Celebrities who went skydiving: 10 true stories

Published on October 7, 2026 · 9 min read

Plenty of celebrities have jumped out of a plane for real. George H. W. Bush celebrated his birthdays with tandem skydives until he was 90, Tom Cruise personally performed a jump from around 25,000 feet for Mission: Impossible, and King Charles III made his first parachute jump during military training. In Italy, an Olympic champion, actors and TV personalities made their first tandem jump for the Italia 1 channel. Here are ten stories verified against news outlets and official sources: who jumped, when, and what kind of jump it was.

Key points

• Almost every celebrity who tries skydiving does it tandem, harnessed to an instructor: the same jump anyone makes the first time.
• George H. W. Bush jumped at 75, 80, 85 and 90; the last time he could no longer use his legs.
• Tom Cruise is a genuine skydiver: for Mission: Impossible he made hundreds of training jumps.
• At London 2012 the Queen did not jump: a stuntman wearing a copy of her dress did.
• In Italy the TV show "Giù in 60 secondi" took athletes, actors and TV faces on tandem jumps from 4,000 metres.

Which celebrities have gone skydiving?

Presidents and royals who jumped

George H. W. Bush: birthdays in free fall

Bush's first jump was not his choice: in 1944, as a US Navy pilot, he had to bail out of his torpedo bomber after it was hit near the island of Chichi Jima, and he was picked up from the sea by a submarine. As the United States Parachute Association (USPA) recalls, he promised himself he would jump again, and on 25 March 1997 he did: an accelerated freefall (AFF) jump from 12,500 feet over the Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. Then came the birthdays: 75 in 1999, 80 in 2004 (tandem with the Golden Knights, the US Army parachute team), 85 in 2009 and 90 in 2014.

The most striking detail is the last one. On 12 June 2014 Bush could no longer use his legs: his family sang "Happy Birthday" as he was moved from his wheelchair to the helicopter, and he jumped tandem with former Golden Knight Mike Elliott, the same instructor as at 85, landing on the lawn of St. Ann's Church in Kennebunkport, Maine. According to reports at the time, it was his eighth parachute jump.

King Charles III: a first jump upside down

On 29 July 1971, while training with the Royal Air Force, the then Prince Charles made his first jump from an Andover transport aircraft over Studland Bay in Dorset. Decades later, at a Parachute Regiment ceremony, he recalled starting off upside down with his legs caught in the rigging lines, and being pulled out of the water by the Royal Marines. In 1977 he became Colonel-in-Chief of the regiment, and the following year he asked to take its parachute course.

Film and TV stars who went skydiving

Tom Cruise: over a hundred jumps for one scene

For Mission: Impossible – Fallout (2018) Tom Cruise personally performed a HALO jump (high altitude, low opening) from around 25,000 feet over Abu Dhabi, out of a C-17 military aircraft. According to press reports, between training and filming he jumped 106 times to get the three takes the director wanted. The scene had to be shot at sunset, with a light window of about three minutes, and before every take-off Cruise breathed pure oxygen for around twenty minutes. Stunt coordinator Wade Eastwood called him the first actor to do a HALO jump on camera.

For Dead Reckoning he rode a motorcycle off a ramp on the edge of a cliff in Norway and, once airborne, let go of the bike and opened his parachute. To prepare, CBS News reported, he made more than 500 skydives and over 13,000 motocross jumps.

London 2012: the Queen who didn't jump

At the London 2012 opening ceremony, a film showed Elizabeth II leaving Buckingham Palace by helicopter with James Bond, played by Daniel Craig. Over the Olympic Stadium, though, the people who actually jumped were two stuntmen: one sewn into a copy of the Queen's salmon-coloured dress, and Mark Sutton as Bond. According to ABC News they jumped at about 800 feet, opened their canopies at around 500 feet and landed outside the Olympic Park.

Will Smith: a first skydive in Dubai

Will Smith told Gulf News that he made his first skydive in Dubai in his forties, and that it changed his relationship with fear. He went back in October 2018 for his 50th birthday: the first episode of his series Will Smith's Bucket List, released on Facebook Watch in February 2019, follows the jump and his attempts to persuade his wife Jada Pinkett Smith to jump with him.

Chuck Norris: a tandem at a president's party

On 13 June 2004, for Bush's 80th birthday over his presidential library in College Station, Texas, actor Chuck Norris and Fox News journalist Brit Hume also jumped, tandem with Golden Knights instructors, from about 13,000 feet. Even the action-movie hero went up harnessed to an instructor the first time.

Which Italian celebrities have gone skydiving?

Fabio Basile and the cast of "Giù in 60 secondi" (2017)

In Italy the best-documented case is "Giù in 60 secondi" (Down in 60 Seconds), a show on Italia 1 made with the telecom company Fastweb, in which well-known people make their first jump. In the series that started on 5 November 2017, the jumpers were judoka Fabio Basile, Olympic champion at Rio 2016, water polo player Amaurys Pérez, actress Jane Alexander, comedian Gianluca Fubelli and Paola Caruso: first training in the Fastweb Aero Gravity free-fall simulator in Milan, then a tandem from 4,000 metres at the Campovolo airfield in Fano.

Jo Squillo, Michele Cucuzza and others (2020)

The show returned to Italia 1 on 12 September 2020 with Michele Cucuzza, Simone Rugiati, Jo Squillo, Paola Di Benedetto and the couple Paolo Ciavarro and Clizia Incorvaia. One day in the wind tunnel in Milan, then a tandem from 4,000 metres at the Skydive Pullout drop zone in Ravenna, with about a minute of free fall at 200 km/h. Those numbers are very close to a standard tandem: with us you climb to 4,200 metres and free fall lasts about 60 seconds.

Roberta Mancino: the skydiver who became famous

Roberta Mancino went the other way round: she is not a celebrity who tried a parachute, but an Italian skydiver, BASE jumper and wingsuit pilot who also became known as a model. In March 2016, Fox News reported, she jumped at dawn from a helicopter over the Villarrica volcano in Chile, flew over it in a wingsuit filming the lava, and then opened her parachute. That kind of jump comes after years of training and thousands of skydives.

Who made the highest skydive ever?

On 14 October 2012, over Roswell, New Mexico, Austrian Felix Baumgartner stepped out of a capsule at 38,969 metres (about 127,850 feet) and reached Mach 1.25 in free fall, around 1,357 km/h: according to Guinness World Records, he was the first person to break the sound barrier with his body alone, watched live on YouTube by around eight million people.

Tandem, solo or movie stunt: what kind of jump was it?

Put side by side, these stories show a pattern: movie and record jumps are the work of professionals with hundreds or thousands of jumps behind them, while celebrities trying it for the first time almost always choose tandem.

The AFF method Bush used in 1997 is the one our AFF course is built on, if you want to jump on your own after a tandem. But there is no obligation: a tandem is a complete experience in its own right.

You don't need to be famous to jump like them

Bush, Chuck Norris and the Italian TV celebrities did what you can do: a tandem with a certified instructor who handles the exit, the opening and the landing. You need no experience and no medical certificate: just be at least 16 (with written parental consent if you are under 18), weigh no more than 100 kg and be in good health. For disabilities or reduced mobility we look at each case together: more in our guide to skydiving with a disability.

At Casale Monferrato, between Milan and Turin, you climb to 4,200 metres, free fall for about 60 seconds and fly under the canopy for 5-10 minutes. The jump costs €180 on weekdays and €200 at weekends and on public holidays, paid on the day.

Wondering what those 60 seconds feel like? Read what skydiving feels like. The first tandem jump guide walks you through the day step by step, and when you are ready you can book without paying anything upfront. Or, if you want someone else to jump, there is the gift voucher.

Keep reading

Guides

What altitude do you skydive from (and why it matters)

Jump altitude varies from one Italian dropzone to another: we go up to 4,200 metres, for around 50-60 seconds of freefall.

Read the article→

Guides

Skydiving freefall: how long it lasts and how fast you go

From 4,200 metres freefall lasts around 50-60 seconds at about 200 km/h: every number of the jump, phase by phase.

Read the article→

Guides

New or used parachute: how to choose

New or used: how to choose your first parachute, from documentation to lifespan and maintenance, and why it all starts with the AFF course.

Read the article→