California transplant is always a man of action

When Rich Hopkins got word of his 30-year high school reunion in San Diego recently, he checked out pictures of long-ago classmates - as they are now.

Looking at his fellow alumni, decked out in Dockers, penny loafers and golf shirts, Hopkins had an immediate reaction: "I don't want to look like that."

That's something the 21-year Las Vegas resident doesn't need to worry about, because he doesn't look like that. And he probably never will.

Especially with a colorful array of tattoos on his arms, testifying to his interests.

One arm boasts an all-star lineup of Looney Tunes cartoon characters, which seems appropriate for a guy who's done such looney-tunes stunts as dropping 1,000 feet down a skyscraper wall in a Spider-Man costume and traveling a quarter-mile on motorized skates - while doing a full-body burn.

Not that Hopkins felt the heat.

Ironically, "you're really cold" during a body burn, because the stunt gel used to soak special fire-resistant undergarments and protective clothing is "about 40 degrees," he explains. "When you start warming up, you know it's time to stop. You can feel it."

On Hopkins' other tattooed arm, the iconic Las Vegas sign shares space with assorted images, including a strip of film, flames shooting from the mask of comedy - and the logo of Hopkins' company, Thrillseekers Unlimited, which just celebrated its 20th anniversary of adrenalized action.

(Indeed, Hopkins signs every email with the signature line, "Yours adrenalized.")

A veteran stunt coordinator and performer, the 48-year-old Hopkins has done everything from doubling for Fabio - remember those "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" commercials? - to high-octane driving in the 2003 hit "2 Fast 2 Furious." (Hopkins appears in four scenes, "and in each scene," he notes, "I drove a different car.")

Recent credits include an Air Force motion simulator ride, shot at Nellis Air Force Base, and a video starring Las Vegas rockers The Killers.

But Hopkins still gets into the act himself, playing a casino guest in a chase scene at the Golden Gate for the upcoming big-screen thriller "Now You See Me."

Yet Thrillseekers Unlimited - and its founder - aren't the same as when Hopkins arrived in Las Vegas, following a few years of sporadically successful attempts to break into showbiz in Los Angeles.

Initially, Hopkins went to Hollywood from his hometown of San Diego in the late '80s, hoping to escape the same troubled fates as his "surf and party" friends, most of whom wound up with drug problems - or in jail.

"I had to get out of town," Hopkins admits. So he joined relatives in L.A., thinking "maybe I can be the next Tom Cruise." (Not likely, considering that Hopkins is 6-foot-2 - and Cruise is a reported 5-foot-7.)

Hopkins found a job at a small talent agency, which in turn enabled him to find a few jobs. But he discovered that he wasn't exactly thrilled living on Top Ramen and sharing apartments with other Hollywood wannabes.

Hopkins also discovered, once he finally made it onto a few movie and TV sets, that acting wasn't what intrigued him about show business.

"What I was drawn to on the set was the stunt guys," he says. "The actors were all 'I'll be in my trailer' - phony and pretentious. The stunt guys were supercool. And I thought, 'I can do what they do.' "

Of course he could. After all, he grew up surfing, jet skiing, rock climbing and skateboarding in San Diego, "the mecca for crazy kids doing crazy things."

But Hollywood stunt work proved "a tough nut to crack," and by the early '90s, Hopkins "had pretty much had it with L.A."

So, on New Year's Day 1991, he moved to Las Vegas to work at a family friend's chain of fitness centers.

At the time, Hopkins' "perception of Las Vegas was like any other tourist - the Strip, and that's it," he recalls.

Once he started working at the gym, however, he met locals - sky divers, paragliders, rock climbers, even the guys who rode motorcycles inside the "Globe of Death" in the Riviera show "Splash" - and realized that "Las Vegas is pretty damn cool."

But there wasn't one centralized location for a self-confessed extreme sports addict to "do all of this stuff in one place," he recalls - at which time "a big light bulb goes off."

And Thrillseekers Unlimited was the result.

A friend from the gym loaned Hopkins $5,000 so he could print up a "cheesy" brochure - complete with a photo of him executing a midair Rollerblade jump - touting "The Adrenaline Vacation Company" and its array of activities, from paragliding, rock climbing and sky diving to the "Firewalk and Personal Confidence Seminar."

Coverage in magazines from Adventure West to Newsweek (which did a cover story titled "On the Edge") boosted his business, which eventually expanded to include corporate presentations.

Next came live stunt shows, movie premieres and other special events. (Including a promotion for "Spider-Man's" DVD debut - when he did "a descender rappel off Blockbuster world headquarters in Dallas.")

Hopkins comes by his adrenaline-charged tendencies naturally - his father, a commercial airline pilot, liked to drag race in his spare time.

"My dad always told me, 'Find out what you love to do,' " Hopkins explains.

In his view, performing and coordinating stunts certainly beats "sitting in a stinky gym for the rest of my life."

In a way, it's also brought Hopkins back to show business.

"I started out wanting to be an actor," he muses, "and now I've kind of come full circle" - serving as a producer, production coordinator and second-unit director as well as stunt coordinator.

Hopkins is also looking for a new Thrillseekers headquarters "to run my stunt training," he notes, and hopes to establish a Las Vegas action sports park where visitors could "hang out and watch" the experts - or get into the act themselves.

And then there's his idea for a Thrillseekers Action Sports Bar and Grill.

"I self-diagnosed myself with ADD," Hopkins explains cheerfully, noting that "I get bored doing the same thing."

He'd love to "be on the set every day, creating action," he admits, but "I don't set foot on the set" without at least a month of preparation and preproduction, planning stunts - and writing reports for insurance companies whose usual response is " 'You're gonna do what?' "

For Hopkins, "doing what?" remains what it's all about.

Whether it's competing for a bungee-jumping world championship (as he did at ESPN's 1996 "X-Games") or snowboarding down a roof (he did that for a Sports Authority commercial), it's the live stunts that provide the thrills Hopkins still seeks, even after two decades of Thrillseekers Unlimited.

Although "you get appreciation on a movie set," Hopkins says, it's the kind where the crew applauds, then it's on to the next scene.

And for him it can't compare to "the adrenaline you get from a live show."

Contact reporter Carol Cling at ccling@reviewjournal .com or 702-383-0272.