Childhood & Early Life
David Leitch was born on February 7, 1970, in Kohler, Wisconsin. There is no information about his parents or siblings. Leitch grew up watching ‘Kung Fu Theater,’ and developed a passion for martial arts. As there was no martial arts school in Kohler, Leitch trained himself in his garage, with the help of books.
Leitch enrolled at the ‘University of Minnesota’ for his higher studies. He received martial arts training from ‘Dan Inosanto Academy’ too. After acquiring a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Education, Leitch took up a teaching job. At the same time, he opened a martial arts school.
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Career
David Leitch made entry into movies as a stuntman. His association with stuntman Chad Stahelski encouraged Leitch to take up stunt as a career. He worked as the stunt double for Brad Pitt in five movies. He worked as a stunt double for Matt Damon and Jean-Claude Van Damme, too.
In the late 1990s, Leitch performed as a stuntman in movies such as ‘Perfect Target,’ ‘Almost Heroes,’ and ‘Blade.’ In the movie ‘Fight Club,’ he worked as the stunt double for Brad Pitt. In 2001, he performed as ‘Detective Mike Moran,’ in the film ‘The Order.’ Leitch performed stunts for a few TV series, such as ‘7th Heaven’ and ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer.’
In 1997, Leitch, along withChad Stahelski, founded the action design production company ‘87Eleven.’The company specializes in teaching stunt techniques for movie productions.
In 2001, Leitch worked as a stuntman for movies such as ‘Ocean’s Eleven,’ ‘Spy Game,’ ‘One Night at McCool’s,’ and ‘Ghost of Mars.’ In 2003, he worked as the second-unit director for the action movie ‘In Hell.’ In the film, he performed a small part as ‘Paul.’ In 2004, Leitch gave stunts in ‘Van Helsing’ and ‘In Enemy Hands.’
In 2005, David Leitch starred in the action comedy mockumentary ‘Confessions of an Action Star.’ Leitch was also the writer of the mockumentary. It was about the rise and fall of a fictional martial arts hero, ‘Frank Sledge.’ In the movie, Leitch portrayed ‘Frank Sledge.’
In 2007, Leitch performed as the stunt double for Matt Damon in the movie ‘The Bourne Ultimatum.’ For their excellent work in the movie, Leitch and his stunt crew won the ‘Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture.’ In 2008, Leitch shared the ‘Taurus World Stunt Award’ with Kai Martin.
In 2008, Leitch worked as the second-unit director of the horror movie ‘The Midnight Meat Train.’ In 2009, he was the second-unit director of ‘Ninja Assassin.’ In this movie, Leitch played a minor role, too. In 2010, he performed as a video game character ‘Terry Bogard,’ in the science fiction movie ‘The King of Fighters.’ He was also the second-unit director of the movie.
In 2011, Leitch worked as the second-unit director of the movie ‘The Mechanic.’ In the movie, he performed the role of ‘Sebastian.’ In the same year, he performed stunt sequences for ‘Conan the Barbarian.’ In 2012, he was seen in the movie ‘The Bourne Legacy,’ in the small role of a driver.
In 2014, David Leitch made his directorial debut with the movie ‘John Wick.’ Although he co-directed this thriller with Chad Stahelski, Leitch was not credited as the director. He was also one of the producers of the movie. The movie was a huge commercial success.
In 2015, Leitch worked as the second-unit director of ‘Hitman: Agent 47,’ and ‘Jurassic World.’ In 2016, he worked in the same capacity for the movie ‘Captain America: Civil War.’ In 2017, Leitch worked as the executive producer of the movie ‘John Wick: Chapter 2.’
In 2017, David Leitch directed the superhero short film ‘No Good Deed.’ It featured the superhero ‘Deadpool’ from ‘Marvel Comics.’ In the same year, he directed the action thriller spy movie ‘Atomic Blonde.’ It was based on the graphic novel ‘The Coldest City.’ This movie was his solo directorial debut in full-length movies.
In 2018, David Leitch directed the superhero movie ‘Deadpool 2.’ It was the sequel to the movie, ‘Deadpool.’ In the movie, Leitch starred as ‘Juggernaut.’ The movie was a success. It was the ninth highest grossing film of 2018. In 2019, Leitch directed ‘Hobbs & Shaw,’ a spin-off of the ‘Fast & Furious’ franchise. The movie released on August 2, 2019.
