Were you aware of this fun fact?
Jason Voorhees has of course been played by many different actors over the years, starting with a young Ari Lehman in the original Friday the 13th. Most recently, Voorhees was played by Derek Mears in the 2009 remake, and Kane Hodder is notable for being the only actor to play the character more than once. But in addition to guys like Richard Brooker (Part 3), Ted White (Part 4), C.J. Graham (Part 6), and Ken Kirzinger (Freddy vs. Jason) a handful of other performers have filled in for brief insert shots, and their names tend to be less known to Friday the 13th fans.
The most interesting person to technically play Jason Voorhees in a brief moment? That’d be Ellen Lutter, who is notable for being the only woman to EVER officially play Jason Voorhees. Lutter, the costume designer on Friday the 13th Part 2, played the role of Jason’s legs in that film’s opening sequence, where we see Jason walking towards Alice’s apartment on the hunt for revenge.
Yes, the very first time we ever saw adult Jason, he was played by a woman!
Stuntman Steve Daskawisz (aka Steve Dash) played Jason throughout most of Part 2, and Warrington Gillette played him for the unmasked scene towards the very end of the film. It seems that several others stepped inside Jason’s shoes for various other moments in the movie; for the scene where Alice is actually killed by Jason, for example, Jason was portrayed by Jerry Wallace.
Ellen Lutter has gone on to become an accomplished costume designer in Hollywood, working on films like Cop Land, Big Daddy, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, Grown Ups, and Max.
