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Emily L. Foley (1 post) Back to Life Lift Home
Photo: Sara Hanna
Photo: Sara Hanna
It's clearance day at a bridal salon, and harried women are storming racks of shimmering taffeta. In the center of the fracas, Ashley Trisler tackles another shopper and wrestles an exquisitely beaded gown from her clenched fist. Nearby, Trisler's sisters, Alex Duke and Aby Martin, pull hair and throw punches. 

None of the three is actually engaged. Nor is this a real bridal shop—it's the Atlanta area set of Lifetime's Drop Dead Diva. The sisters are stuntwomen, here to lend their faux-fighting experience to the fictional melee.

Of course, they don't just tussle over tulle. They've also fallen out of trees (Trisler, as a double for Jennifer Aniston in the recent film Wanderlust); careened through traffic in the passenger seat of a speeding car (Martin, in What to Expect When You're Expecting); and tumbled down steps (Duke, in Hallmark Hall of Fame's 2011 The Lost Valentine, standing in for Betty White). 

You could say roughhousing runs in the Georgia-bred sisters' blood. Their father, Anderson Martin, is a stunt performer who has worked on films like Sweet Home Alabama and The Blind Side, while their grandfather, Glenn Wilder, performed in classics like Scarface. Trisler and Martin dabbled in the business as kids—Martin appeared in Run Ronnie Run at age 8. But in 2008, when Georgia began offering increased tax incentives, Hollywood arrived on the trio's doorstep; they scored jobs through family connections and were soon working on dozens of shoots. They now train with their father. "Our dad shows us different ways we can approach each stunt," says Duke. 

Off set, Trisler works as a hair and makeup artist, Duke teaches Zumba, and Martin waits tables. But all three see many more stunts in their future. Says Martin, "When you're performing, going to work is like going out to play."

Topics: Work, Family
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