The stuntwoman who died on the set of Deadpool 2 Monday has been identified.
Joi “SJ” Harris, who billed herself as the first African-American female road racer, died while performing a motorcycle stunt in Vancouver.
The Brooklyn, New York native was an advocate for women of color in the road racing game, and promoted herself as “the first licensed African American women in U.S. history to actively compete in sanctioned motorcycle road racing events.”
The video below shows her first ever race crash.
On Friday, Harris updated her Facebook with a selfie, writing, “EVERYTHING FOR A REASON. #staythecourse.”
Harris is thought to be the stunt double for Zazie Beetz. A woman donning the costume for the mutant Domino, whom Beetz plays in the film, was spotted on a black Ducati motorcycle in the area for a sequence days earlier.
“Today, we tragically lost a member of our crew while filming Deadpool,” the film’s star, Ryan Reynolds tweeted. “We’re heartbroken, shocked and devastated… but recognize nothing can come close to the grief and inexplicable pain her family and loved ones must feel in this moment. My heart pours out to them — along with each and every person she touched in this world.”
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) August 14, 2017
Deadpool 2 began filming in the city in June, and the crew had been filming motorcycle sequences downtown for a few days before the accident.
According to WorkSafeBC, the last time a stunt person died on a local shoot was October 1996, when someone suffered a parachute malfunction after jumping from a helicopter.
