Jessie Graff

Jessie Graff
Jessie Graff in her Chicken Costume from a 2013 'live action chicken fight'.
Born	Jessica Lauren Graff (1984-01-12) January 12, 1984 (age 33) New York City, New York,  United States
Residence	United States
Nationality	American
Occupation	Stunt woman, part-time actress, television personality

Jessica "Jessie" Lauren Graff (born January 12, 1984) is a professional stunt woman and athletics-based television personality. Her nickname is "Tumbleweed". She is a black belt in Taekwondo, a black sash in Kung Fu, and is trained in five other styles of martial arts. She is also a championship pole vaulter and competitive gymnast. She has become well known for her athletic achievements on the obstacle course show American Ninja Warrior, including in 2016 becoming the first woman ever to complete Stage One of the Las Vegas Finals course and only the second woman to conquer the Stage 1 of the Sasuke franchise worldwide, after Chie Tanabe in SASUKE 2.

Jessie Graff was born to Ginny MacColl on January 12, 1984.

At age 6, Graff started taking circus classes. She started doing gymnastics at age 9 and did competitive gymnastics for 6 years. She was a member of the Frederick Gymnastic Club for 6 years. By age 12 she was catching other performers on the trapeze. She has stated about her time as a 12-year-old trapeze artist, "The rule was I wasn’t allowed to catch anyone who outweighed me by more than 20 pounds."

Graff was a pole vaulter in high school, and graduated in 2002 from Urbana High School, Frederick, Maryland, as a Track Team Leader, honor roll student, and member of National Honor Society.

She majored in aerospace engineering at Georgia Tech, and theatre at the University of Nebraska. She graduated from University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) in 2007.

She has earned black belts in Taekwondo and Kung Fu.

Graff is 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m) tall. In 2004, she set her personal best (PB) in the 5000m run at 15:56.30; she set her outdoor pole vault PB at 4.17 m (13 ft 8 in); and indoor pole vault PB at 4.20 m (13 ft 9 in). Graff held the pole vault record at Georgia Tech and University of Nebraska.