13 Actors Who Were Injured in the Middle of Filming

Who knew acting could be such a dangerous profession? Working in front of the camera may seem like all fun and games when viewers are watching a movie in theaters, but it turns out that there's a lot of hard work that goes on behind the scenes. And for actors who choose to do their own stunts, they always risk ending up in a life-threatening situation.

Actors like Dylan O'Brien, Tom Cruise, and Kate Winslet know that better than anyone else. These celebrities, along with a handful of other stars, know exactly what can happen when things go awry on set. They've unfortunately found themselves in some unfortunate situations that led them to be seriously hurt in the middle of filming. Thankfully, they've all made full recoveries.

Find out which actors were put in some dangerous situations...

1. Dylan O'Brien

In 2016, Dylan O'Brien was seriously hurt while he was working on a stunt for his film "Maze Runner: The Death Cure." Dylan was reportedly in a harness on top of a moving vehicle when he was suddenly pulled off the vehicle and hit by another car. He suffered brain trauma, a concussion and facial fractures that required reconstructive surgery. On top of all of that, he was left with severe anxiety from the trauma he suffered.

"I had a rough and long road back from that, probably more than people realize. It was a very private and personal thing for me. I was going through that s--- for [a] long time," Dylan told Deadline.

2. Blake Lively

Blake Lively was working on her film "The Rhythm Section" when she suffered an injury that shut down production for six months. During the accident, Blake was filming with her co-star Jude Law and had to lunge toward him with a knife. Her hand collided with his elbow, causing her to break bones in her hand and sever a ligament, among other injuries.

"We were doing all of our own stunts. One-shot fight sequences, which is how I shattered my hand. We shut down for six months. My hand basically turned to feta cheese...It was pretty intense," Blake told "Good Morning America."

3. Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise is no stranger to doing his own stunts but while he was working on "Mission: Impossible - Fallout," he ended up breaking his ankle on what he considered an "easy" task. During the scene Tom was attached to wires while making a jump between two buildings and he was actually supposed to hit the wall of the second building. Things were going well until he hit his ankle against the building in the wrong way during one of the takes. Even though he kept filming to finish the scene, the injury ended up delaying production for several weeks.

"I'm wearing two wires. They're basically just safety wires because I go at a full tilt and I'm sprinting as hard as I can and I hit the side of the wall. That's the stunt...I didn't want to do it again. I knew instantly it was broken...We got the shot. It's in the movie...I just went, 'Sorry guys, it's broken. Take me to the hospital,'" Tom said on "The Graham Norton Show."

4. Priyanka Chopra

When Priyanka Chopra was starring on "Quantico," she suffered a head injury that left her with a concussion. She explained that she didn't know how slippery the roads were outside and when she began to run in a pair of rubber boots, she and her co-star both took a rough fall. Thankfully, she made a quick recovery.

"It was raining and the roads were wet and I was in rubber boots and we were running out of time. I wasn't warned of the conditions that were outside before we went and me and my colleague, both of us fell and we were both rushed to the ER...My show is an extremely physical show. We shoot nine scenes a day, we are an extremely fast-paced show and I have a lot of physicality. So yeah, things can happen, and the producers are very, very aware and concerned and they've been really wonderful with me. So I'm pretty sure it won't happen [again], but when you do stunts, that happens," Priyanka told People after the incident.

5. Harrison Ford

While Harrison Ford was in the middle of rehearsing a fight scene for the upcoming "Indiana Jones 5" flick, he suffered an injury to his shoulder that left him in a sling. Production on the movie had to be temporarily shut down as Harrison recovered from the injury. The film is reportedly still on track to be released in 2022.

"In the course of rehearsing for a fight scene, Harrison Ford sustained an injury involving his shoulder. Production will continue while the appropriate course of treatment is evaluated, and the filming schedule will be reconfigured as needed in the coming weeks," Disney said in a statement.

6. Justin Theroux

Justin Theroux suffered a head injury while on the set of "The Spy Who Dumped Me." He says he was filming a scene on a scooter when he suddenly had to brake, causing him to go flying off the vehicle. Thankfully, it sounds like he made a full recovery.

"I play this kind of action guy. I had a scooter accident...I'm peeling away, and it's like the last shot of the day or the last day I'm working, and I realize as I'm coming up on the next street that there's no lock-up, there's still actual cars going back and forth. So I grab both breaks, skidded out and kinda went flying off the bike and landed on my head. [I] broke my head open. I cracked my head open," Justin explained on "The Ellen Show."

7. Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer Lawrence was working on her upcoming Netflix film "Don't Look Up" when she was injured during a stunt explosion on set. While the glass was expected to shatter, things didn't go according to plan and Jennifer was hit by pieces of glass in her eye. The actress hasn't spoken out about her injury but she reportedly recovered and production was not impacted.

8. Jeremy Renner

Jeremy Renner actually broke both of his arms while filming a stunt for his movie "Tag." He was supposed to fall off of a stack of chairs that were piled 20 feet in the air but accidentally landed on both of his arms.

"The chairs didn't fall, but I fell onto my arms. I knew when I hit the ground that it wasn't good. So I couldn't feel my arms. But then I went back up the stack of chairs, did it again, did okay. And then I went to the hospital at lunch and they said, 'That's broken, that's broken.' I'm like, 'Okay, cool.' And then I went back to work," Jeremy said on "The Tonight Show."

9. Kate Winslet

Kate Winslet had a rough time while she was filming "Titanic," and sustained quite a few injuries including a chipped elbow, a gash on her knee and at one point, she suffered from influenza. She even had a near-drowning experience while filming an intense scene where she was being trailed by a rushing wave. When she got to a closed gate, her jacket became stuck and she almost drowned while attempting to escape.

"I had to sort of shimmy out of the coat to get free. I had no breath left. I thought I'd burst. And [director James Cameron] just said, 'OK, let's go again.' That was his attitude. I didn't want to be a wimp so I didn’t complain," Kate told the LA Times.

10. Ike Barinholtz

Ike Barinholtz sustained a serious injury that left him with a broken neck when he was filming "The Pact." While taking part in a stunt for the movie, Ike fell from a high platform and fractured two cervical vertebrae in his neck.

"We knew something was wrong right away. It was scary and was touch and go for a while. Luckily, I've had great doctors who have really helped me with my recovery...I have to wear an incredibly stylish neck brace for a while as the bone heals. It's a cool look, especially in the summer," Ike told People.

11. George Clooney

While George Clooney was working on "Syriana" back in 2005, he was injured while filming a scene where he was getting beat up. He was taped to a chair and when it tipped over, he tore his dura, which is the wrap around a spine that holds in spinal fluid. He later admitted that the recovery process was so grueling and painful that he considered taking his own life.

"I was at a point where I thought, 'I can't exist like this. I can't actually live.' I was lying in a hospital bed with an IV in my arm, unable to move, having these headaches where it feels like you're having a stroke, and for a short three-week period, I started to think, 'I may have to do something drastic about this,'" George told Rolling Stone.

12. Charlize Theron

Charlize Theron was almost paralyzed while filming a stunt on "Æon Flux," which involved performing a series of backflips. At one point, she accidentally landed on her neck, leaving her with a herniated disk near her spine.

"What happened on 'Æon Flux' was a very unfortunate accident, and it was very severe. I was a centimeter away from being completely paralyzed for the rest of my life. It definitely woke me up to, OK, you have to be prepared. It was nobody’s fault, but it was just a freak accident where I landed on my neck. I had eight years of pain management, where I just couldn’t get rid of the spasms and the nerve damage. I ended up having a (neck) fusion four years ago, and it was the best thing I ever did," Charlize News.com.au.

13. Jaimie Alexander

While filming "Thor: The Dark World," Jaimie Alexander fell while performing a stunt and suffered multiple injuries including a herniated disk in her thoracic spine, a dislocated shoulder, a torn right rhomboid, and chipped vertebrae.

"I slipped and fell down something very high, and I hurt myself pretty badly and it scared me. I knew when I couldn't get off the ground, I was like, 'Okay, I'm in big trouble.' Then, I was okay, but I was in a lot of pain. The next morning I got in a car to go back to the hospital, because I said 'something feels wrong,' and I sat in the car where I compressed my spine a little bit, and I went paralyzed in my right leg and my right hand. So I was in the hospital for a week, but it was a thing where it was just a swelling thing," Jaimie told MTV.