Biography
Curtis Rivers was born in Guisborough, North Yorkshire, England on 15 March 1970.
He vividly recalls his ambition to become a professional movie stuntman, which began at the age of 8, when he started to send letters to numerous TV stations in order to find out how to achieve this goal.
He was told that he would have to become a professional actor, and highly skilled in no fewer than 6 different disciplines, such as Judo, Fencing, Horse Riding, SCUBA Diving and Parachuting.
Unfazed, he was acting by the age of 12, running half-marathons at 14, SCUBA diving at 15 and skydiving by 16.
On leaving school, Curtis began organising various expeditions and adventures, while adding new skills to his stunt training. Adventures led him as far as the Transylvanian Alps, The Black Sea and beyond.
In his early twenties, he became a professional actor, stage work including a national tour of the U.K. and Ireland, and TV work including the role of Detective Constable Galley in the popular TV Series "The Chief".
In 1996, at the age of 25, he finally fulfilled his life-long ambition of joining the elite ranks of The British Stunt Register, skilled to the highest levels in Judo, Jujitsu, Taekwondo, Tang Soo Do, Sport Parachuting, Fencing, Riding, High Diving, SCUBA Diving, Hang-Gliding, Trampolining, and
Power Boating.
Within just a few short weeks, Rivers found himself doubling for stars such as Hollywood actor Patrick Bergen (Sleeping With The Enemy with Julia Roberts).
In the years that followed, Curtis worked on numerous movies and television shows, including the Bond film "Tomorrow Never Dies", which saw him killed by Bond no fewer than 5 times! In the 2002 swashbuckling epic "The Count of Monte Cristo", Rivers did all of the fencing, riding and even underwater stunts for the star, Hollywood actor James Caviezal (Mel Gibson's "Passion of the
Christ", "Deja Vu" and "The Prisoner").
Rivers has also been a regular stunt performer on popular British TV shows such as Casualty, Holby, The Bill, Emmerdale, Ashes to Ashes, Spooks, Doctor Who, Torchwood, Whitechapel, and Midsomer Murders, whilst working on various overseas TV projects.
By 2000, Rivers began to seek new avenues for his talents, and added promotional and P.R. work to his growing list of skills. He promoted the launch of Extreme Magazine in 2000, by coordinating the cover shoot - which saw him reading the magazine 20 metres beneath the Caribbean Ocean, in shark-infested waters! He also wrote a feature for the magazine.
This led to a number of similar magazine promotions, such as Dubai's SMART magazine (which saw him reading the magazine whilst hanging from a crane - 200ft above the ground!) and also led to him writing various featured articles, for numerous magazines and newspapers all over the world.
By 2001, his successful marketing and P.R. campaigns led to the funding of his first Guinness World Record.
Never opting for the easy life, Rivers chose a world record that had remained intact for over 45 years, despite numerous attempts to better it. The record he chose to attempt was The Longest Duration Parachute Jump.
This project saw him training in industrial freezers as the air temperature at jump altitude would be 60 degrees below freezing. It also required high altitude chamber training with the SAS, and numerous test jumps on oxygen from high altitude.
On 14 February 2002, Rivers took off from Pozoblanco, Spain, and flew in a hot-air balloon to 25,000ft above the earth. He jumped from the balloon and activated his parachute immediately. With skilful canopy control, he over-flew the Andalucian Mountains and flew into the Guinness Book of Records with a flight time of 45 minutes.
This bettered the long-standing record by 5 whole minutes.
Enjoying the widespread publicity, his sponsors Damart Thermals agreed to fund his next world record attempt. This time he set his sights firmly on the Highest Bungee Jump.
The official Guinness World Record was 8,500ft. However, an unofficial claim came to the attention of Rivers and his team, a claim of a bungee jump from a balloon flying 10,500ft high!
Curtis therefore set his sights higher still, on a jump from the limits of where a human can breathe without oxygen after taking off from sea level - 15,000ft.
On 5 May 2002, Rivers bungee jumped from a hot-air balloon flying 15,200ft above Puertolano in Spain, and was awarded his second Guinness World Record.
Footage of the jump went global, earning his sponsor over £470,000 worth of publicity in the U.K. alone, and over £1million of publicity and brand promotion globally.
Whilst he prefers to keep the exact nature of his charitable work private - it's clear that Rivers has quietly assisted in charitable endeavours from a very young age, since his first half-marathon at 14 raised money for Muscular Dystrophy. He's since executed numerous adventures and expeditions,
raising awareness and funds for many worthy causes.
As part of this charity work, he began to tour schools, colleges, and universities in 2006 - to motivate and inspire students of various ages to 'think big', and to realise that 'anything is possible, with the right 'mindset', and the right tools'.
Overwhelmed by the response to his lectures, from students and teachers alike - Rivers began to accept invitations to speak at various events and conferences outside of the educational sector, receiving fantastic feedback..
He's since studied coaching at a prestigious London institute, and trained under an acclaimed international speaker to further enhance his talks and training. He has also qualified as an INLPTA Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) Practitioner.
His first book, 'Seven Paths to Freedom' was released in the UK in 2013, and continues to grow in popularity.
