5 Celebs Who Experienced Life-Changing On-Set Injuries

Accidents happen. Even on film sets, with large production teams and safety measures in place, accidents still find a way to wreak havoc on casts and crew. As such, some of the biggest celebrities have had some serious health scares at their workplace. A cue can be missed, a target might be flubbed, or equipment can malfunction — and within the blink of an eye, an actor's life is changed. 

The laundry list of injuries is enormous. Ryan Reynolds shared this with Newsweek about his performance in "The Hitman's Bodyguard":  "I've had some bad injuries doing stunts. I broke a couple of vertebrae in my neck. It was a bad situation." Meanwhile, as Brendan Fraser admitted (via GQ), "By the time I did the third 'Mummy' picture in China, I was put together with tape and ice – just, like, really nerdy and fetishy about ice packs." Whether they were staring down danger by accepting their own stunts or simply were subject to bad on-set conditions, these stars joined productions only to result in life-altering conditions or scars that stand as evidence of their experiences to this day.

Jackie Chan is known to do his own stunts, which has resulted in him frequently putting his health in danger for his movie roles. With a storied history as a martial arts master, however, the "Rush Hour" actor is perhaps one of the best-trained performers to take on stunt performances. 

Chan has broken several bones (including his ankle and sternum) and sustained more than a few concussions over years of filming. Not to mention the time that the actor received second-degree burns on his hands while filming a stunt for "Police Story," which also resulted in an impacted pelvis and an injury to his spine. Among his most serious production-related injuries happened while performing a stunt on the set of "Crime Story." The actor was accidentally pinned between two cars during his performance, leaving him with crushed legs. 

Even at 71 years old – 32 years after "Crime Story" – Chan is still performing his own stunts (and earning the bruises during production to prove it). As he shared in a 2025 interview (via Lorraine): "I wish I can use CGI, but the audience, they don't like it. They want to see Jackie Chan do the real things, so I have to do the real things."

Zazie Beetz was reportedly excited when she was cast as Domino in "Deadpool 2." However, Beetz faced serious injury on set during the shooting of the superhero film. Due to the nature of the movie franchise, Beetz was in for a lot of action, fight sequences, and explosions, which she partially admitted to being aware of when she landed the role. During a radio interview, the actor revealed an incident on set that caused her to pass out. "They really just want me to be able to be strong enough to pull off all the physical activity — which is a lot," Beetz said. "Like there is one scene where Josh [Brolin] and I were fighting and I literally — in the middle of the scene — I'm passed out." 

The fact that the actor had to wear a skin-tight bodysuit as part of her character's costume did not help with Beetz's ability to breathe while performing the elaborate fight sequences in the movie. But her sudden fall wasn't the last of her injuries on set. During a shoot-out sequence, Beetz was struck by shrapnel, leaving a permanent scar on her body. Despite the lasting mark, though, Beetz still praised the production, telling Refinery 29, "To be able to originate the live-action version of a character is a pretty special honor."

Every so often, one would hear rumors about horror movie sets being haunted, and the set of "The Exorcist" was no exception. Aside from several on-set incidents of unexplainable events and painful injuries, Linda Blair, who was just 13 years old at the time, also sustained a difficult back injury. 

In what may be considered the most famous scene from the horror classic, Blair's character, a young girl experiencing terrifying phenomenon, is possessed by a demon that requires an exorcist. Tied to her bed, the little girl is jerked about by a violently shaking mattress. The stunt was accomplished through a remote-controlled bedframe and a harness that kept the young child positioned on the bed. 

"I'm crying, I'm screaming, they think I'm acting up a storm," Blair shared on the "Cursed Films" docuseries, explaining that in the midst of being thrown about on the mattress, a particularly harsh thrust had broken a bone in her spine (via LAD Bible). The crew reportedly didn't seek medical attention for her, and Blair confirmed that the incident "is the footage that's in the movie." Following her recovery from the spinal fracture, Blair developed scoliosis. 

Though not a horror movie, the 1939 "The Wizard of Oz" film set saw its own kind of haunting with a series of injuries on set. Margaret Hamilton, who portrayed the Wicked Witch, suffered burns after a mishap related to a pyrotechnic stunt. John Fricke, author of "The Wizard of Oz, The Official 50th Anniversary Pictorial History" and self-proclaimed "Wizard of Oz" expert, told the story of the accident to People, saying that during the sequence, the gauze that covered the actor's costume caught fire. "The broom straw was next to the side of her face and near her right hand. And the upshot was that she had second-degree burns on her face, third-degree burns on her hand where the green makeup was."

But Hamilton wasn't the only actor to suffer at the hands of the production. Buddy Ebsen's Tin Man look was accomplished through pure aluminum paint. The actor suffered a severe reaction to it; he was rushed to a hospital and spent two weeks in an oxygen tent. His co-star Ray Bolger, the Scarecrow, faced problems with his own costume. The mask they had made prevented the actor's skin from breathing; even after production, he was left with permanent marks from the material pressed into his skin. 

Before she was Lois Lane in 2025's "Superman," Rachel Brosnahan was Mrs. Miriam Maisel on the award-winning Amazon series, "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel." Set in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Brosnahan was expected to wear the era-appropriate clothing to project the time period of the show. As such, the actor was frequently squeezing into tight-fitting and restrictive corsets as part of her role. And thanks to showrunner and screenwriter Amy Sherman Palladino's fast-paced writing style, wich was popularized in her early 2000s show "Gilmore Girls," Brosnahan wasn't just chatting at a normal pace, but rather talking a mile a minute. The quick pacing of the show's dialogue mixed with the corset forced the "Superman" actor to hone her breath control, but after 5 seasons, the cinching corset had taken its effects on the actor's body.

On a January 2020 episode of "The Late Late Show with James Corden," Brosnahan revealed that the dangerous combination led to some of her ribs being fused together. The condition has since prevented the actor from being able to take deep breaths. Brosnahan took the pain in stride, reassuring fans that she was alright, saying, "It's really fine, guys. Champagne problems." Though the actor has been able to deal with the condition since wrapping filming, Brosnahan stands as a testament to why you shouldn't wear shapewear every day.