At the age of twelve, he ran away from military school to join the circus where he performed as bareback horse rider.

He enjoyed it, and later left the circus to perform stunt work in films, including the original Star Wars.

[1] Among Gillard's movie credits are Sleepy Hollow, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

He had a cameo appearance in Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith[5] as Cin Drallig ("Nic Gillard" spelled backwards).

His likeness was used for the character with a larger role in the accompanying video game, for which Gillard choreographed the combat animations.