Ken Kirzinger

Ken Kirzinger (born November 4, 1959) is a Canadian stuntman and actor best known for his portrayal of Jason Voorhees in Freddy vs. Jason (2003) and of Pa in Wrong Turn 2: Dead End (2007). He also played "Mason" Jason Voorhees character spoof in the horror film parody, Stan Helsing. --- At 6 ft 5 1⁄2 in (1.97 m) he is one of the tallest men to have played Jason Voorhees. Freddy vs. Jason director Ronny Yu tried to limit Kirzinger's stunts on the film as much as possible. Stuntman Glenn Enniswas called in to perform a series of stunts, including a stunt showing Jason walking through a field killing teenagers while on fire. Long before Kirzinger took over the role of Jason Voorhees from Kane Hodder, he had ties to Friday the 13th. He appeared in 1989's Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan as a New York cook who gets in Jason's way while pursuing Rennie Wickham (Jensen Daggett) and Sean Robertson (Scott Reeves). Jason, played by Kane Hodder, threw Kirzinger over the counter. In addition to his role as the cook, Kirzinger also served as a stunt coordinator for the film. Kirzinger is only the second person besides Hodder to play Jason more than once as he doubled for the latter in the same movie in a few short scenes. --- His brother, Dave Kirzinger, played for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League from 1978 to 1986. His known friends are Brad Loree, another member of Stunts Canada who notably played horror icon Michael Myers in Halloween: Resurrection, Robert Englund, who co-starred with him in Freddy vs Jason as Freddy Krueger, and Kane Hodder, the actor who played Jason Voorhees before him. Even though Hodder will sometimes state his disappointment at not being chosen to play Jason for the fifth time in Freddy vs. Jason, he and Kirzinger are very good friends and Kirzinger stated they enjoy seeing each other at conventions.