Submitted photoCarr, right, poses with actor Ben Daniels on the set of Fox's The Exorcist. Carr was Daniels' stunt double on the show.

THOMASVILLE — Thomasville on Stage and Company (TOSAC) is planning to begin a six-week acting school for young adults at the Storefront Theater headed by a Hollywood stunt performer.

The Young Actors Conservatory, which will begin May 6 at 7 p.m., will be instructed by Ryan Carr.

“It’s pretty rewarding working with kids because it keeps you young,” Carr said. “Art is one of the coolest things you can get involved in. We get to create an environment where kids can start learning life lessons through art and theater and gymnastics.”

The class will cost $300 for the entire session spanning six weeks and will consist of approximately one dozen students ages 13 and up.

“If they pay me well enough I’ll probably let them hit me with a car a few times too,” the stunt performer joked.

Interested individuals can apply for the class on tosac.com or by calling Carr at (312) 489-6914.

Applications will continue to be accepted up until the class begins May 6.

Carr’s television credits include “Empire”, “Shameless,” “Chicago Fire,” “Chicago P.D.” and “The Exorcist,” as well as films such as “Divergent” and a recent movie starring John Goodman titled “Captive State.”

The stunt performer, who currently serves as an adult and youth gymnastics instructor at the Thomasville YMCA, said he’s always preferred coaching to the other ways actors typically earn supplemental income.

“It’s just always been my day job,” Carr said. “Instead of waiting tables, I like teaching people gymnastics.”

When he was 3, the Fort Lauderdale native began taking gymnastics classes, first becoming a coach in the subject when he was 16.

That same year, Carr began acting at the Fort Lauderdale Children’s Theater.

“It had a huge impact on my life, and I probably wouldn’t have gone to college if I didn’t start doing community theater when I was a kid,” Carr said. “My theater teacher made sure that I got into a great school and I actually went to an arts conservatory where I got my acting degree.”

That in turn paved the way for Carr to go to Los Angeles, where he began working as an instructor at a gymnastics school and in a limited capacity in several television shows and movies.

Carr said, however, that LA didn’t provide the type of work he was searching for.

“I was talking to my agent and manager and saying I’d really love to do something a little more physical. How do I get into being a stunt person?” he said. “They always told me they didn’t know how, but what I came to realize later was that they just didn’t know how to make any money off of me being a stunt person.”

After about six years, Carr moved to Chicago to link up with old friends from the children’s theater and combine his love of acting and his passion for gymnastics into work as a stunt performer.

Once in Chicago, Carr contacted a friend who previously worked on the Christopher Nolan-directed Dark Knight trilogy who was beginning another project that involved the type of physical performance he was searching for.

“I called him up and the next day he had me on the set of ‘Divergent,'” Carr said. “I signed the contract and was jumping on and off of trains that day.”

Over the years Carr said he gathered his savings in order to purchase property to make a new home in Georgia.

Carr said Georgia appealed to him due to the rising film industry in Atlanta, home of Pinewood Studios.

“It’s basically the new Hollywood now,” he said. “For every every one movie they make in Los Angeles, they make four in Atlanta.”

Carr purchased an abandoned house in Thomasville at an online auction which lacked electricity and running water and moved in February 2018.

In need of a place to shower daily for almost six months, Carr obtained a membership at the nearby YMCA where he discovered they had a gymnastics program in need of an instructor.

After being hired by the YMCA, several of Carr’s students eventually learned he was involved in acting and stunt work and encouraged him to audition for TOSAC’s Christmas play.

“It wasn’t until I auditioned and then got the role of the dad in the Christmas pageant that I was even on their radar,” Carr said.

When Carr was asked to become a board member at TOSAC, he came back with what he felt was a better idea.

“I said instead of being on the board, how about I actually help you guys take this theater and turn it into an acting school?” Carr said.

As a relative newcomer to Thomasville, Carr said he was initially concerned his idea would be dismissed by the board.

To his delight, however, it’s now going to be a reality.

“I thought they were willing to give it a try and I’m pretty happy they did,” Carr said. “We’ll see what happens in May.”