Rhonda Moniz, Stuntwoman
by Judy Kermis Blotnick
It isn’t as though Rhonda Moniz woke up one morning and decided that she was going to become a stuntwoman. Born in a hardcore fishing town, a "tough town" by her own admission, nothing in her Catholic upbringing in New Bedford would prepare her for the career she wound up pursuing. Sure, she was attractive, slim, and very athletic but what separated her from the typical jock set was a fine mind that was astute enough to realize early on that her physical gifts would only take her so far. Rhonda Moniz is exactly the kind of woman one would want around in case of trouble, a combination of peak physical ability and a sharp brain.
Rhonda Moniz is one of New England’s few stuntwomen. She’s all business and notes that stunt work is not for adrenaline junkies; it’s a science to her and there is no room for making mistakes.
With a dad who managed a natural gas company and a mom who still practices holistic medicine, Moniz had one foot firmly planted in each camp: the realistic business side and the spiritual trusting one. An only child, now in her thirties, she majored in zoology at Salem State and got a business degree from Lesley College because "everything is a business." Through most of her life Moniz sought the challenges offered by extreme sports such as scuba diving, snowboarding and mountain climbing and finally trained as a "utility person," an all-around stuntwoman, and sought a career in film. "A lot of people think that stunt work equals adrenaline junkie," she said, smiling. "It’s true, one does run across a bunch of yahoos, and I’ve met my share, but that’s not all there is. Stuntwork is a science and there is no room for mistakes when people’s lives are at risk."
  Myrtle the Turtle, the resident green sea turtle, appears to be the happiest creature in the New England Aquaium's giant ocean tank. Rhonda records the moment for her documentary of this experience. Myrtle loves to have her shell rubbed with a conch shell and sleep in the bottom of the tank for up to 3 hours at a time without coming up for air.

There are many other sides to Moniz as well, a woman who prides herself on being the perfectionist when it comes to any work she takes on but also admits that meeting the Dalai Lama at Brandeis "overwhelmed" her and made her rethink the journey she is on. She now meditates regularly and has found out that the scariest thing she could think of is that people will say, "she was here, she’s gone and there was no difference made." This new insight has propelled Moniz to open her own production company in Brookline, ARKAY Productions, with partners Kim Lincoln and Susan Berberian.

"After having done all this stuntwork, there were two things I could have done. Move to Los Angeles or stay in Boston, a place I love, and get behind the camera. Because of my background, I’d have a view on an action scene that most directors aren’t trained to see, to catch mistakes before they are filmed. I know where the action has to be so that the scene is realistic," commented Moniz.

Rhonda Moniz swims with sharks and a stingray and all the 50 species found in the 200,000 gallon Giant Ocean Tank at the New England Aquarium.   

Moving beyond stuntwork and stunt coordination, she now loves to direct and to do videography but she is very particular about the productions she becomes involved in. She was stunt coordinator on OPERATOR, a film made by Boston University seniors, where the challenge was to come up with a fight scene between two rival gangs. She is looking forward to working on a project for the New England Aquarium, working as producer, director and doing underwater stuntwork.

"What excites me most is making films that transport people outside of their zone of tolerance," Moniz said, thoughtfully. "I am moved to make films about endangered wildlife and the environment but I am also interested in teaching people about stuntwork, maybe offer(ing) some workshops in Boston. I would love to make a documentary about sharks, maybe teach people about shark dives. Maybe." She laughs as she recalls the last underwater work she was hired to do where rain and wind changed the visibility below and, holding nothing but a camera for a weapon, she had no idea when and where the sharks would approach. It made her appreciate her team, and she noted how important a solid team is to any undertaking. That was her business and spiritual side talking, in unison.

   This is a Rhonda Moniz specialty: setting herself on fire. She is an aspiring director that wants to do thought-provoking work that will "lift people out of their seats and slam them back down again."
Was she scared? A little? Moniz admits to things scaring her but they are not what one would expect. She is most scared of mediocrity, she says, of not making a difference and accepting things as they are, without changing the world for the better. A very surprising set of words from someone whose career depends on not being gullible, naive or unprepared. These are the words of a committed idealist, someone who will never shoot a film just to say she’s done it. It has to be a film, a documentary most likely, that is thought-provoking, and will "lift people out of their seats and slam them back down again." It is hard to imagine Rhonda Moniz not achieving what she sets out to do, so better buckle those seatbelts.

Judy Kermis Blotnick is a free-lance writer and former Executive Director of Women In Film & Video/New England. She is currently enrolled full time at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and lives in Cambridge.