The Bold and the Beautiful Star Matthew Atkinson Talks Doing His Own Stunts

Matthew Atkinson is a force to be reckoned with on The Bold and the Beautiful as Thomas Forrester continues to manipulate those around him. As much as he tries to stay one step ahead of his adversaries, sometimes he ends up taking a fall… literally.

Matthew Atkinson On Tumbling Thomas

While Thomas has fallen off both a cliff in Steffy’s (Jacqueline MacInnes Wood) backyard and over a railing at Forrester Creations, it’s not necessarily Atkinson who takes the tumble. The actor recently talked about the backstage secrets of those tumbles that Thomas takes.

“I do love to do as many of them as I can,” Atkinson told TV Insider about his physically challenging role. Of course, BB doesn’t want its actors to accidentally get hurt so the soap keeps a capable stunt team on speed-dial. How much of his own stunts does Atkinson do?

“I got to fall over the cliff a little bit. They had a pad for me and I was locked into this harness to make sure I didn’t go all the way over. The stunt guy went much further than I did. I totally respect the show not wanting [actors] to push boundaries when it comes to doing stunts.”

Atkinson says he was up for doing the fall into the vat and he took part in some of it, but he says, “the main fall was done by the stuntman.” Fortunately, Thomas didn’t land in lethal acid but a more benign solution.

BB History

The TV Insider story joked that it could have been a vat of BeLieF — a reference that Atkinson got even though the wrinkle-free formula that Brooke (Katherine Kelly Lang) created was first introduced to BB in 1991.

“Of course,” Atkinson laughed, “it had be…something a Logan would come up with!” As for knowing his BB history, the actor says, “I came across [BeLieF] in my research.” Just as Atkinson is thorough, so is his on-screen alter-ego. What’s Thomas going to do next? Stay tuned to find out! The Bold and the Beautiful airs weekdays on CBS. Check local listings for air times.