1999), she worked as stunt driver and portrayed a "stunt granny".

Also Hoffman with Tom Morga and Brian J. Williams performed stunt shows at Star Trek Conventions where in several of the conventions were joined on stage in a skit with J.G. Hertzler and Robert O'Reilly.

2000s[]

Since 2000, Hoffman has appeared rarely on screen. She portrayed a casino patron in the Nikki episode "I'll Kick Your Ass" in 2001 and a dinner guest along with Spice Williams in the comedy sequel The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas (2000). On the latter production, she also worked as stunt double for actress Joan Collins.

More notably, Hoffman worked as stunt coordinator. Her credits include the comedy Ophelia Learns To Swim (2000, with Hilary Shepard Turner), The Innocents Mission (2000, on which Tom Morga worked as stunt rigger), Everything Put Together (2000), the short drama Never Land (2000, again along with Tom Morga), the documentary Daybreak Berlin (2001, with Diana Cignoni and Tom Morga), the short comedy Father Xmas (2001), the thriller Love Leprosy (2001), the comedy My Friend's Love Affair (2001), working as stunt rigger for the horror film Dead Above Ground (2002).

Shortly before 8 August 2008, Leslie Hoffman, having been living in Los Angeles since 1974, was joined there by her nephew, Ritchie Hoffman, an actor himself. Following his move, Leslie Hoffman excitedly commented that she felt like she and her nephew were in "Hoffman: The Next Generation", excitedly implying that she was proud that her nephew was carrying on certain family traditions. [7] Her nephew Alexander Hoffman has also been working for DreamWorksTV as a writer, director, and producer.

More recently, Hoffman was interviewed for the 2010 documentary Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy. Fellow Star Trek alumni Kane Hodder, Michael Bailey Smith, Robert Rusler, Brannon Braga, Lisa Wilcox, Brooke Bundy, Fran Bennett, Mark Shostrom, and R. Christopher Biggs were also interviewed.

Hoffman has been disabled since 2002 due to a traumatic brain injury and the physical wear and tear that a stunt person goes through years of stunt work. She had originally applied for her occupational disability and health plan and was denied, only being given the disability plan by the Screen Actors Guild – Producer Pension and Health. It has been discovered that they fear that other stuntpeople might start applying for this plan (that should be given to SAG members that have had career-ending injuries on the set). Since 2010, she has been going through the United States court system but has been "stonewalled" by the SAG Pension and Health lawyers and a specialized law called ERISA that was established by the US Federal Government in 1974. [8] [9] [10] [11]

As for being disabled, Hoffman had a workers compensation case settled in her favor, that she was indeed disabled. Also she was awarded SSDI (Social Security Disability Insurance) from the Federal Government since 2002, because they ruled her disabled. SAG Health continues to refuse to submit paperwork to the courts. A second lawsuit had to be filed based on SAG Health violating ERISA laws by refusing to review why they took away her disability pension. A petition was started demanding that SAG Health gave her back the disability pension and that they give her the occupational disability pension and health for which she qualifies. [12] As of 2016, Hoffman lost her disability pension. [13]

Hoffman has been interviewed in numerous Star Trek podcasts along Dennis Madalone and Tom Morga.

Leslie Hoffman's plaque

A plaque honoring Hoffman

On 4 January 2019 Hoffman won an appeal in the 9th District Court against the SAG Pension and Health Plan. [14]

In 2021, for the third time, the 9th District Court overturned the Los Angeles Judge's ruling in her eleven year lawsuits against the SAG Pension and Health Plan. [15]

On 31 March 2022, Hoffman's hometown honored her with a plaque on their Saranac Lake Walk of Fame. [16]

Star Trek appearances[]

Stunt double appearances[]

Other Trek connections[]

A list of Star Trek performers who appeared in the same productions as Hoffman.

External links[]

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