There are many iconic horror villains. Few as genuinely terrifying as Samara.

Introduced to American audiences back in 2002, Samara Morgan (not to be confused with her Japanese counterpart, Sadako Yamamura) has to date appeared on the big screen two times here in the States, primarily portrayed by Daveigh Chase in The Ring and Kelly Stables in The Ring Two. On October 28th, Samara crawls back out of her well once more in director F. Javier Gutierrez’s third installment Rings, but did you know that the actress playing the character this time around has actually donned the long black wig in the past?

Say what?!

You may remember a scene in The Ring Two where Samara “spider walks” up the well, and it certainly wasn’t Kelly Stables or CGI that made that creepy moment possible. Credited on the film as “stunt contortionist,” Bonnie Morgan was brought in to portray Samara for that memorable scene; a performance that, 10 years later, landed her the role of Samara in this year’s Rings.

“In The Ring Two, the director, Hideo Nakata originally wanted to go with CG, but the stunt coordinator was a friend and contacted me to see if I could create an iconic movement from my contortionist background that would look really special and really different,” Morgan told us, reflecting on her first brush with the franchise she returns to this year. “Real is always more scary. The spider walk originated on my living room floor, and we shot some footage of it, and the director could not have been more excited with the result. It’s such an honor to have created that set of movements that started a series of possession and creature movements for contortionists.”

Revisit the scene below, if you don’t remember it!

A classically trained actress who also happens to be a hyper-mobile contortionist, Bonnie Morgan is the daughter of third-generation circus performers, and it’s her mind-blowing abilities that have made her one of the most unique actresses in the entertainment industry. It was at the age of eight that Bonnie discovered what she refers to as her “superpower,” and it wasn’t long before she was appearing on the small screen in both commercials and on television shows – combining her acting talents and her Guinness World Record-setting abilities to make a serious name for herself.

You could say that the horror genre’s blood runs in Bonnie’s family, as her father (Gary Morgan) doubled for the dog in Cujo and her aunt (Robbi Morgan) portrayed the ill-fated Annie in the original Friday the 13th. Bonnie is herself no stranger to the horror world, performing stunts for The Rage: Carrie 2 and appearing in films like Hellboy 2, The Burrowers, Piranha 3D, and the Fright Night remake. More recently, she played the devilishly contorted Rosa Sorlini in The Devil Inside.

Other notable gigs on Morgan’s fascinating resume saw her play “Tree Witch” in The Last Witch Hunter, Paige in Fear Clinic, and even “Flo-Bot” in the Progressive Insurance commercials. Remember that nightmarish human marionette doll from Criminal Minds? That was totally her too.

Needless to say, Samara Morgan was a role that Bonnie Morgan was born to play, and the fact that she has already terrified us once as the character makes us even more excited to see her one-of-a-kind work in Rings. We may very well be in store for Samara’s most horrifying on-screen appearance to date.

“It’s been a thrill for me to go from creating Samara’s iconic spider crawl as stunt contortionist in The Ring Two to now being brought in to take over the role of Samara in her entirety in Rings and introduce her to a whole new generation of horror fans,” Morgan told us. “I’m honored to be a part of her iconic history, and it’s exciting and challenging to step back into Samara’s soggy skin and bring her from the analog to the digital age.”

“I’ve played many scary monsters, but Samara has been my favorite to create,” she added. “I enjoy doing terrifying more than anything else. Samara is near and dear to my black little heart, and I love playing her and contributing to her legacy!”

Rings director F. Javier Gutierrez raved to us about working with Morgan.

“She is extremely talented,” he told us. “Through movement and presence, Bonnie has the ability to get to the soul of Samara and what makes her unique.”

While we wait for Rings, check out Bonnie Morgan in action below!

The Devil Inside

Piranha 3D

The Last Witch Hunter