When she was 19 years old, Ky Furneaux’s quiet life in rural South Australia was overturned when a car accident broke her back. Doctors told her she’d never be physically active again. It was the first ＂you can’t,＂ Ky decided to ignore, and it changed her path forever.
She fought her way back to full health, and while rock climbing as part of her rehabilitation, discovered a deep love for the wilderness. She became a qualified kayaking, sailing, hiking, and rock-climbing guide sharing this passion with others while pushing the limits of her own survival skills. Ky has kept people safe in some of the most extreme climates in the world from the remote and dangerous West Coast trail in the far reaches of British Columbia to the depths of the Amazon jungle and the barren, deadly high-altitude slopes of Nepal while participating in high-risk activities that have the potential for disaster.
Ky pursued a dream career in stunt performing and traveled to Canada for three years of intense martial arts, stunt driving and weapons training. She worked hard and eventually landed a top job as Sharon Stone’s stunt double in the movie
Catwoman.
For the next sixteen years she doubled stars such as Jennifer Garner in Elektra and Jaimie Alexander in
Thor and the NBC series
Blindspot. A-list names required her help to ensure they remained safe while filming some of the top action sequences of the time. Her professional, calm attitude on set had her working with the likes of Anne Hathaway, Ellen DeGeneres, Hugh Jackman, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Chris Hemsworth. In 16 years at the top of the stunt game, her many achievements include winning Best Female Stunt Performer in the world in the 2012 Taurus Awards (the Oscars of the stunt industry).
Despite the red-carpet glamour, the outdoors was still Ky’s first love. Following the call of the wild, she challenged herself to new extreme survival expeditions, ditching all the gear and heading out with only a knife.
Ky produced and documented an extraordinary hundred-mile hike across the Sierra Nevada Mountain range. She featured in three episodes of Discovery’s
Naked and Afraid and was the only female in Season Two of Discovery’s
Ed Stafford: First Man Out, braving a twelve-thousand-foot mountain climb and minus 22? temperatures.
Although she’s conquered grueling terrain in over 65 countries, she is passionate about her country’s unique landscape and wildlife, and she shared the beauty of the Aussie bush in her Discovery and 7Mate series
Outback Lockdown. She’s a wilderness warrior in the tradition of the late, great Steve Irwin and in her own words a ＂true survival nerd.＂
J. Scott Donahue was a high school freshman in Mr. Hancock’s English class when he first read Jon Krakauer’s INTO THIN AIR. A decade later, he traveled to Nepal and wrote his Master’s thesis composed of essays on travel and conservation. He contributes to Sierra magazine and YellowstonePark.com and finds the source of wonder in climbing the high Sierra. He is also the author of 50 WAYS TO SAVE THE HONEY BEES.
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