Husband-and-wife world champion martial artists Justin Ortiz, 32, and Jewelianna Ramos-Ortiz, 26, laugh when they recount the story of their first audition in 2018 as stunt performers for Netflix’s Atlanta-shot series “Cobra Kai.”

While they both had accolades as martial artists — Ortiz as a multiple world champion in karate and kickboxing, Ramos- Ortiz as a multiple world champion in sport karate — neither had any experience with film. The Georgia couple anxiously scanned the room, watching others for clues. In the first round, the instruction was vague: “Show me what you got,” the casting director said.

“I’m saying in my head, ‘Wait a minute, what do I got? What can I do?’ ” Ortiz recalls, feeling panicked. “I was like, ‘OK, they want traditional karate, so I’m going to give ’em some traditional forms, and I’m going to start breaking into my creative stuff, do some flips, and then I’ll end it.’ So I did that.”

In the second round, the casting team asked them to perform their “best wrecks.” After deciphering what that meant, they crashed to the ground well enough to make an impression.

In the final round, the fight coordinator taught them a sequence to perform on camera. Relying on their martial arts competition background and instincts, they hit their marks and added some of their own flair. For the first time all day, the casting team broke their stone faces and stood to clap.

Ortiz and Ramos- Ortiz went home ecstatic. But weeks passed with no word. Then Ortiz got a text. While the stunt coordinator didn’t want them for “Cobra Kai” yet, he did want Ortiz for “Ozark,” the Netflix crime drama starring Jason Bateman and Laura Linney.

Soon after, Ortiz was kicking down doors, firing off a prop machine gun and triggering explosions on set. “I’m shooting up this church, and everything’s blowing up,” he said. “And I remember saying to myself ... ‘This is soooo cool.’ That feeling of creating with other people and using my martial arts to help tell a story in front of the camera, I was like, ‘Wow, wait, hold on.’ This is something really cool that I can use my love and passion and transition it into this new world.”

At the time, the couple was managing a chain of six martial arts schools called The Dojo. They also traveled to teach, host seminars, give private lessons and consult in martial arts spaces. The Dojo was the reason they had relocated from Florida to Georgia.

Since she was a little girl, Ramos-Ortiz had dreamed of running a martial arts school, just as her parents had after they migrated from Puerto Rico to Miami.

Not long after her husband was cast in “Ozark,” however, she was recruited to work in the water safety department for an NBC telenovela filming aboard a yacht in Miami. Once aboard, she was asked to join the stunt team instead. She signed a new contract and was cast as a hostage. “We’re going to throw you off the boat,” the stunt coordinator told her. There would be no rehearsal; otherwise, the crew would have to waste time getting her dried off.

Next thing she knew, she was in the middle of the Atlantic pretending to fight for her life. “After my first day on set, that was it,” she said. “I was bit by the stunt bug, and I didn’t want to do anything else.”

Full-steam stunt

Since those first stunt jobs, Ortiz and Ramos- Ortiz have catapulted into the industry. And when they finally made it onto “Cobra Kai,” it was in acting roles. In Season 6, they played co-captains Diego Aguilar and Maria Alvarez of the Spanish dojo Furia de Pantera. For one episode, the production team transformed The Eastern concert venue in Atlanta into a global martial arts arena to portray the international Sekai Taikai tournament. Having come from the global competitive martial arts scene, that episode was particularly special for the couple.

“That was full circle for me,” Ramos-Ortiz said. “It’s been an absolute honor to bring this feisty, high caliber, yet emotional female martial artist to life on such an iconic show as a martial artist ... It really is my driving purpose to inspire young women to pursue their dreams.”

Reinventing their careers in the stunt industry was transformative for Ortiz and Ramos-Ortiz, and it fueled their desire to help others do the same. The couple launched Action! Stunt workshops to teach creatives, artists and athletes from a wide range of backgrounds how to translate their skills for the stunt industry. The success of the workshops compelled them to start a film-production company, Wreck Hard Productions, which they hope will allow them to hire up-and-coming stunt performers.

But the couple aren’t alone in their desire to mentor, teach and provide a path for others. Rory Bratter turned a former auto-body shop in Fairburn, Georgia, into Diamond Action Design Studio in January. Bratter is also a world champion martial artist, and he transitioned into performance martial arts and acrobatics.

A few years ago, he visited Atlanta to work on the Marvel series “Echo.” “I fell in love with the community,” he said. “Everybody here was enthusiastic about training together ... It had always been my dream to have a facility to bring all these people together to train and share their knowledge of their movement and their disciplines.”

That’s when Bratter moved to Atlanta from New York. He teaches private and group classes, brings in other professionals to teach workshops and rents out the space to people in the stunt industry.

Building a mentorship culture

As a stunt crew rehearsed a fight sequence in April, it was one villain (stunt performer Bobby Martinez), against one klutzy guy (Ortiz) and one fierce woman (stunt coordinator Jess Durham).

The klutz threw the first punch. He aimed for the left jawline of the villain but missed. The klutz’s female comrade stepped up to the rescue. She thrust her closed fist into the villain’s cheek. The villain swung back, but she ducked, leaving the klutz’s nose square in the line of impact for a comical second blow.

She hit the villain a final time, sending him stumbling backward, where the klutz finally got his redemption. He delivered a swinging kick upward into the villain’s nose, sending him flying into the air and crashing to the floor.

The stunt actors then huddled around a playback monitor with director James Hutchinson III, director of photography Corey Lincoln and producer Bobby Souris to review the footage. Durham pointed at the monitor.

“For my ending punch here, maybe I should let it breathe for a second, let him take it and come around again for the crack, crack. Are you OK with that?” she asked Martinez.

“Copy that,” he said.

“All right, guys, let’s do it again,” Hutchinson said.

Souris had mentored Ortiz in his early days when he knew nothing about film or acting. “(He) has been so important in my life and my career ... He helped me understand that we do have advantages being a martial artist or a dancer or an athlete ... we just need to understand how to apply it differently,” Ortiz said.

Formerly a gymnast in Florida, Martinez credits Souris with helping him forge a path in the stunt industry. Martinez was just 14 when Souris hired him for a Miami costume company to perform flips and tricks at events. After seeing his talent, Souris encouraged Martinez to pursue stunts. Meanwhile, Ortiz has helped Martinez master his kicks.

When Bratter opened Diamond, he also launched a film production company called Good Slate Productions. The goal is to fashion a creative village that fosters rising talent in both stunts and film development.

Lincoln has been progressing up the ranks as a director of photography at Good Slate and elsewhere. Hutchinson will soon direct a new horror comedy film written by Souris and developed by Good Slate Productions. It will likely cast stunt actors who rehearse at Diamond.

“We’re all climbing the ladder here,” Hutchinson said. “It’s whether you’re going to reach down and help someone up with you or put your foot on their head and hold them down.”