Carl Nick Ciarfalio (born November 12, 1953) is an American actor and stuntman. He has appeared in over 300 film and television projects. He is best known for portraying the

Thing Thing or The Thing may refer to: Philosophy * An object * Broadly, an entity * Thing-in-itself (or ''noumenon''), the reality that underlies perceptions, a term coined by Immanuel Kant * Thing theory, a branch of critical theory that focuses ...

in the

Roger Corman Roger William Corman (born April 5, 1926) is an American film director, producer, and actor. He has been called "The Pope of Pop Cinema" and is known as a trailblazer in the world of independent film. Many of Corman's films are based on works t ...

produced, but unreleased movie ''

The Fantastic Four The Fantastic Four is a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team debuted in ''The Fantastic Four'' #1 (cover dated Nov. 1961), helping usher in a new level of realism in the medium. It was the first s ...

''.

Career

Carl Ciarfalio started his career as a plumber's associate when he was invited by one of his wrestling associates to join him at

Knott's Berry Farm Knott's Berry Farm is a theme park located in Buena Park, California, owned and operated by Cedar Fair. In 2015, it was the twelfth-most-visited theme park in North America and averages approximately 4 million visitors per year. It features 40 ...

as they were looking for big and tall actors to perform for audiences. Ciarfalio took the job for the summer, but he found himself enjoying it. " thin a couple of months I had a cowboy hat and a gun and I was on stage and people were applauding and laughing, and I told my parents, 'I'll go back to school one day'." He never did. He began appearing in numerous film and television projects over the years such as ''

Fight Club ''Fight Club'' is a 1999 American film directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter. It is based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. Norton plays the unnamed narrator, who is d ...

'', '' Mission: Impossible III'' and ''

The Amazing Spider-Man ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' is an ongoing American comic book series featuring the Marvel Comics superhero Spider-Man as its main protagonist. Being in the Earth 616, mainstream continuity of the franchise, it began publication in 1963 as a bim ...

''. In 1993, Ciarfalio received a call to appear in a

production. "They were looking for a stunt man. They were looking for somebody about six feet tall and weighed about 220 pounds or so...So, I went to the audition and we talked a little bit and they thought I was the guy, which was, you know, very cool." While the actor who was playing Ben Grimm (

Michael Bailey Smith Michael Bailey Smith (born November 2, 1957) is an American actor. He is best known for his appearances on the television series ''Charmed'', where he played Belthazor, a Grimlock leader and Shax. Early life Smith was born in Alpena, Michi ...

) was tall, he was unable to fit in the Thing suit and thus Ciarfalio found himself wearing the costume which he found "the hottest fucking thing" he ever wore. On October 20, 2014, Ciarfalio launched a

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

campaign to have a biography book published. He reached his goal at $11,055 and in September 2015 published ''Stars, Stunts and Stories: A Hollywood Stuntman's Fall to Fame''. The book was co-written by Teri Ryan.

Filmography

Stunts

Actor

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ciarfalio, Carl Living people 1953 births American stunt performers Male actors from California American people of Italian descent