Impending dread of the imminent work week can effectively diminish anyone’s weekend spirits. But Anthony Hoang looks forward to his work week. From his humble roots as a circus clown, Hoang has become one of the stunt industry’s most prolific and determined rising stars.

Hoang is an actor, performer and stuntman specializing in skilled driving, martial arts and working with fire. His eclectic range spans from student films to Hollywood blockbusters, working on sets with the likes of Adam Sandler and Jeff Bridges. His uncanny knack for performance and subsequent meteoric rise came through an unlikely circumstance.

Born and raised in Worcester, Hoang was a shy high school student. He favored gadgets and technology, often finding himself behind the soundboard instead of on the stage. “For stage productions, I was the one running the sound and the lights,” said Hoang. “Then, one day, they were short on people auditioning for a Shakespeare play and I was like, ‘Alright, I’m going to try it out.’” After receiving much praise for his performance, Hoang had found his calling.

Yet, he did not follow this path immediately. Attending Worcester State University following high school, Hoang was a reluctant business major. “I had trouble focusing in class. I would gaze out the window and be like, ‘I just want to perform; what should I do?’” Desperate for a way out of his situation, Hoang turned to the circus.

While working as a clown for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, Hoang was exposed to various forms of training; from juggling and acrobatics to crowd control, he cites the circus as an essential learning opportunity. “As a clown, you cross-train and everything,” Hoang said. “We’re not only there for comic relief, we’re there in case the trapeze gets stuck or a lion escapes or something; we’re there to distract the crowd.” Sometimes, distracting the crowd means “pulling every trick in the bag, any circus art you can think of.” This jack-of-all-trades mentality helped Hoang transition fluidly into stunt work.

As for his actual breakthrough into the stunt world, Hoang likes to say that he “fell into it.” Puns aside, this is an apt description of how he found work through a mix of perseverance and a bit of luck. Worried about his future after Ringling, Hoang began asking older clowns who had since left the show for advice. He found his answer in friend and former clown, Jimmy Graham.

“Most of us either became birthday party clowns or stuntmen,” Graham told Hoang. “Think about it: During the show, you do falls on the concrete, you do stair falls, you cross-train on all these things. These are all the qualities of a stuntman.” Intrigued and a bit skeptical, Hoang began to think seriously about this option and ultimately decided that it was the job for him – a perfect combination of performance and physically complex maneuvers. He began to pursue his goal almost instantly.

“When I got home from the circus, I started street performing in Boston; I started saving up just to buy a plane ticket to go out west to train with some people,” Hoang said. “I just got lucky and bumped into the right people who took me under their wing and started training me.”

From performing in Shakespearean plays and answering the call of the circus to standing on a Hollywood movie set about to be set on fire, Hoang said that there is so much going through his mind, but, above all else, the most important thing to think of is “What is the task at hand?”

According to Hoang, being able to focus and control adrenaline are the most important characteristics of a successful stuntman. This, of course, can be extremely difficult when faced with dangerous and unstable factors like flames or a multiple-story fall. Hoang, however, deals with such stress by juggling in between stunts to maintain focus and clear his head.

Being in such an unpredictable professional environment will inevitably yield physical risks, as well. Hoang is lucky to have never been severely injured, but he says he sticks to a strict training regime, which involves five different gyms and a daily four- to six-hour time commitment, to keep his body in peak, stunt-ready form.

Today, Hoang is busier than ever, perfecting his favorite stunt – driving – for the upcoming summer blockbuster Ghostbusters and polishing up his fighting techniques, all while enthusiastically exploring the a broad range of work offers. As for what’s next for this multi-talented stuntman, Hoang hopes to one day become a stunt coordinator and hire an up-and-coming stuntman like himself and giving this advice: “This is your first job. Be proud.”